Beef, it's what's for dinner!!!!

Well, I say this every time I post but it is true every time.....very very busy!!  On the  21st of January I took one steer, a Gelbvieh x shorthorn cross, to the butcher as well as five hogs.  The steer dressed out at 600lbs hanging weight and was very lean.  We were able to compare for the first time our steer carcass to others that were grain fed.   The difference was drastic and kind of eye opening.

The following pictures are graphic, however, it is essential for people to see to understand the differences I am going to explain.  

  When you look at a carcass hanging on the rail you are looking at the meat and bones.  A healthy animal, and humans as well, will have a small amount of fat in/on their body.  The more fat stored on the body the less healthy you tend to be.  Some fat is good, excess is not.   Fat in the meat is what gives marbling.  Marbling in the meat helps with tenderness.  The fat will also give it flavor, however, that flavor is related to what the animal ate.  If an animal eats a lot of corn the fat will induce a corn flavor through to the fat, if the animal eats grass, it will have a stronger beef flavor.  Likewise, and this is true, lets say the animal grazes on a pasture with a lot of wild onions, that onion flavor will collect in the fat and induce that flavor to the meat.  This is why we are so careful to make sure not to feed our pigs garbage from any source and we are careful to make sure the cattle get high quality grass hay and silage hay.  We are striving to produce a healthier beef that has a true beef flavor and is good for you to eat. 

 Now, if you look at the following picture you will see our grass fed steer on the left.  You can see a small amount of fat on the left of the carcass, that would be the belly of the steer.  I was very limited on space so I couldn't get a very good picture of the kidney fat (fat stored in the interior body cavity).  The carcasses on the right are of grain fed steers.  My carcass was 600 lbs. and the others averaged around 700 lbs.  All the excess fat is discarded during the processing of the meat.  It is either thrown away or sent to be processed in large factories for use in cooking oils, processed foods, animal foods, and even pelleted and used to feed show steers! (more on that later)  The kidney fat and the exterior fat is all considered excess fat.  Some is used in the hamburger to get a good patty the rest is discarded.  My carcass contained a total of maybe 4-5 lbs of excess fat.   The carcasses right next to mine had an average of 40-60 lbs of excess fat.  Now, for clarification, when we sell meat it is based on price per pound of hanging weight.  That means you are buying what you see here.  Now, if you bought my carcass, you are getting what you payed for as the little excess fat the steer had was used in the ground beef.  However, if you purchased one of the grain fed ones on the right you paid for 40-60 lbs. of fat that was thrown away.  At $2.5/lb. that means you put $100-$150 straight in the trash!

Grass fed beef on left, grain fed on right.

Now, here is a view of the grain fed carcasses showing the excessive fat layering on the belly of the animal.  You can clearly see the fat layer is almost three inches thick on most of them, and the kidney fat on the interior was not appealing to me at all.   NOTE; the blue stamps you see are the USDA inspection stamp, if it doesn't get a stamp it doesn't get eaten or sold! 

Now, being a producer I know how much a cow will eat on a daily basis.  I grew up on a dairy farm and have seen the way beef are fed when on grain.  They are practically on an unlimited feed ration.  In that situation a feeder steer that will produce a 700lb carcass will eat anywhere from 30-60lbs of feed mix / day.  The majority of that feed ends up going into fat making that excess fat even more expensive if you figure how much feed it takes to put that fat on.  

I am excited in the fact that I had an 18 month old steer that I could have put another 100-200 lbs on in another month or two and still not have had all the excess fat that the other carcasses of the same age had on them!  Furthermore, if there is that much fat on the outside there is going to be a lot more in the muscle as well. 

Picture showing the fat layer on grain fed beef carcass.

 Now, I want to touch on tenderness of the cuts from the two different feeding systems.  First of all, any omega three fatty acids and any other health benefits from grass fed beef are lost with even 30 days of grain consumption.  It would be like me training my whole life to compete in the Olympics and the last 30-60 days before I go to compete I sit around, don't exercise, and eat fatty foods like ice cream and butter laden cookies.  Tenderness and flavor in any kind of meat is directly affected by age and the way it is raised.  A balanced healthy diet and moderate exercise build muscle.  To much stress and exercise create tough muscle.  No stress and moderate exercise will create lots of lean muscle that is still tender.  Age also affects tenderness.  If you have an older animal that is much larger the meat will not be as tender as a smaller younger animal.  

The magic age for me for my cattle is around 20 months.  I wanted to raise this one longer but in order to meet the schedule for the processor I had to send him a little earlier.   I am constantly told from producers that raise cattle and hogs on strictly grain that you need all that fat for the flavor.  I completely disagree.   They need that fat in their animals because without it there will be very little flavor.  Again the flavor comes from what the animal eats and how much they exercise.  I can get more flavor from a healthier  animal by allowing them to eat a natural balanced diet and give them plenty of room to exercise.

Now, below is a cut from the steer we just had done.  It is the eye of round roast.  This is exactly the cut you make roast beef sandwich meat out of.   It is normally quite tough and is sliced thing against the grain to make it easier to chew.  To cook this my wife simply let it thaw in the fridge till completely thawed.  Then she put in a dish, seasoned with some of her natural spices, added a little Maggi Seasoning sauce, and cooked in the pressure cooker for, I think, 15-20 minutes.  I was busy while she was cooking so I am not sure on the time, I just know it was quick.  She then sliced down and we enjoyed with some homemade bread, salad, and a slice of ham from one of the pigs we just brought home.  Unbelievably delicious!!!!!

Grass Fed Beef, Eye of Round Roast

So, as you all should now by now I do snow removal.  Last month I was given the opportunity to change from being a plow truck driver to a snow manager for one of our branches.  I had been out for almost a week and came home and went straight to bed.  I awoke to find that Steve, my buddy who helps with the pigs, got me two cases of beer and left as a gift for me when I got up from sleeping!   As you can tell I haven't had a chance to get a new keg yet.  However, I will be going past a place to refill this weekend delivering meat so I will correct this problem very soon!

A note on my tractor.  It is an M9540 Kubota with the hydraulic shuttle and 24 forward and reverse speed transmission.  Over the course of the summer I noticed a whining sound that was getting much louder and worse throughout the year.  Since it is still under warranty till March, I took it in to see what was wrong.  After a couple of weeks of trouble shooting they realized that a bearing was going out in the shuttle clutch pack.  To fix it they had to split the tractor.  I got this tractor shortly after this series came out.  They have started to find out that this bearing is failing in this model when used heavily as I do.  They have produced a heavy duty upgraded bearing to replace it with and have started putting it in the new ones.  In the mean time I am borrowing one of their tractors that is the exact same model so I can use my loader to feed the cows till they get done.  I am hoping to get back next week!  I can't wait, I miss my baby!

M9540 clutch bearing repair.

I hope everyone is had a great week and I am looking forward to a weekend with no SNOW!!!   Will be nice to go for a long ride in the car with the wife to deliver meat.  We may even stop for some good Sushi while in Columbus Ohio Tomorrow! 

Kenny