Farmer Kitty
True BYH Addict
This is an excerpt from: THE BACKYARD HOMESTEAD Edited by Carleen Madigan
If your raising a calf to butcher, you will probably want to let it grow to good size. Some folks like baby beef (from a calf at weaning age), but if you have enough pasture to raise your calf through it second summer, you will get a lot more meat for your money by letting it grow bigger. The ideal age at which to butcher a steer or heifer is 1 1/2 to 2 years. At that age, the animal is young enough to be tender and is nearly as large as it will get. Butchering at the end of summer or in the fall, before you have to feed hay again during winter, makes the grass-fed beef animal economical to raise.
The breed of the animal can be a factor in determining when it is ready to butcher. Beef animals generally do not marble until they reach puberty (or in the case of a steer, the age at which he would have reached puberty if he had been a bull). Different breeds mature at different ages. Angus and Angus-cross cattle often rech puberty at a younger age (and a smaller weight) than do larger-framed cattle, such as Simmental,Charolais, and Limousin.
An Angus-type beef calf may finish faster and be ready to butcher when it is a yearling or a little older. If you feed it longer, it may not get much bigger, just fatter. A Simmental calf, in contrast, may still be growing and not fill out (carry enough flesh to be in good butchering condiion) until it is at least two years old.
Thus, the ideal age at which to butcher your beef animal depends on its breed and on whether it is grass fed or gain fed. Cattle will grow faster and finish more quickly on grain, but at greater cost. Whether you feed grain depends on personal preference (some people prefer grain-fed beef to grass-finished beef, and vice versa) and your situation. If you have lots of pasture, raising grass-fed beef is usually most economical.
End excerpt.
We get the the question of when to butcher frequently and I hope this will be of help to those of you asking this quesiton.
If your raising a calf to butcher, you will probably want to let it grow to good size. Some folks like baby beef (from a calf at weaning age), but if you have enough pasture to raise your calf through it second summer, you will get a lot more meat for your money by letting it grow bigger. The ideal age at which to butcher a steer or heifer is 1 1/2 to 2 years. At that age, the animal is young enough to be tender and is nearly as large as it will get. Butchering at the end of summer or in the fall, before you have to feed hay again during winter, makes the grass-fed beef animal economical to raise.
The breed of the animal can be a factor in determining when it is ready to butcher. Beef animals generally do not marble until they reach puberty (or in the case of a steer, the age at which he would have reached puberty if he had been a bull). Different breeds mature at different ages. Angus and Angus-cross cattle often rech puberty at a younger age (and a smaller weight) than do larger-framed cattle, such as Simmental,Charolais, and Limousin.
An Angus-type beef calf may finish faster and be ready to butcher when it is a yearling or a little older. If you feed it longer, it may not get much bigger, just fatter. A Simmental calf, in contrast, may still be growing and not fill out (carry enough flesh to be in good butchering condiion) until it is at least two years old.
Thus, the ideal age at which to butcher your beef animal depends on its breed and on whether it is grass fed or gain fed. Cattle will grow faster and finish more quickly on grain, but at greater cost. Whether you feed grain depends on personal preference (some people prefer grain-fed beef to grass-finished beef, and vice versa) and your situation. If you have lots of pasture, raising grass-fed beef is usually most economical.
End excerpt.
We get the the question of when to butcher frequently and I hope this will be of help to those of you asking this quesiton.
to me.
I just listed them the way they are listed in the book.
