Quest for the Perfect Steak

[Jogeephus]

I would like any tips you might have in feeding out a steer or heiffer to achieve the perfect steak. Have been playing around with different strategies for a few years. Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[denoginnizer]

I heard lots of beer , massaging and no exercise .

 

[Jogeephus]

I heard lots of beer , massaging and no exercise .

Ah come on. Somebody has got to have some tips on how to finish out some fine beef. A few years ago we killed three and quartered them in the lot. One of them had marbling that looked like a snow storm. What caused this? It was tender tender tender. Is it genetics? This is the type WISDUM I'm told can only be explained by a GURU. :lol: So help this ignorant city slicker out.

The beer sounds good but l recall the time I got snockered on Billy Carter beer and ended up cooking some ribs in the pit - only to find out it was a slab of bacon. Tough as nails.

 

[denoginnizer]

I am being honest about the beer maybe it was saki. Check out wagu/kobe beef and you will see what I am talking about .

 

[Jogeephus]

I am being honest about the beer maybe it was saki. Check out wagu/kobe beef and you will see what I am talking about .

Much of the Kobe beef and beer is myth. Some Japanese spray saki over the hair in the belief that a soft coat equals soft meat. The do not feed them beer to any real extent. It is actually brewers grains - which I can get in abundance. Kobe means Japanese Black Cattle which is its own breed. I am told that much of the marbling of Kobe is genetic.

I raise commercial black and hereford. Like baldies. So, I guess my real question is how do you achieve the best results with standard cattle. Is it all genetic or does feed and age play a big role.

Have slaughtered them at 12 and 13 hundred and got good results with marbling - texture ok a little stringy. Also slaughtered at 900 pounds. Not much marbling but very tender meat and less stringy. Fiber and texture a bit different. Both good!

It was puzzling to me that though the 900 pounder had little to no marbling - it was as tender if not more tender than the 1200 pounders. I always thought marbling was directly related to tenderness.

Just trying to understand what going on. Can't seem to find info on this. Probably need to cook another steak and drink a beer. Or drink another beer and well you know. Thanks

 

[Bama]

I had one up a few months ago. I don't have my records with me but off the top of my head I fed it something like 3 months. Straight corn and 1 beer a day. I wanted to try the beer thing after being told by a friend. I had it in a a 10 x 10 pen. I feed it to only 750 pounds. Some of the best meat I've had. Another friend of mine gave me a steak one night at work that was really good. I as him what he had fed. He said just corn. I asked how old it was. He said she was a old cull cow. I couldn't believe it. He then told me it only had room to stand up or lay down for 30 days. Not that I would recommend this practice but it was some tender meat.

 

[Jogeephus]

Thanks Bama. Same thing has happened to me. What got me started on this quest was a beutiful steer I had put up. He could have won a show! Black Angus. The meat was terrible. He was a dark cutter - but he wasn't mishandled.

Would be easier to blame the butcher for "stealing" or "mixup" the cow with someone else's but the man has always been fair with me.

Then I send another "cull" heiffer in and it goes prime.

I feed out several for family, friends and church each year and would like to be consistant.

 

[Howdyjabo]

http://www.beefquality.biz/030218.htm

http://www.beeflinks.com/digestibility.htm

 

[dun]

Kobe means Japanese Black Cattle which is its own breed. I am told that much of the marbling of Kobe is genetic.

Close:

Kobe beef comes from a breed of cattle called Wagyu. In order to earn the designation/appellation of "Kobe Beef", the Wagyu beef must come from Kobe, Japan, and meet rigid production standards imposed in that prefecture.

However, land and grain are expensive in Japan. So what is happening is that the beef production houses in Kobe have been contracting out to other producers to custom raise their cattle for them. Most specifically, Harris Ranch in California, among other producers in America and Australia—land and grain is cheap over there, and it's worth the shipping costs to have the cattle raised overseas. So they have the cattle raised to their exactingly specified Kobe standards, and they actually fabricate the carcasses in Kobe, making them legally "Kobe Beef" even though the cattle were actually born, bred and fed somewhere else.

 

[Jogeephus]

My bad. Your right. Wagyu is japanese black and this is where the Kobe beef comes from. Never had it. Too expensive for me. But does this mean the marbling is purely genetic? Or is it how the treat the animals? I read where they eat the brewers grain but this was in summer. The Japs felt it stimulated appetite.

Here is a picture I got. Looks like too much marbling to me.

 

[farm princess]

We feed out beef steer for family, friends, and anyone else my father-in-law can find and all we feed ours is corn and bova-gain (sp?) and fresh water at all times. This is given as soon as they are off of their mommas. Don't know if this is the right way or not but just following orders!!!!! The meat we get back is usually top quality, great marbling, and very tender. Of coarse, it also has to do with the calf itself.

;-)

 

[preston39]

Information here;

http://kobe-beef.com/index2.php

and here;


http://www.yama-beef.com/articles-news/about-us.htm


Click on all the links for a summary of product history and philosophy.

We must remember how veal is produced. I would conclude starting with good genetics and applying known practices including last minute handling care before harvest will produce good meat.

 

[MikeC]

I am being honest about the beer maybe it was saki. Check out wagu/kobe beef and you will see what I am talking about .

The beer causes them to have more appetite.

 

[Stocker Steve]

There is a genetic contribution to tenderness and marbling. I am told a soft loose skin is a predictor of tenderness.

Younger animals will be more tender but you will not get the same flavor with "veal."

How long before butchering do you usually put yours on corn?

 

[backhoeboogie]

There is a genetic contribution to tenderness and marbling. I am told a soft loose skin is a predictor of tenderness.

Younger animals will be more tender but you will not get the same flavor with "veal."

How long before butchering do you usually put yours on corn?

There is a lot to be said about just being able to judge by looking to tell when one is ready.

If it happens to be a year with good grass, 6 weeks feed is all I need. One year it might be 10 weeks. Much of it depends on how big the animal is when I begin. I like them to be atleast 900 lbs but not much more than 1300.

I always use a steer. If my favorite cows have heifers, I resort to another cow. If the meat is excellent, I might pick that cow again. If the meat is just good, I'll go to a different one and not go back. I have my favorite.

In a round about way, I guess I am just saying "trial and error". Last year I got it perfect. This year I did okay but it was the first time out of a cow I hadn't used before. Experience playing around with it helps.

 

[docgraybull]

I am being honest about the beer maybe it was saki. Check out wagu/kobe beef and you will see what I am talking about .

The beer causes them to have more appetite.

Man if those Japanese beef raisers could get those Wagyu cattle to smoke a little dope, no telling how good that Kobe beef would be!