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Grassfed steer

hillsdown

Well-known member
OK I do not want to ruffle feathers as this is a legitimate question.

I have a steer going in on Tues. He will be 24 months old, because of the drought and lack of hay I have just let him graze on pasture with the rest of my cattle instead of the way I usually do it. Pen them, feed free choice hay and get them up to 80-100 lbs of steam rolled barley a day for 2-3 months. I did not want to waste precious expensive hay on him so he stayed with the cattle and therefore there was no way for me to grain him without graining everyone..

Question will I be very disappointed in the meat and should I get only the best cuts like rib and tenderloin and ground beef the rest to make into sausage.

Why so old ? My freezers were still full, it also was booked solid at the prcessors I like to use and I do this breed usually a little later than conventional beef.

Keep in mind I have always done grain finished for us and my family.

Thank you.
 

Justin

Well-known member
FWIW-i don't think you'll be disappointed. i'd cut him up like you normally do. when we have a critter butchered, it comes straight off grass. i'm taking one to town this week, he has been summering with the cows, and i'll go sort him off tomorrow. there is alot of people that think they need 30 plus days of grain before they are butched, but i'm not one of them. alot of people have ate our hamburger, steaks, roasts and nobody could tell if it was grass or grain fed. good luck-you might be suprised....

don't get me wrong, grain fed beef is darn good too :)
 

Denny

Well-known member
He would'nt eat more than 1 1/2 #s of hay with 80 to 100#s of steamed barley.I'm wondering how big they are to eat that much and I bet his asshole is on fire when he shits.
 

Justin

Well-known member
Denny said:
He would'nt eat more than 1 1/2 #s of hay with 80 to 100#s of steamed barley.I'm wondering how big they are to eat that much and I bet his asshole is on fire when he shits.

good point :lol: :lol:
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Hey, you grass beef guys...when we took one in off grass, it seemed like July was the best time. Remember, cattle have to be gaining to be tender...and I don't like tough meat, I don't care how good it tastes.
Tender is king!!!!!
 

Grassfarmer

Well-known member
Depends on your grass - if it was poor he's likely to be tough. I don't think it'll taste anything like something that eats 80-100lbs of grain - but then again I've never tasted elephant :wink:
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
In this country when the grass dries up, so do many
of the nutrients. And dried grass is more undigestible, so they
have to eat more to digest enough.
Yearling guys here sell their yearlings in August and early
Sept. because the rate of gain changes with the grass. They
might gain 3 lbs or more a day May-mid July or maybe even Aug.1;
after than they don't gain so good, so they know to get rid of them.
That 3 lb. gain might be 2 lb average when they sell in August
because of the grass curve.
How could it be any different in Canada?
 

Justin

Well-known member
Faster horses said:
Hey, you grass beef guys...when we took one in off grass, it seemed like July was the best time. Remember, cattle have to be gaining to be tender...and I don't like tough meat, I don't care how good it tastes.
Tender is king!!!!!

i can't speak for Hillsdown's steer, but your sure my steer isn't gaining :???: i kinda think he is :wink: we normally butcher this time of year, and haven't had any problems with it being tough.
 

hillsdown

Well-known member
Thanks for the unique responses everyone. :)
He will weigh close to 1800lbs now..

If you knew the breed then you would know they can eat and digest everything they are fed and do very well on high protein ,they are also extremely well marbled and tender.

Wait until I tell you how I finished Voodoo last year. I had some cattle near his pen so he was kept company but I moved them so he got very lonely and stopped eating like pig. I ended up mixing molasses and cut up apples in his grain every day so he would eat. When I ran out of apples from my trees I put a bull calf in with him to keep him company, the calf was too little to reach the grain table so Voodoo was kept company and ate all of his grain. The day he needed to go I loaded up the stock trailer he followed me right in, gave my cheek a big sloppy kiss and off to the processors he went. Sad to see him go ,but have you ever had beef that tasted like apple brown betty ? :lol: :p
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Mr. FH when he was young at still at home, his folks had a steer that
they put in an apple orchard. He ate the downfalls, and they said
that was the best beef they had ever eaten.

So I reckon yours was really good too.
 

burnt

Well-known member
Hillsdown, we had three on feed here this spring and when we took 2 to the butcher shop, the third one pretty well stopped eating. He must have lost almost 50 lbs in the next couple of weeks.

Until I finally brought a poor-doing heifer calf in from the field and then he went right back to eating like a horse! Took right off and finished really nicely.

Along the same line, we raised 12 turkeys one summer and took all but two to get dressed and the other two died in less than a week!! Talk about the extreme effects of grieving!!
 

Grassfarmer

Well-known member
Faster horses said:
In this country when the grass dries up, so do many
of the nutrients. And dried grass is more undigestible, so they
have to eat more to digest enough.
Yearling guys here sell their yearlings in August and early
Sept. because the rate of gain changes with the grass. They
might gain 3 lbs or more a day May-mid July or maybe even Aug.1;
after than they don't gain so good, so they know to get rid of them.
That 3 lb. gain might be 2 lb average when they sell in August
because of the grass curve.
How could it be any different in Canada?

I can assure you it's quite different on my place FH, can't speak for all of Canada. In our climate September is the month that really puts the finish on our steers. I like meadow brome the best but many of the tame grasses here really improve when they start getting light frosts in September as it concentrates the sugars above ground and makes for a very high energy feed. We can produce dairy quality grass right into October here that the cattle will gain on as well as any July grass - plus it's cooler and no flies which tend to hold back gains earlier in the year. Incidentally October is known as "butcher month" in much of Europe - it's recognised there as the only month to harvest grass fed cattle and that's pretty much what we do here. October will generally be the time moose and deer are the fattest too - ready for winter.
 

Nicky

Well-known member
I'm just curious...but did you really mean 80 -100 lbs of grain/day?

And...are you going to tell us what breed he is?[/b]
 

Denny

Well-known member
Nicky said:
I'm just curious...but did you really mean 80 -100 lbs of grain/day?

And...are you going to tell us what breed he is?[/b]

Even cheap feed its still $6 a day $360 for 60 days uffda.
 

mrj

Well-known member
hillsdown, you didn't mention length of aging after slaughter. Wouldn't that also have considerable effect on tenderness, maybe even flavor of the beef?

We rarely eat beef less than 30 months, native prairie pastured, excepting in rare event of a short feed on whatever grain we may have purchased, whether oats, corn, distillers dried grain product, etc.

About the worst problem has been some toughness, not really bad, which can be countered with proper cooking, maybe helped along by some tenderizing marinade for a steak.

Some people find such 'mature' beef more 'gamey' than they are accustomed to buying in stores, but generally rave about the great flavor of 'home grown' beef when eating here.

Apparently several of us are pretty curious about the breed. Hope you will share more details after the meat has been sampled. And best of luck with the outcome being to your liking.

mrj
 

hillsdown

Well-known member
It is Holstein and I have done many many, lots and lots . I have had them graded as well.. Puts alot of "beef" to shame.

He won't be gamey unless the grass finished makes him. I will see, when he get processed and how he looks.


Thanks everyone for your help ..:)
 

RobertMac

Well-known member
HD, you picture gave you away. :wink: Your green/growing forage quality in Canada should be good enough to produce you some good beef. It may and probably will taste different, but different doesn't mean "gamey".
 
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