Need cattle advice

[Lineman North Florida]

Castrate the 4 yearlings and give them a tetanus shot if you band instead of cut, if you cut check the farmers almanac and ideally you would like for the signs to be in the knees to the feet, they will bleed less and recover quicker, let them free graze in the pasture and 75-90 days prior to butchering start feeding them grain cow feed or steer finisher, they will be ready to butcher in 75-90 days, hanging time is personal preference but I hang mine for 14 days.

 

[jyoutz]

We're teaming up with a neighbor who has some empty pasture, to buy four bulls. The bulls are from a local farmer, and are between 6 and 9 months old. Three are red angus/charolais, and one is a long horn. Our only goal is raising them for meat/food security. We've purchased half cows, processed, from another local cattle farmer in recent years, and have had good experience. So I guess we're taking this to the next level.

Key questions: Should we steer the bulls? How important is grain finished vs. grass finished?

Anything you care to chip in from experience, I will happily read.

We do this every few years when the freezer gets low. Buy steers not bulls or castrate them. I buy 500# calves, feed hay for six months, then beef finisher grain mix with free feed hay for three months. This usually gets them in the 1100-1200 pound range. Then it’s off to the packers.

 

[ponytug]

I think that @ROUSTABOUT is right on the money about carcass aging being important for flavor. We try for 21 days hanging, and end up with flavorful beef. It is always a bit of an arm wrestle with our butcher as he doesn't like to have it in his cooler that long as it means he can't get another carcass in.

I would also say that if your steers don't fatten up on your pasture, they will be lacking in flavor, so let them get fat before you harvest. Lean meat not hung for very long is the worst. For burgers, much as my wife hates it, I think that a base of 20% fat is the way to go for flavor.

I have tasted good and bad beef over the years, some grain, some grass fed. I do think GIGO applies; great pasture makes for great flavor. I hear that there are some lucky dairy cows near Hershey, PA that produce an outstanding milk.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Hay Dude]

Finish ‘em on molasses!!!!

 

[ponytug]

Finish ‘em on molasses!!!!

Yum. Ever tried it? I hear stories about hogs fattened on all sorts of interesting things, but I haven't ever been lucky enough to taste it. I have had beef that had been fattened on odd items and for the most part the flavor was very delicate, if at all. I had some once that had some sort of seaweed/fish meal feed, and that did taste like it was cooked in sardine oil. Yuck, and I like sardines.

We drive by a herd of cattle periodically that are near a "baby" carrot and juice factory and all of the dross, skins, pulp gets laid out in a bright orange strip in a field for the cows, and they clearly love it. I have often wondered how orange the resulting milk and beef is.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^
I've heard of pigs getting fed waste from lobster treatment plants. They say it's not very palatable.

 

[bigtiller]

Once about 15 years ago a farmer friend gave us two T-bone steaks that he raised.
That was the best piece of meat I have ever eaten.
I have no idea how it was raised or butchered.

 

[dirttoys]

Yup as above, cut em as early as feasible. Free range with a nice does of 12% everyday. If you have a vet work em with ya, tetanus/worm/antibiotic when you cut em. Get em to 1,000 lbs and enjoy.

Best.

ed

 

[Jstpssng]

In my meat cutting class years ago one of the labs was a taste test. Everybody agreed on the grain finished beef except for one classmate. He had been raised on a farm and preferred the grass fed meat.

 

[Rockbadchild]

We're teaming up with a neighbor who has some empty pasture, to buy four bulls. The bulls are from a local farmer, and are between 6 and 9 months old. Three are red angus/charolais, and one is a long horn. Our only goal is raising them for meat/food security. We've purchased half cows, processed, from another local cattle farmer in recent years, and have had good experience. So I guess we're taking this to the next level.

Key questions: Should we steer the bulls? How important is grain finished vs. grass finished?

Anything you care to chip in from experience, I will happily read.

For the castration at 9 months they are already pretty old to not casted them, my Dad would get them in early spring at 3 to 4 months and letting them graze during the summer wile still giving them some grain at night and morning, their diet consisted of 3/4 grass 1/4 grain, then the last three week he would kept them inside and increase their grain portions and process them at 11 to 12 month old so he didn't castrate them and didn't have too much problems ... higher grass diet make the meet more red (higher Iron content) and a more beefy taste ( gamey taste )... obviously more grain you give them the more expensive it is to produce your meant and the animal growth taper off as it get older so you get less bang for your buck sorta speak, there is a sweet spot there ...