Guest guest Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 Just got word that a farmer friend has a bull ready for butchering. He's a little over 2 yrs old, never been fed grain, always pastured, had a great life, but this is their first venture into grassfed meat so I'm volunteering to help get the word out. He's on the small side - about 400 lbs. I don't know price, etc., but I do know it is early enough to get your .02 in on a cut-sheet. If interested, please send me your name and I'll pass it along: sharon@... -- Deut 11:15 He will put grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will have plenty to eat. Check out my blog - www.ericsons.net - Food for the Body and Soul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 20, 2008 Report Share Posted June 20, 2008 That's awfully young for a grassfed cow. In my experience, an animal on the small side will be skin and bone with little fat, which ends up being somewhat of a waste of money for the buyer. Why don't they let the cow graze a couple more years? That's how my farmers do it, and their beef is the best I have ever tasted. http://www.burgundypasturebeef.com (And to be on topic, I eat it mainly raw with whatever microbes are on it). Deanna > > Just got word that a farmer friend has a bull ready for butchering. He's a > little over 2 yrs old, never been fed grain, always pastured, had a great > life, but this is their first venture into grassfed meat so I'm volunteering > to help get the word out. He's on the small side - about 400 lbs. I don't > know price, etc., but I do know it is early enough to get your .02 in on a > cut-sheet. If interested, please send me your name and I'll pass it along: > sharon@... > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 20, 2008 Report Share Posted June 20, 2008 Well, it is on-topic when I specifically and clearly said to write to me in private. Since when it passing along information about grass-fed meat availability " off topic " . Secondly, all the grass-fed farmers I know consider 2 1/2 to be a good age to butcher. Sharon On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 3:53 PM, yoginidd <WAPFbaby@...> wrote: > That's awfully young for a grassfed cow. In my experience, an animal on > the small side will be skin and bone with little fat, which ends up > being somewhat of a waste of money for the buyer. Why don't they let > the cow graze a couple more years? That's how my farmers do it, and > their beef is the best I have ever tasted. > http://www.burgundypasturebeef.com > > (And to be on topic, I eat it mainly raw with whatever microbes are on it). > > Deanna > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 21, 2008 Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 Ditto that. My farmer says they are no good they are at least 3 years old. The 6-year-old ones I've gotten are the best. Some cows are just small because of the breed, but they are still better when they are older. OTOH, it's hard to keep bulls, so they often don't make it to an old age! On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 12:53 PM, yoginidd <WAPFbaby@...> wrote: > That's awfully young for a grassfed cow. In my experience, an animal on > the small side will be skin and bone with little fat, which ends up > being somewhat of a waste of money for the buyer. Why don't they let > the cow graze a couple more years? That's how my farmers do it, and > their beef is the best I have ever tasted. > http://www.burgundypasturebeef.com > > (And to be on topic, I eat it mainly raw with whatever microbes are on it). > > Deanna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 21, 2008 Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 > > Ditto that. My farmer says they are no good they are at > least 3 years old. The 6-year-old ones I've gotten are the best. Is the 6 year old animal tender with a complex flavor? There are just so many factors involved in raising pastured animals above and beyond the feed. But considering the ability to graze, there is a reason why places like Texas are known as cattle country. The grass is green most of the year here. I can't help but wonder about quality differences with animals that must be penned up all winter due to a frozen ground and harsh weather. That said, ice ages have come and gone and humans have weathered them eating the animals at hand. But older animals have been preferred for fat content, and Price wrote about that fact, iirc. Then there's the aging of the meat, which will affect its taste and texture. That's why I posted that farm questionnaire. I think it originated with the Central TX WAPF group. It has been altered a bit since then and is the form I use when considering whether to list a farm on my local listings site. Y'all feel free to use that when determining a good farm to support. There are no right or wrong answers really, but it may help you in finding a good source. Land size and pasture rotation are really important for quality, and some farms are trying to claim pastured animals to fetch a better price when for all practical purposes, they are nearly an industrial operation. I have a word doc format too, if someone wants to alter it further. Email me and I'll give it to you. Deanna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 21, 2008 Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 Deanna, > That's awfully young for a grassfed cow. In my experience, an animal on > the small side will be skin and bone with little fat, which ends up > being somewhat of a waste of money for the buyer. Why don't they let > the cow graze a couple more years? That's how my farmers do it, and > their beef is the best I have ever tasted. > http://www.burgundypasturebeef.com > > (And to be on topic, I eat it mainly raw with whatever microbes are on it). How long do they let their cows graze? 5 years? I wasn't able to pick that up from the website. A long grazed grassfed animal would be a gem indeed. -- " How do they become one flesh? " As if she were gold receiving purest gold, the woman receives the man's seed with rich pleasure, and within her it is nourished, cherished, and refined. It is mingled with her own substance and she then returns it as a child! " St. Chrysostom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 21, 2008 Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 On Sat, Jun 21, 2008 at 8:37 AM, yoginidd <WAPFbaby@...> wrote: > Is the 6 year old animal tender with a complex flavor? Complex, tender, and has more fat. There are just > so many factors involved in raising pastured animals above and beyond > the feed. But considering the ability to graze, there is a reason why > places like Texas are known as cattle country. The grass is green > most of the year here. I can't help but wonder about quality > differences with animals that must be penned up all winter due to a > frozen ground and harsh weather. It IS complex. I'm on the side of the mountains that is green and lush. But the cattle from the dry hot/cold side are far better. The farmer says that is because the grass has more protein. Rains too much here. Dried grass is actually better cattle food. Go figure. Also the dirt gets leached out by all the rain. That said, ice ages have come and > gone and humans have weathered them eating the animals at hand. But > older animals have been preferred for fat content, and Price wrote > about that fact, iirc. Then there's the aging of the meat, which will > affect its taste and texture. Absolutely. Our butcher ages it. But they don't like to age animals that don't have a nice outer coating of fat, because they get moldy. Which makes me wonder what they do for venison. Anyway, you need to get a good butcher ... and they vary. The " killer " matters a lot too (seriously, that is what they call them: as in " The killer will be there at 9am " . Makes you really NOT want to be there at 9am, if you are a city girl like me, esp. when you see this big old guy get out of a truck with his big long gun. The best of them though, are sweet and never scare the animals. > > That's why I posted that farm questionnaire. I think it originated > with the Central TX WAPF group. It has been altered a bit since then > and is the form I use when considering whether to list a farm on my > local listings site. Y'all feel free to use that when determining a > good farm to support. There are no right or wrong answers really, but > it may help you in finding a good source. Land size and pasture > rotation are really important for quality, and some farms are trying > to claim pastured animals to fetch a better price when for all > practical purposes, they are nearly an industrial operation. I have a > word doc format too, if someone wants to alter it further. Email me > and I'll give it to you. The better farmers though, don't seem to advertise. Mine only sells one or two animals a year. Word of mouth, granges, or 4H are good sources of information. If you have no other option, getting meat over the internet is ok, but it's far, far better to drive out to the farm yourself. For me it's a 4-hour trek each way, unless there is traffic, so I plan on staying overnight so I can be there when the cow is butchered, and bring home the parts the butcher won't handle (hide, hooves, lungs, etc. :some for the animals, some for craft projects). Then another trek a month later, to pick up the meat. But even with that, it's cheaper than ordering it pre-packaged, and it's only once a year. I call it " My yearly hunting trip " , and frankly I'm more successful than most of the hunters around here. You can also pick up a lot of " farmer wisdom " if you just talk to the farmers. Most people like to talk about what they do, and the older farmers know a LOT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 23, 2008 Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 You hit the bull on the horn, . I think that's the difference as to why this one is being butchered, as opposed to the cows this farmer has. Testosterone........dangerous stuff............ Sharon On Sat, Jun 21, 2008 at 2:44 AM, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 23, 2008 Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 Yeah, it's a sad reality of farm life. One of our steers had to be butchered early because he had a nasty habit of jumping the (electrified!) fence and getting into the neighbor's yard. 800 lbs of longhorn with a 6 foot span of horns is kinda intimidating to the neighbors. So you can get bad actors even WITHOUT the testosterone! On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 10:47 AM, Sharon son <skericson@...> wrote: > You hit the bull on the horn, . I think that's the difference as to > why this one is being butchered, as opposed to the cows this farmer has. > Testosterone........dangerous stuff............ > Sharon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 23, 2008 Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 Our CSA is butchering a young-ish Jersey bull next month. He's the most gentle, lovely, huge, gorgeous magnificent beast, but all his offspring have leaky udders. I've talked to the farmer about possible selenium deficiencies, etc., which another farmer-friend told me about, but so far, they've no clue as to what the issue is. I'll not be eating this one, I can tell you that.......... Sharon On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 2:21 PM, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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