Freezer Beef

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

If you were going to have one of your young bulls butchered ,at what age/weight would you have it done ? Would it have to be castrated or would a intact animal be ok ? Thinking about filling the freezer.

 

[angie1]

I am always surprised to hear of people finishing cattle under a year.

I would advise waiting until the animal is 14 (at least) to 18 months depending on how you are finishing ~ grass finished take longer. Grow them to about 13 months then increase and change up the feed to finish (less protien, more fat) at about 16 months. Could be regional.

 

[bigbull338]

we never steerd any of the calves that we raised an put in the freezer.always left them bulls.an their meat was yummy.age of butcher depends on how much you want the calf to weigh.but id prolly butcher at 12 to 14 months of age.the calf would weigh 900 to 1200 by then.

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

So if I butchered at 10-12 months,hence a lighter animal (less meat) would the quality of the beef be affected?

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

The longhorn bulls we've butchered have ranged in age from 12 to 24 months. The oldest was servicing some heifers for several months: he was the toughest! About 20% of his meat wasn't worth eating...

The other bulls we've butchered between 12 and about 16 months...these have been grass fed and weighed between 650 and 800#...the last one this summer (about 12 mos old) has been VERY tender and great eating! We don't feed grain, sweetfeed, or cubes...just grass/hay fed beef due to our USDA/FSIS grass fed program.

 

[angie1]

So if I butchered at 10-12 months,hence a lighter animal (less meat) would the quality of the beef be affected?

No. The cuts will be smaller I have been told, but the quality will not be affected. If you leave them bulls and allow them to breed I understand that that affects the taste of the meat ~ I think that that is what RAB was referring to.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

So if I butchered at 10-12 months,hence a lighter animal (less meat) would the quality of the beef be affected?

No. The cuts will be smaller I have been told, but the quality will not be affected. If you leave them bulls and allow them to breed I understand that that affects the taste of the meat ~ I think that that is what RAB was referring to.

Yes, the "older" bull running with the cows caused the meat to be tougher (more exercise) and had a wilder taste...harder to moderate the flavor via marinates, spices, etc.

 

[KNERSIE]

So if I butchered at 10-12 months,hence a lighter animal (less meat) would the quality of the beef be affected?

That really depends on what you call quality. The meat will be more tender, cuts will be a more manageable size, but there will be less beef flavour. If you sell freezer beef to paying customers it will be "safer" to sell very young animals as you're very unlikley to get a tough carcass.

I am always surprised to hear of people finishing cattle under a year.

I would advise waiting until the animal is 14 (at least) to 18 months depending on how you are finishing ~ grass finished take longer. Grow them to about 13 months then increase and change up the feed to finish (less protien, more fat) at about 16 months. Could be regional.

Over here the calves go into the feedlot at 7 months weighing about 500 -550lbs and finish at around 11 months weighing about 1000lbs on average. That will command the best price for the carcass. In our classification system the carcass will then grade Super A2/3.

 

[hopalong]

So if I butchered at 10-12 months,hence a lighter animal (less meat) would the quality of the beef be affected?

NOPE!

Less marbling!!!!!!
less fat content, less flavor!

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Thanks for all the help. I want to butcher one for our freezer and the Brides sisters freezer.

 

[grannysoo]

We do ours around 1000 pounds. They are intact.

 

[hopalong]

I am always surprised to hear of people finishing cattle under a year.

I would advise waiting until the animal is 14 (at least) to 18 months depending on how you are finishing ~ grass finished take longer. Grow them to about 13 months then increase and change up the feed to finish (less protien, more fat) at about 16 months. Could be regional.

Yeah if you have straight bred cattle or angus I can see why. Mine dress over 60% every time. Most around 64%. That is using a continental bull. Dressing percentage will go down if you use British breeds.

Yea right of course if you have salers and enough bullsh$$ you can do nything :lol2: :lol2:

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[ArrowHBrand]

So if I butchered at 10-12 months,hence a lighter animal (less meat) would the quality of the beef be affected?

We've always castrated bulls no matter where they were going, the freezer or sale barn. Being lighter isn't a problem, it won't affect the beef in quality or taste, there just won't be as much. We took a grass fed heifer in about two weeks ago that was about 18 months old. She had a live weight of 950# and carcass weight of 522#. Nothing impressive, but it will be plenty for just my wife and I and our young son.

 

[Rustler9]

We don't castrate our bulls and they taste great. We do keep them isolated from the cows and heifers so they don't breed. We recently butchered a pure Longhorn at 18 months and a Longhorn /Beefalo cross at the same age. Both have excellent flavor, both were still bulls. We ran them on grass up until six weeks before butchering and then put them on grain and hay. They dress out somewhere around 62%. If you butcher a breeding bull you will have a stronger flavor. We gound up a five year old bull right out of the pasture because he started roaming. Put him all into hambuger and had no trouble gettting $3.00 a pound for him.

 

[hurleyjd]

Help me out on this. My calves are not as heavy as everyone elses. They are red angus. I think they will be around 600# weaned bulls. Slaughter house wants $235 for processing. They estimate around 250 lbs for all hamburger and 282 lbs for steak and roasts. Now for my question. What would be the retail price of the meat be at the grocery store if all hamburger, and also steak and roasts?
I would have the processing of the calf and the value of the calf in it from the start. This should be about $645.

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Why would you get less weight for all hamburger than you would for steaks and roasts? All the trimmed off useless meat goes to burgers,should be the other way around.

 

[Angus Cowman]

Why would you get less weight for all hamburger than you would for steaks and roasts? All the trimmed off useless meat goes to burgers,should be the other way around.

because if you take a roast and grind you lose the boneand some of the trimmings of fat depends on the fat what % of burger you want we go with 80-20 80% lean 20% fat

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Why would you get less weight for all hamburger than you would for steaks and roasts? All the trimmed off useless meat goes to burgers,should be the other way around.

because if you take a roast and grind you lose the boneand some of the trimmings of fat depends on the fat what % of burger you want we go with 80-20 80% lean 20% fat

Forgot about bones Can't eat bones though. :lol2: