Researching to raise cattle for meat - Need help on butchering

Michael & Donna

Chillin' with the herd
Joined
Oct 20, 2015
Messages
29
Reaction score
30
Points
46
Any tips from experienced people on this board for butchering calves? What's the best age for the most tender meat? And any do's and don't's? My hubby is a pro at chicken, deer and hogs, but we are trying to decide if we can handle doing a steer or calf. We are learning as much as possible before investing in some bull calves from a dairy farm. Want to make sure we know what we are getting into, but interested in raising our own grass fed beef.
 

goatgurl

Herd Master
Joined
May 22, 2014
Messages
2,048
Reaction score
3,977
Points
343
Location
Arklahoma
first realize that everyone as their own favorite way of raising their own beef and you'll need to decide which will be best for you. for many years i have raised bottle calves that i fed my excess goats milk and that has worked well for me. after the calf is weaned i turn them out with the goats to graze and give them a little grain every few days to keep them coming when i call them and keep them tame and easy to work with. I'm a 65 year old lady and if it isn't friendly and easy to take care of it doesn't stay here. i keep them on just grass pasture until they are about 18 to 24 months old and then take them to be butchered. a lot of people will put a steer in a lot and feed them a lot of grain to 'fatten them up' but i never have. i don't eat the fat on a beef and have found that if you just grass feed them and then butcher them in the fall when the green grass is decreasing but is still good forage for them they are really nice and tender. back in the day we did all of the butchering ourselves but now that its just me i really can't do it all. even when we did all the butchering we would still take them to be hung and cut up because i like the flavor of beef that is aged for 10 + days. if your hubby can butcher a hog or a deer he can do a beef. same thing, just bigger. hope this helps.
 

Michael & Donna

Chillin' with the herd
Joined
Oct 20, 2015
Messages
29
Reaction score
30
Points
46
Thank you for your information. This is a new venture for us. We are heading slowly towards being homesteaders. Trying to be as informed as possible before jumping in :) We are building our house (all the labor is me and him) by paying cash as we go, so it's slow, but getting us closer to our dream of being self sufficient. After the house is finished we can put all our time and effort into the animals.
 

animalmom

Herd Master
Joined
Dec 19, 2009
Messages
1,958
Reaction score
2,231
Points
343
Location
North Central Texas
Howdy and welcome to BYH!

We butcher our own chicken, goat and rabbit, but a steer is too big for us to handle. We like to take the steers to a butcher in the next county as he doesn't fight us over hanging/aging the beef; 30 days as long as there is enough fat on the body... but that's really a personal taste. We also like that this butcher vacuum seals each cut so it lasts longer in the freezer.

You do realize we would love to see pictures of your house building! Please and thank you!!
 

Michael & Donna

Chillin' with the herd
Joined
Oct 20, 2015
Messages
29
Reaction score
30
Points
46
So if you butcher your own cattle, how do you "age" the meat? I've learned with chickens to leave them in fridge for several days before freezing or in salt water brine for a few days before cooking. But how do you age beef at home?
 

Latestarter

Novice; "Practicing" Animal Husbandry
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2014
Messages
11,384
Reaction score
17,481
Points
623
Location
NE Texas
If you don't have a walk in refer space, it's best to do your butchering when it's colder weather... That way you can let it hang for a while. I've never done a cow but with deer and elk we'd haul it up (whole - gutted) in the garage or a nice strong tree if it was cold enough outside. We'd also leave the hide on to protect the outer meat (generally where we hunt it's near freezing or below, so with the body cavity opened, the carcass chills down pretty fast). We'd also try to have it under/near evergreens or some other way to keep direct sun off it. For an animal the size of a cow or elk, 10-14 days would be a minimum, with 20 days being about the ideal, at a temp between 33-38 degrees. The aging process stops if the meat freezes, and there's always the chance of spoilage if the temp goes much above 40 for any prolonged period. Some say you should age longer, but "evidence suggests" the amount of flavor/tenderness change after about 20 days is pretty minor and you lose more moisture from drying out. If you age for a shorter period, you should try to at least go several days past the rigor stage to let the muscles stretch back out some. If you butcher during rigor, you'll have some pretty tough meat.

You might call a few meat stores/processors/butchers and see if you can rent some cooler space from them. If not, maybe they can point you in the right direction. If you go in on it with a few neighbors (multiple cows) you might could rent a "short box" refer trailer for a month. Then you could quarter them and hang them and even set up a butcher table inside when the time comes. Of course you'll need power to it to keep the refer working. I suppose you could build a walk in cooler, insulate it very well and use a right sized window air conditioner mounted up high in one wall. Don't know that you'd be able to get the space down to 33 degrees, but you might be able to get it under 40.

@animalmom above has a pretty ideal set-up as her butcher will let her hang her beef as long as she prefers (30 days) and then package it for her the way she likes... Vacuum packed vice waxed paper wrapping... no contest there! You can't really beat that. Now, if you can find one that will flash freeze the cuts after butchering for you, then you just need a cooler (or 2 or 3) to haul it all home and transfer to your freezer. I've found that placing several hundred pounds of meat in the freezer at one time it's hard to separate it enough for it all to freeze fast enough. I've gone in a week later and the outside is a rock and the meat packed inside the pile still hasn't frozen fully. :eek:
 

animalmom

Herd Master
Joined
Dec 19, 2009
Messages
1,958
Reaction score
2,231
Points
343
Location
North Central Texas
Like @Latestarter mentioned, my butcher does a great service. The butcher does the freezing too so we pick up frozen vacuum packed pieces that are nicely labeled too.

I've only seen one homestead that had their own "aging room", and they built it themselves. But what the heck what one person can do so can another sufficiently determined person. The room I saw was very well insulated, the door was 6' thick, and that was suppose to keep the meat cool enough for however long you needed. I don't recall if that set up had any mechanical means of chilling the room... I'm leaning to it not as I am not conjuring up any room cooling equipment. It wasn't a place to open and hang out in, so to speak, but rather a place to go, carve off a roast and close back up.

My butcher says the length of aging is determined by the amount of fat, little fat short aging. He ages our beef 30 days whereas he ages the goats 10-14 days.

Something that @Latestarter mentions really is key to keeping your meat well and that is how quickly you can get the pieces completely frozen. Doesn't matter how good your meat is if it is not frozen quickly and thoroughly. Few of us have the equipment to do that... freeze quick and completely.

I do hope you keep us posted on what you decide to do, and how you implemented it, as I would be very surprised to find there were not others out here looking for the same info.
 

OneFineAcre

Herd Master
Joined
Dec 28, 2012
Messages
9,139
Reaction score
10,265
Points
633
Location
Zebulon, NC
My wife's dad raises beef cattle
All of his are on pasture until the last 6 weeks and he then puts them on a small lot and feeds corn
Nice marbeling and flavor at least that's how we prefer our beef
He takes to a small local slaughter house where they age and vacuum package and quick freeze the meat
 

OneFineAcre

Herd Master
Joined
Dec 28, 2012
Messages
9,139
Reaction score
10,265
Points
633
Location
Zebulon, NC
image.jpeg
Worked all day Labor Day cleaning barn
Last day off
Beef Brisket is what's for dinner
From my FIL
 
Top