feeding out/butchering 3 yr old heifer,steer (update)

[Toby L.]

What's done is done, I'll let everyone know how it turns out.

Sorry, I should not have come across so "nasty" sounding. Didn't really mean to be MEAN.
Just is frustrating to have someone make a mistake (if it was one) that we could have prevented. Just like to help people avoid pitfalls.
Might be purrrfect!

The day I went and looked at these black ones I stopped and looked at some 18 month old herefords. The guy told me over the phone that they weighed around 800 pnds. and he wanted $800 a piece for them. When I got there I was instanly mad, he'd be lucky if they were 500 pnds. So I turned around and walked away, biting my tounge. Then I looked at these 3 yr. olds, and I was thinking what is wrong with these people. My 8 month old bull is bigger then these so called 800 pnd herefords. I'm just wondering if I'm used to looking at my big cows so i think the norm should be as big. Then I look at everyone elses cows around here( local breeders) and there all big. At the fair I see really nice cattle, and there 6 month old steers are huge compared to mine. I'm sure genetics and creep feeding has a lot to do with it. I just wonder about these people that don't know how to feed these cows, and they think that there doing everything right. Maybe I should say something to them when I see things like that, but I've learned to stay quite and walk away, because some people don't like what they hear.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

One thing I have learned - don't OFFER your opinion of someones' cattle - unless they are foolish enough to ask my opinion. My momma taught me NEVER TO LIE!! :banana:

 

[Toby L.]

One thing I have learned - don't OFFER your opinion of someones' cattle - unless they are foolish enough to ask my opinion. My momma taught me NEVER TO LIE!! :banana:

My mom taught me that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. And people wonder why I'm so quiet.

 

[hillsdown]

One thing I have learned - don't OFFER your opinion of someones' cattle - unless they are foolish enough to ask my opinion. My momma taught me NEVER TO LIE!! :banana:

That is why I never responded to this , but Toby you did pay way too much for 3 year old culls there were at best 40 cents a pound ,but since you have cattle I guess you know what you are doing.

Oh well, it is what it is. Let us know how they turn out and I hope they are tasty. Post a pic of a rib eye,,yumm,,that should be good no matter how old.

BTW there is a reason for SRM to be removed, so even if your butcher doesn't have to you should insist ,remember you didn't raise these animals so you really do not know what they were fed exactly ,,do you??

Good luck with them..

 

[1982vett]

Real rough figuring - A 600# 3 year old, might hang a 300# carcass, and you lose about 1/3 of that weight, so you are looking at about 200# of hamburg for how much money?? + kill & processing fee.

One way to look at it, if the meat isnt very good at least their won't be a lot of it. ;-)

 

[cypressfarms]

So you bought a couple three year olds for a little on the high side, no big deal. Everyone's done things that probably wind up costing them too much, if they say they haven't their lying. From what I can tell here's what you have:

two three year old angus type to butcher. You need the meat. My opinion would be:

If they are really angus or angus crossed they are majorly stunted. Angus should mature much earlier than say a Charolais. At three years old I wouldn't throw any more good money after bad. That's not to say these two don't have value for you. You probably don't really know what they have been fed; feeding them for 30 or so days may make them more tender, but you'd be paying $8 - $10 per sack of feed - is it worth it?

I'd bring both of them to be butchered immediately. Bottom line is that if anyone tells you that you paid too much they are referring to "going" cattle prices. Truth is your going to butcher these. One way to look at it is to compare is to grocery store meat prices. When you butcher these and they yield whatever it may be, you will probably still come in at a lower price than if you had went down to the local Winn Dixie and bought the meat. There's always an upside to everything. Has anyone priced ground meat lately? My wife pays over $2/lb for ground meat, and over $10/lb for steaks. And normally butchers charge by the pound so the butcher fee for these may not be as much as some may think. I know a lot of people who butcher calves at 400 to 500 pounds to provide meat for the family.

The only concern I would have is if the cows had been given any medications and what their withdrawal times would be. I don't recall any mention of this point. I'd worry more about possibly making your family (and others if you sell the other 3 halves) sick than the price you paid for them.

Ofcourse this is just my opinion, and it's probably useless.

 

[MoGal]

I guess everyone thinks differently.......... I'm thinking how do you know they aren't wormy? That'd be the first thing I'd want to do and then you definitely have to wait 30 days so while you're waiting might as well feed them corn and add vitamins to it.

 

[Toby L.]

We butchered the steer today, and his hanging weight was 430 pounds. So if I were to sell the meat for $2 a pound it would come to $860. The heifer I sold to a neighbor that really likes her because she is small, for $250 and 200 square bales of clover/timothy hay. He had the hay listed for $3 a bale, so even at that it would come to $850. The bales are light so I figured there probably worth $2 a bale. I needed the hay anyways because I was going to run out a the end of April. So I spent $1000 for the cattle and fed around #1500 pounds of corn, at $10 a hundred, so there's $150 so that's $1150, plus hay, and I made $1710, $560 profit. In actuality I made $250 which will pay for the processing, and some extra hay. At least I'll have some meat in the freezer, probably 200 pounds. I'll let you know how it taste in a couple of weeks. Boy, now that I put it that way I really feel ripped off.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Boy, now that I put it that way I really feel ripped off.

Well, consider it a lesson learned. 'Higher' education isn't cheap ;-) . Now you know for next time.

Sounds like you were able to recoup some of your losses, not a bad thing. You'll have meat in the freezer, which was your goal. So all in all not a total loss.

Thanks for the update. Let us know how the flavor is and its tenderness.

Katherine

 

[Toby L.]

Boy, now that I put it that way I really feel ripped off.

Well, consider it a lesson learned. 'Higher' education isn't cheap ;-) . Now you know for next time.

Sounds like you were able to recoup some of your losses, not a bad thing. You'll have meat in the freezer, which was your goal. So all in all not a total loss.

Thanks for the update. Let us know how the flavor is and its tenderness.

Katherine

I just think that if I would've sold both cows for $2 pound hanging I could have made some money. Thats if I could've found a sale for it, but thats not what my intentions were anyway. If the meat is bad, I won't get a bad name for it, I'll just have to deal with it my self.

 

[mnmtranching]

Doesn't sound like you did to bad. You know a lot more about critters then you did a few months ago.

 

[Toby L.]

Doesn't sound like you did to bad. You know a lot more about critters then you did a few months ago.

I've owned a few cows for 8 years now without any real troubles. Bought a decent bull, kept hay in front of them, easy beans. Guess I was lucky, it seems like when I started going out and buying different calves and cows is when my problems started, from my lack of experience. Buying sick calves without even knowing it, and cows that were skinny thinking that it would be easy to get them back to shape. I guess when needed to, a guy can learn a lot from a few different situations that happen. I've learned a lot from these boards listening to everyone else's problems, thoughts, and experiences. An now I can offer a little advice to some of my neighbors that are just getting into cattle for a hobby.

 

[terra8186]

I don't think you told us how the meat on the first one was. Also I am curious about the second.

I also learned a lot from this thread.

 

[Toby L.]

I don't think you told us how the meat on the first one was. Also I am curious about the second.

I also learned a lot from this thread.

I only butcherd one of them a couple of days ago, I will keep you posted. The other was traded for hay and cash, he was going to keep her and have her bread by his little bull. Last I saw she was running around happy and smiling, I've had her penned up since I bought the 2.

 

[Toby L.]

One of the best steaks I ever had. You can't buy meat like that around here. Everyone is impressed with how it turned out. It makes me feel good to do something right once and a while.

 

[mnmtranching]

Very good! Got the grille fired up yet? Gonna have some grilling weather up here now. :nod: