Taking 1st steer to be processed.

[mct]

I am about to take my 1st steer to be processed and have a few questions. I am in Tennesee to start with. I have had several people tell me stories about not getting all of your meat back. Is this a real problem or am I just hearing horror stories? The closest processor is C & F Meat in Triune Tn. Any input would be appreciated. The steer is around 1000 lbs. Thanks

 

[dun]

The majority of the time when people claim they didn;t get all their meat back is because they don;t understand the amount of loss from live animal to packaged meat. The meat substituting claims are usaully people people think they've raied the finest beef in the world when in reallity it's frequently not even average.

 

[mwj]

The majority of the time when people claim they didn;t get all their meat back is because they don;t understand the amount of loss from live animal to packaged meat. The meat substituting claims are usaully people people think they've raied the finest beef in the world when in reallity it's frequently not even average.

This post says it like it is! The only thing that I would add is to get a live weight before he is dropped off at the locker.

When you only have a hot hanging weight to go by, you tend to think the steer should have been bigger.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Ditto to what dun and mwj posted.

For all the animals I've had processed (including hogs) what I got back was what I expected to get back. With the exception of 1 hog (out of MANY), which I was fairly certain had gotten mixed up with another one that was in an adjacent holding pen.

If your steer is 1,000 lbs, you won't get back 1,000 lbs. He'll be missing his head, hide, hooves, parts of his legs, a fair amount of bones as well as his "guts".

I think you're just hearing 'horror stories' from folks who don't understand 'meat-to-bone ratio' etc.

Katherine

 

[Rahe Family Belties]

Figure on about 450-500 pounds of packaged meat back from that 1000 pound steer.
He'll hang about a 600 pound carcass and you'll have additional loss from fat and bone trim.

 

[mct]

Thanks for your info. He goes 1st thing in the morning.

 

[Alan]

Figure on about 450-500 pounds of packaged meat back from that 1000 pound steer.
He'll hang about a 600 pound carcass and you'll have additional loss from fat and bone trim.

A bit heavy, 500lbs of cut and wrapped on a 1000lb live weight? Hanging at 600lbs is on, but it should be 360lbs or so packaged on a 1000lb live weight.

JMO,
Alan

 

[Brute 23]

Search for a reputable place. Packers do skim and mix meat from different animals. Don't ask how I know.

 

[slick4591]

I've always been leery of processors that also ran a meat market.

 

[backhoeboogie]

My experiences have always been good except for one incident when the animal I took was not the animal that I picked up packaged. Aint never been back to that place.

 

[dieselbeef]

how mant times this topic been slaughtered

 

[backhoeboogie]

how mant times this topic been slaughtered

But it keeps me on my toes. My lies have to be consistent year after year after year.

 

[inbredredneck]

Figure on about 450-500 pounds of packaged meat back from that 1000 pound steer.
He'll hang about a 600 pound carcass and you'll have additional loss from fat and bone trim.

National dressing average is higher, but those are carcasses from cattle fed by folks who feed cattle for a living and produce the best carcass as possible, rather than a hobby farmer feeding out one or two a year doing the best they know how with limited experience producing quality carcasses.

 

[dieselbeef]

how mant times this topic been slaughtered

But it keeps me on my toes. My lies have to be consistent year after year after year.

slaughtered................ :clap: :deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse: search is yer friend :deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse: search :deadhorse:
yer welcome
gary

 

[vclavin]

My experiences have always been good except for one incident when the animal I took was not the animal that I picked up packaged. Aint never been back to that place.

I have the locker put the tag number of the animal after the name on the meat pkg and told them each one has been dna verified (which is true) and if someone swore they got the wrong meat all I had to do was send in a sample to be sure. Helps keep everyone honest!
Valerie

 

[wildsawmill]

My experiences have always been good except for one incident when the animal I took was not the animal that I picked up packaged. Aint never been back to that place.

so how would one know for sure that meat was switched?

 

[Workinonit Farm]

My experiences have always been good except for one incident when the animal I took was not the animal that I picked up packaged. Aint never been back to that place.

so how would one know for sure that meat was switched?

In the case of my hog, the one penned next to mine was a small, very lean 200 lb pink type. My hog was 450 lbs and a cross between the "newer type" Hampshire and "older type" Hampshire. Having bred these 'types' for several years, you get real familiar with the end packaged product (especially when I'd done a few of them myslef). On 'pick-up day' I got back roughly 150 lb of meat w/no marbling or fat of any kind. The chops were very small and clearly none of it came from my hog.

The farm where I used to work would pull hair from their steers for DNA testing and when they got their meat back they would send out a sample to be sure the DNA matched (much like a previous poster said).

Other than that 1 hog, I'm confident I've gotten back the correct animal. (I now use a new place).

Katherine

 

[chippie]

We had a similar experience with not getting our hog back. We took a young gilt and got an old boar back. It was nasty meat.

 

[wildsawmill]

reason i asked we took in a young sow hog (only one litter) in & took 6 weeks to get it back, meat was very tough
& strong taste
when i called & asked what i did wrong to cause this buttcher said "he had never heard of tough pork, mabe you let it run in to large a pin"