Meat quality on a 30 month old angus cow ?

[Richnm]

I have a 30 month old angus cow that weaned here first calf. She won't breed back. My neighbor wants her for beef (steaks, and hamburger ). I have given her 10 pounds of crack corn and unlimited wheat hay the last few months. Will the meat quality suffer being that she just weaned a calf ? She is in great shape. I hate to sell a bad product. Thanks

 

[SBMF 2015]

Looks smooth. She'll be fine.

 

[tex452]

Should be good.

 

[Warren Allison]

I have a 30 month old angus cow that weaned here first calf. She won't breed back. My neighbor wants her for beef (steaks, and hamburger ). I have given her 10 pounds of crack corn and unlimited wheat hay the last few months. Will the meat quality suffer being that she just weaned a calf ? She is in great shape. I hate to sell a bad product. Thanks

No.

 

[TCRanch]

We had a first calf heifer that stifled. Weaned her calf early, didn't feed her out, and the meat was great.

 

[wbvs58]

Would be interesting to get a look at the reproductive tract to see if any reason she did not breed back.

Ken

 

[ClinchValley86]

She will be fine. If she had just had thr calf I would be hesitant myself.

Being that she is still possibly making milk could have an interesting nutrient content in the meat. In a good way I'd think.

Ought to be a fine eating experience. The processor should be able to tell if something is undesirable about the carcass when they start cutting it. Maybe tell them to check it out good before they get too far into cutting it if you are a bit worried about it. Can always grind it worst case scenario.

 

[faster horses]

Older animals have a more 'beefy' flavor which is a good thing.
As long as she is on the gain you should be fine. How long as her calf
been weaned?

 

[JJColvin]

I have a 30 month old angus cow that weaned here first calf. She won't breed back. My neighbor wants her for beef (steaks, and hamburger ). I have given her 10 pounds of crack corn and unlimited wheat hay the last few months. Will the meat quality suffer being that she just weaned a calf ? She is in great shape. I hate to sell a bad product. Thanks

I've processed two at that age and circumstance. Learned from the first one and ground all of the second one into burger.

 

[Travlr]

I have a 30 month old angus cow that weaned here first calf. She won't breed back. My neighbor wants her for beef (steaks, and hamburger ). I have given her 10 pounds of crack corn and unlimited wheat hay the last few months. Will the meat quality suffer being that she just weaned a calf ? She is in great shape. I hate to sell a bad product. Thanks

There are people over in Europe that use a terminal cross system where they will breed a heifer, let her raise a calf or even two, and then send her to slaughter. The heifer is considered high quality meat at that age. The heifer is a 1/2 blood cross from a double muscled bull, and the calves are never bred or retained and go to slaughter because they are 3/4.
I doubt your 30 month old cow will be a meat quality problem. When an older animal's fat starts getting yellow it can get to be lower quality but at 30 months it should still be fine.

 

[Richnm]

Older animals have a more 'beefy' flavor which is a good thing.
As long as she is on the gain you should be fine. How long as her calf
been weaned?

corn every day since the calf was born with wheat hay

 

[beefgirl]

Just got my meat back on a bald face/angus cow that had first calf came up open and had a bad attitude. Grass fed. Delicious. Just had a grilled sirloin tonight and that was good too. I had another mostly angus coming 3 year old that I couldn't get bred back that I had butchered last year and meat was excellent on her also grass fed.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Just got my meat back on a bald face/angus cow that had first calf came up open and had a bad attitude. Grass fed. Delicious. Just had a grilled sirloin tonight and that was good too. I had another mostly angus coming 3 year old that I couldn't get bred back that I had butchered last year and meat was excellent on her also grass fed.

Do you normally eat grain fed beef?
I only eat grain fed and we butchered a 6 yr old cow that we thought was pregnant with a fall calf, but was not. We were low on hamburg, so we decided to butcher her. My butcher called and said the meat was excellent and would make tender steaks, so I said OK, make steaks. The meat is tender, but if you get even a slight bit of fat, it tastes discusting - rancid. Obviously,I do not like older/aged beef - or grass fed. Lot of you on here talk about older cattle get more flavor. Well, I guess I do NOT like it.

 

[faster horses]

Do you normally eat grain fed beef?
I only eat grain fed and we butchered a 6 yr old cow that we thought was pregnant with a fall calf, but was not. We were low on hamburg, so we decided to butcher her. My butcher called and said the meat was excellent and would make tender steaks, so I said OK, make steaks. The meat is tender, but if you get even a slight bit of fat, it tastes discusting - rancid. Obviously,I do not like older/aged beef - or grass fed. Lot of you on here talk about older cattle get more flavor. Well, I guess I do NOT like it.

I would say what you are tasting that is disgusting could be the fault of the cooling/aging process. We've had that happen if there is too many carcasses in the cooler and the air can't circulate as it should. It ruined our hamburger. Does your hamburger taste okay? My mother was a meat wrapper for years and she always said the 'taint' is in the fat. So that makes we wonder how the hamburger was.

 

[Travlr]

Do you normally eat grain fed beef?
I only eat grain fed and we butchered a 6 yr old cow that we thought was pregnant with a fall calf, but was not. We were low on hamburg, so we decided to butcher her. My butcher called and said the meat was excellent and would make tender steaks, so I said OK, make steaks. The meat is tender, but if you get even a slight bit of fat, it tastes discusting - rancid. Obviously,I do not like older/aged beef - or grass fed. Lot of you on here talk about older cattle get more flavor. Well, I guess I do NOT like it.

Some butchers know some tricks of the trade that others don't. An older animal may have yellow(ish) fat and it will taste "off". But a good butcher will trim as much yellow fat as possible and save the white kidney fat from younger animals and mix it in on an older one. It makes all the difference in the world.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

No.

I like simple, straightforward answers.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I have used same butcher for 30 years. It is a very small operation (not USDA). Never has many other carcasses hanging. Hamburg is fine.

 

[leleux]

I would say what you are tasting that is disgusting could be the fault of the cooling/aging process. We've had that happen if there is too many carcasses in the cooler and the air can't circulate as it should. It ruined our hamburger. Does your hamburger taste okay? My mother was a meat wrapper for years and she always said the 'taint' is in the fat. So that makes we wonder how the hamburger was.

Thst could be my problem. I had a yearling heifer butchered. She hung for 7 days. The fat has a really gamey flavor. Meat is ok but the fat is gamey!!!

 

[beefgirl]

Do you normally eat grain fed beef?
I only eat grain fed and we butchered a 6 yr old cow that we thought was pregnant with a fall calf, but was not. We were low on hamburg, so we decided to butcher her. My butcher called and said the meat was excellent and would make tender steaks, so I said OK, make steaks. The meat is tender, but if you get even a slight bit of fat, it tastes discusting - rancid. Obviously,I do not like older/aged beef - or grass fed. Lot of you on here talk about older cattle get more flavor. Well, I guess I do NOT like it.

I've always had grain fed beef until I sent that open coming 3 year old cow last year. I really liked the burgers and steaks so I sent another one this year. I have a 7 year old cow (bad bag) that I need to cull this fall but I think if I butcher her I'll just have it all made into burger.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

I had a 16 yo family/ neighborhood pet cow, ( @MurraysMutts) would have loved her. Raised her calf and two others every year with kids climbing on her. My neighbor said it was the best burger ever, and it was.