Taking to the butcher-day before or day of slaughter

[Hpacres440p]

I have 2 calves, both about 18 months old, that we are planning to butcher in early February. One is a young bull, pretty calm, the other is a somewhat flighty steer-they havebeen raised together, so will have a "buddy system" to go. The processor is an hour away, and has drop off either day before by 6:30 pm or morning of before 8:30 am.
I will be calling processor for their best opinion to minimize stress and therefore maximize beef quality, but does anyone else have experience with either scenario? The processor only does about 8 head per slaughter day, so shouldn't be too overcrowded hopefully.

 

[Ebenezer]

Take them the day of slaughter.

 

[sstterry]

I have 2 calves, both about 18 months old, that we are planning to butcher in early February. One is a young bull, pretty calm, the other is a somewhat flighty steer-they havebeen raised together, so will have a "buddy system" to go. The processor is an hour away, and has drop off either day before by 6:30 pm or morning of before 8:30 am.
I will be calling processor for their best opinion to minimize stress and therefore maximize beef quality, but does anyone else have experience with either scenario? The processor only does about 8 head per slaughter day, so shouldn't be too overcrowded hopefully.

First, welcome to the Board! You should go to the "Hi! I'm new here" thread and introduce yourself.

Second, bot to you and the rest of the Board, how does stress the day of slaughter affect the quality of the meat?

 

[Dave]

I would take them the day before to allow them time to calm down from their trip. I know that at the two big kill plants in this region the cattle come in the day before.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Welcome to the boards. As you already can see - we are farmers - very independent in our thinking - so you get lots of different opinions/ideas. Personally, I think as long as the two get to stay together, they should be fine either day.
sstterry - Stress causes the animal to produce Adrenalin which can cause a dark cutter. I don't know all the ramifications being a dark cutter is, but I know it is not good!!!

 

[76 Bar]

Agree with Dave. What you might consider the most minor life disruptions will negatively cattle and especially those who are antsy. I would also request the two not be separated prior to slaughter to avoid additional stress. Trust me, even docile cattle can become unhinged at a slaughter plant. In the future and if available, skilled ranch mobile slaughter is ideal.

 

[bird dog]

So a cow gets stressed. How long a period from the stress point to when it effects the meat?

I took a steer in last week. Like it sometimes happens they know it ain't going to be good and they refuse to get out of the trailer. The only way we got him out was to run another cow from the plant into the pen that I was backed up to. I know he was going to be processed very quickly but should I be concerned?

 

[Hpacres440p]

Agree with Dave. What you might consider the most minor life disruptions will negatively cattle and especially those who are antsy. I would also request the two not be separated prior to slaughter to avoid additional stress. Trust me, even docile cattle can become unhinged at a slaughter plant. In the future and if available, skilled ranch mobile slaughter is ideal.

Mobile slaughter sounds great-wish we had that option. Just finding a reliable processor has been a challenge-some were booking for Marchnin October! Question about the mobile-do they haul off the offal or do they leave it at the slaughter site?

 

[76 Bar]

For inquiring minds...Search the web for dark cutters, the cause and why it should be avoided.

 

[HanknCali]

Question about the mobile-do they haul off the offal or do they leave it at the slaughter site?
[/quote]

Our ranch butcher takes whatever you don't want. The only thing he does leave is the stomach contents. Hide, head, hooves, organs etc all goes with him unless you want it.

 

[sstterry]

For inquiring minds...Search the web for dark cutters, the cause and why it should be avoided.

The way I read it, this is not the immediate stress before slaughter, but long term stress that reduces glycogen. Is that correct or am I reading wrong?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

quote:
"Adrenaline released by stress before slaughter uses up glycogen, which means there's not enough lactic acid produced postmortem. This affects different kind of meat in different ways, but in general it'll be tough, tasteless, and high in pH, and will go bad quicker than unstressed meat.Oct 30, 2015"

 

[sstterry]

quote:
"Adrenaline released by stress before slaughter uses up glycogen, which means there's not enough lactic acid produced postmortem. This affects different kind of meat in different ways, but in general it'll be tough, tasteless, and high in pH, and will go bad quicker than unstressed meat.Oct 30, 2015"

But, by definition, when any animal is taken to slaughter, don't they get stressed?

 

[Silver]

When I take mine in they get unloaded and pretty much straight to slaughter. Always seemed like the best idea to me, but that may not be the case. In my mind there will always be a certain amount of stress to cattle in strange to them facilities surrounded by strange cattle, so less time should equal less stress.
I used to slaughter them myself and take the quarters to the butcher, and really that has got to be the best in terms of stress on the animal.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

My guy shoots them on my trailer.
I don't think the little stress they get when they are being shipped affects the meat like if they are really wild cattle and are stressed from the minute you walk in the field to catch them!! Those that are jumping fences & bouncing off walls are more the type to be "dark cutters" IMHO.

 

[Hpacres440p]

My guy shoots them on my trailer.
I don't think the little stress they get when they are being shipped affects the meat like if they are really wild cattle and are stressed from the minute you walk in the field to catch them!! Those that are jumping fences & bouncing off walls are more the type to be "dark cutters" IMHO.
So, with that said, if I can load them fairly easily, same day is better option because they aren't hanging out in a strange place overnight, correct? An hour of adrenaline is better than 16...I wonder if anyone has ever done a "time limit" study-is 16 hours ok but 48 causes the dark cutters, etc.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

IMO - if they are not nut cases and this is a "good" processing plant, they should be fine either way.

 

[Bestoutwest]

We have always done same day drop off. I think we're up to 8 or 9 at this point. No one has ever complained about the meat, we get rave reviews. I think we'll move to have them done on the place, but I need to find a place that I like. My neighbor had some pigs done at his place a few weeks ago. I turned the corner and there's one all covered in blood convulsing from the shot. Took a good 45+ seconds to stop and get the mail, and the thing was still going. I would think that might have a more detrimental effect than penning overnight.

 

[Hpacres440p]

IMO - if they are not nut cases and this is a "good" processing plant, they should be fine either way.

I called the processor, they pen by individual customers. He said the biggest possible issue is that sometimes they have hogs processing at the same time, and the cattle won't leave the trailer until the hogs are moved out of sight. I think, for ease of transport and to not feel rushed, we'll take them the day before. I'd hate to have a preventable rodeo from being in a time crunch morning of. Thanks for the replies. By then, also, the jittery steer will be hopefully so used to associating people with food that he'll be less spooky.

 

[MurraysMutts]

We have also taken the day before. Mostly for the reasons you just mentioned. Never had any problems, except for the one nutcase that should've been dog food.