Our Steer is Here!

[Simpleterrier]

So 224 lbs of meat processed for around 315 if I did my math eight

 

[Baymule]

It was $617 for the whole steer.

 

[Baymule]

We had rib eye steaks last night. I was pleased with the fat marbling in the meat. It was tender and tasted good. Overall cost was low, sure couldn’t go to the store and buy what we have for what it cost us to buy, raise and have Goldie processed.

 

[Baymule]

Grass fed has yellow fat from the carotene in the grass. I don’t have enough grass to sustain a steer, so he was grain fed.

 

[Mini Horses]

Sure looks yummy!!!

 

[farmerjan]

Very good marbling for that age steer. You did real good.
The fat will also be more yellow on different breeds fo cattle too. Guernseys are always yellowish due to their natural beta carotene in their bodies. That is where the whold Golden Guernsey milk thing got going.... on grass they have a much stronger yellow tint.... but even on grain and silage, their milk has a slight tint from the beta carotene in their system.

 

[Grant]

Better being subjective here...

That’s the key. I like grain fed. I call grass fed beef...bad beef.

 

[farmerjan]

@Crealcritter you are exactly right. Grass fed and finished is a firmer and "harder flesh.... like someone who sits around compared to someone who has an outdoor physical job. Meat is muscle. The flavor comes from what they eat, and grass has more flavor.... there are more CLA's which are better for your body's functions. If it is grass FINISHED properly, with the animal gaining over 2 lbs a day, and the grass providing the nutrients necessary for a good fat cover on the meat, it will be as tender as any grain fed. Most people do not know how to FINISH grass fed animals and do not keep the gain up to do it right. It takes someone very good with grazing/grasses/ and the right kind of grass to finish on. I do not claim to be the best at finishing on grass because it takes very good vegetative growing to do it.
Grain fed will provide the kind of gain to not only put weight on but to also get the animal to marble well. It is more forgiving of the quality of the hay/roughage as it will provide what that does not. The interior marbling is more important to the tenderness of meat than anything.
Animals will finish faster on grain.... there is a much smaller level of CLA's in grain finished meat. You do not have to get the animal to mature as there will be more fat throughout the meat before maturity.... they will put on both meat and fat as well as grow bone.... with grass the bone/body structure will grow first.

Badly finished or not correctly finished grass fed will be tougher..... age has alot to do with toughness too.

I don't think I would like Wagyu beef for the simple fact that it is so "marbled", to look like you are eating half fat.... I don't want meat so "tender" that I can cut a steak with a fork.... I want a firm piece of meat to bite into and chew.... not shoe leather... but I want to have something that does not just "melt in my mouth".

 

[Baymule]

Grass fed beef is a big deal around here. there is even a restaurant in town where a ranch markets their own beef. They make a darn good hamburger. haven't tried their steaks.

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The all grass fed beef that I have had had a good flavor but was kinda tough and chewy. The hamburger, tenderized round steak and roasts that I cooked to falling apart, were very good, all steaks required a good set of teeth.

Which is best? that answer is up to the individual.

With a serious lack of enough grass here, I didn't nave a lot of choice, so had to hay and feed. Having my druthers, I'd druther pasture raise a steer until age 2 years, then pen and feed out for a couple of months to put a good finish on him. For the time I had available to use that particular pen and the feeding schedule I had, I am quite pleased with the results.

 

[Baymule]

@farmerjan I've had wagyu beef and it was a treat, Delicious. I did a reverse sear on it and smoked up the house, giving rise to my mantra, WHEN IT'S SMOKING, ITS COOKING, WHEN IT'S BLACK IT'S DONE.

A friend bought a bunch of it off what I call the dead meat counter, also known as the past selling date meat. He brought us some and I researched how to best prepare it because I didn't want to mess it up. Darn good. Try it if you ever get the chance.