Jersey steers

[AliciaM]

I have 2 steers. The tan one, Norman, is full Jersey and the darker one, Gideon, is half jersey and half Holstein. Both are just at a year old. They were raised on goats milk and have been eating local round bales as well as haylage. And they get cob for their grain to keep them happy. Due to the fact that they keep escaping and running around the neighborhood I have to either sell them or butcher them. I’m ok with the smaller amount of meat, but I’m wondering if I do have them butchered, will I still get the “normal” cuts of meat?
If I were to sell them, what would be a good price? I’m in western Washington state.
Thanks for any help.

 

[Alaskan]

They look a bit on the thin side.

But if I wanted to sell them I would simply take them to the local auction house.

 

[farmerjan]

This time of year many of the cattle are looking for green grass, so escapees are not unusual. I have to agree with @Alaskan , they look thin. Have you ever wormed them? Dairy steers seem to often carry a worm load until they get into the 600 lb range and definitely benefit from a worming.
In this area all kinds of steers are up in price. But the only thing you can do is either look on something like craigslist and see if there are any like them and get an idea of price or like alaskan says, just take them to the local livestock sale barn.
You would get the "normal " cuts of meat, but by the looks of them, their yield would be low, and size of the cuts, like steaks would be small.... and I am not sure that it would be worth the cost to get them butchered. We kill our steers at 24-27 months usually. The animals grow frame and bone for the first year or so... then start putting on muscle/meat.... you would have very small cuts of meat and it would not be worth your expense... plus, could you even get a kill date???? Here it is a years' backlog at least. I just got dates in July, Aug and Sept of 2022......

IMO.....Either do a serious fence repair... add electric maybe to knock their socks off... and worm..... and then increase the amount of feed they are getting... or sell them.

 

[Ridgetop]

You didn't mention whether you are giving any kind of grain ration. The Jersey looks way thin - no meat on him I would say. I would take him to the sale yard. Hard to tell with the other one due to dark color in the picture. If his body condition is like the Jersey I would say take them both to the sale yard.

What is the waiting time for a butcher date where you are? How much will your butcher charge for the kill, cut and wrap? How much do your steers weigh? The dress out hanging weight is .56% of the live weight. Actual meat yield is much less. What will the cost of the kill, cut, and wrap equate to per lb. based on the weight of the steers? Since they haven't been on a grain ration, you won't have any marbling which is what makes for tender meat. Do you want to pay that price for stew and hamburger?

Waiting time for a butcher date here it is 4 months and if you miss the date you have another 4 months reschedule time. I am a long time customer and my guy told me to book at least that far ahead. He did fit me in a month off but that was because he had held off on taking any other animals that day so his cutters could catch up and it was a special favor. He has done my work for years and we have a lot of mutual acquaintances/friends. The problem is that a lot of people are buying animals privately and having them butchered because with the Covid problem meat has gone sky high.

Since you are having them get out and need to do something asap, definitely take them to the sale yard. I don't know the prices in your area, but cattle prices are up right now and someone with pasture might buy them to put some grain into them.

Actually, the best time to butcher them would have been at 3 months after keeping them on goat milk for that entire time. Your calves would have weighed 250-300 lbs. and made excellent tender veal. If you have access to goat milk all year, consider buying newborn bull calves and raising them on the goat milk and leftover hay from the goats. Then sell them at the auction around 2 months old. No need to castrate, the buyers will take care of that for you. The only vaccine you should need is pneumonia vaccine since you are not keeping them long enough to worry about other diseases. You will have nothing in them except the cost of the calf and raised on goat milk they should be nice and fat.

If you want to put one in your freezer, keep it on goat milk, add some grain and leftover hay to its diet and butcher around 300-400 lbs. for excellent veal.

 

[AliciaM]

Thanks everyone. The pics are at an odd angle. The butcher came to take care of 2 pigs yesterday and said that even though small, they were both at a good weight. And as he was taking care of the pigs they decided to break free again. So now they are hanging in a freezer. They had a silage bale in front of them all day as well as alfalfa daily and also a hefty amount of grain twice daily. I sold one to a friend, so that is taking care of the fees on the other.

 

[Ridgetop]

Great news!

 

[Baymule]

It is all a learning experience. You can use what you gained for better results next time. We raise several hogs, sell one or two, it pays for what we keep. Same thing with chicken. We eat some very good meat for free. Not bad, I think.

 

[farmerjan]

Glad you got the problem resolved.