When dealing with cattle your hanging weight may be 60% of live weight, but then you have the bone to meat ratio which further reduces what you get back as usable meat. Every breed of cow, and age of cow will have different ratios regarding hanging weight, and meat to bone ratios. For the average cow, a 45% ratio of marketable meat is average according to my research. If you do all the bone in cuts possible, and get all your remaining bones back for soups, excluding the bones surrounding the central nervous system. You can use those usable bones for soup stock by making real bone broth, which is used in quality cooking, is very healthy and nutritious; then any leftover bone material after making real bone broth can be feed to your dogs, or buried deep in your garden like a long lasting bone meal, if you don't feel like crushing the softened bones up. When you use all the byproducts a cow offers, it saves money all around, and provides better nutrition for your family, even years down the road if you don't waist those valuable resources. The hide, the bones, and most of the byproducts have beneficial applications if actually utalized. Even the gut pile and unusable bones immediately surrounding the central nervous system, can be buried deep in the ground where you plan on planting a fruit tree in the next year or so. The contents of the gut is mostly compost in the making, so after a full year of breaking down, it leaves the ground very fertile with all the nutrients for a tree to grow and produce well in. You have to think outside the box, and get old school, if you want to make the most of everything, and it definitely pays off in the end! Maybe even consider processing the cow yourself as much as possible, and just having the butcher do the few things you can't do yourself.
I butcher 3 to 4 deer every fall, and am going to get two heifers in the spring with one stear. If you have a front end loader you should just butcher it yourself. Get a buddy and make it a family day. You will get more that meat.
Hey Dutch, that is a good price considering the variety of cuts of meat. Tri-tip and skirt steak will easily run $5.99 and up. Going in half with someone to raise the cow/steer is a good idea too. Great video!
It's about the same with raising chickens. We get plenty of eggs but the cost to up keep them, as far as food goes, we don't get our money's worth. We let them free range so that helps. I do love having fresh eggs, so we keep on raising them. Thanks for sharing😃
Dutch, thanks for the video. Serves to remind people that you can raise your livestock and know what goes in, but as soon as you hand it over to someone else, you're never certain what comes out. Decades ago, we had a guy that I busted for shorting my beef, by about 60# of meat, mostly steak and hamburger. I got it back after an irate phone call and threats of having a police investigation - either way he was going to lose business because of the suspicion. A few years later he lost his processing license after it was discovered that he had kept the beef from a butchering and gave the family mule meat instead - the owner noticed that it didn't taste right. The butcher became a preacher some years later, and got caught stealing sermons from other preachers - almost verbatim. If you know how to process a deer, processing a cow or pig isn't that different. Done 'em all, you just have to make sure your livestock goes 24 hours without food to make the processing less offensive - if you know what I mean. : )
Wow, what a story! I'm glad to hear that this character lost his processing licence. He sounds like a con man. I hate hearing that people are being cheated.😤
We've raised 4 cows bought when they were baby's so we bottled fed them they got up to 1200 lbs. Sold 3 ate 1. When it comes to butchers you ask around, but we live and learn.
Good stuff Brother nothing better then fresh farm raised beef. Store bought and restuants suck. Their beef has no flavor! It's missing that beef flavour. I bought a stand up freezer and bought my first Black Angus. I help a buddy on his grass fed farm 3 days a week after work. The freezer wasn't cheap but it was the best investment I ever made. I believe some people don't buy fresh meat cause they don't have the freezer space. It is cheaper and healthier in the long run. Yummy Yummy shot out to all the farmers across the country.
The cost adds up quick, if you grain finish or only grass feed is a big difference. I have one cousin that only grain finishes and one that only grass feeds. There's a big difference in the taste. We always grass fed ours growing up and home butchered, very little waste that way.
A BIG PLUS You know the meat is Quality. You know what he was fed on, You know he was healthy, well cared for and Happy. Not like the meat from Walmart . Makes an enormous difference in your families health
Good video Dutch! $5 may sound high to some people but for the mixture you got, I would say it's pretty good. I was buying a few steaks the other day and couldn't believe some of the prices. Steaks ranged from $7-15 per pound! My parents raised cattle so I grew up eating steak fairly often, but now that I am on my own, they are a delicacy! I'll be glad when my land is fenced and I can start raising my own cattle again! I'm getting tired of chicken and turkey. Lol
Good deal Dutch, that's a lot of meat in the freezer for sure!! I've eaten fresh slaughtered pig before and I'd never buy store bought bacon again!! Thanks for sharing how it turned out!! Dan
I'm a 75 year old woman and I would ask for my skin back my head back my bones back my innards except except for the guts and intestines and have him weigh it back on the scale you can use the bones for soup for your dogs or animals at all that waste then you know if he's cheating you ot not
I think people should start learning how to butcher it themselves. Get some friends and family together and learn how. From what I hear around our area is it is so difficult to even get an appointment for processing. We am trying to learn more about doing it ourselves. Thanks for the video.
I grew up on a small farm similar to yours. We raised a lot of calves. The breed makes a lot of difference on yield. Angus are high yield, Holstein low and a wide variety in between, mixes really throw a wrench in the projection. Knowing breeds help a lot and what are dominate genes on mix breeds. Works for milk or meat. We killed or old Black Angus bull when he was no longer useful for breeding and ate T-bones till we where tired of them. Over 1000 lbs of processed meat.
Also While harder to work with, big chest freezers are cheaper to buy and run. In the event of power outage they hold the cold longer and when power is out you can wrap them with blankets or other insulation. They hold more than an upright of the same size.
Thanks for the video, Kevin and I have been talking about going in and getting half a cow but we didn't know if it would be cost effective. Thanks also for letting us know about the different weights and how much it should weigh at the end, that's good information for someone who's new to this.
Also depends what you ask for. If you don't ask for the head, tongue, bones, organs, leaf lard, tail, etc. that drops the weight of what you receive way down. Very healthy stuff from nose to tail!
There are good reasons to raise your own beef. Your butcher can be changed, no problem. I trust your judgment for your family's best interest. Good job.
Homegrown tastes the very best! We bought part of a beef splitting it with several families. It was grass fed and delicious! Best steaks, hamburger meat, etc we had ever eaten. So much better take the grocery stores!
Keeping It Dutch obviously easy to get upset that you didn't get what you wanted out of it and the butcher could have done better. Yet, what you learned is with you for a lifetime. The value of learning never stops and those are lessons you can pass on to others like you did to us. Thank you for all your time and effort. It doesn't go unnoticed or unappreciated. Funny thing is I'm a NYC boy now but my roots are in the country where I grew up. Your channel makes me feel connected to home in odd way. LOL! Cheers!
Hi Dutch... yep sounds like you got cheated pretty good, due to lack of experience or whatever was going on at the processors. We have had that issue in the past when a new family took over the processing place where we had always went.... most of it was due to the people not knowing what they was doing and wasting alot of the cuts, plus they had some shady people working there they later found out was stealing behind there backs... it happens but it stinks. I do agree with you though, I still would invest in it just due to knowing what and where your meat comes from. Thanks for sharing.
I worked in the beef industry for 8 years and as a supervisor. Strictly on the kill floor side. We had to calibrate our scale every month to insure accurate weight. And i don't Know if you were able to look at the carcass after the skinning and removal of the viscera. But if unskilled employees skinned it or busted the intestines/stomach that could cause major loss of yields. Then on the fabrication side you can have to yield loss if employees leave to much meat on the Bones, or cut into the meat when removing the fat. Anyways sorry for your bad experience brother
We get ours butchered as well. Always around 60% sometimes the cuts you want can cause a little waste. If your not happy I would go somewhere else. Never heard of getting that low of a yield weight
I had the same experience on a beef we got a couple years ago, didn’t taste just right. Figured we’d try one more time and that beef was awesome as was the one from this year. The first one tasted kinda old or something. As far as our butcher, I kinda have my suspicions on the types of cuts of meat we get, so this year we’re gonna have a little talk before he butchers our steer and see what up. Hopefully he’s not pulling some shenanigans, he’s a big ol tough cowboy type and I’d sure hate to have my face run repeatedly into his fist over this, but I’m payin on it and I ain’t gonna take no toro poopoo on this deal. Enjoyed your video, esaw you’ve got your very own troll. Sounds like a common day soy boy vegan who’s pissed he can’t have a good old rib bone to chew on. Cowboy up your man, stay good!
You know, the types of grasses and forbes a cow grazes on effects meat-taste, too. If your cousin has different species in his pasture than you, his beef's gonna taste different than yours. Example: When you mow grass, lawns that have more rye-grass smell peppery while fescue smells plain-green and bluegrass smells sweet-green like watermelon. That smell when you mow - translates into flavor of a beef. Also whatever plants are dried into the round-bales you buy, and whatever shrubs and trees the beef can browse from. And more corn and molasses/sugars in the grain makes a more buttery taste.
I think you should do the meat processing your self its fun, my dad taught me how to when i was 12 years old, its something very important and also i like to do it , i ll do with any type of animal, cow, goat, sheep, hogs etc, plus you got to keep the skin !!!!!
I bought a fourth of a cow several years ago. It turned out the steer was leaner than the farmer thought so we just had everything ground into burger. Best burger ever.
We use to go in 3rds on hogs with friends but haven't done it in a couple of yrs. Did the cow from ur cousin's taste grassy or have a green taste? If it did it's bc he didn't put it up and only feed it grains and hay bout mth before having it butchered. Well I'm with ya on how u feed ur family. We do the same when we can. Meat looks good.
Ouch 46% Hey if you don't try to you'll never know. I'd try it one more time and use another butcher to see if you get closer to the 60% and you'll definitely know if the butcher screwed you guys. Thanks Dutch
Lone Star Living you might have some success by finding a farmer that sells directly to the consumer and tell them that you'd like to buy half a cow from the next butcher. They do that as fairly standard practice.
that is Awesome,id love to know what was in my food,and when you go to the grocery store you have no idea what you are getting. Thats why i try to eat alot of vegetables,but i love meat,and i remember going to the smoke house to get a slab of bacon oh my goodness good eating.that was our way of life we had a big family and we raised meat with my aunt and uncle.
I've been hesitant to do this because I only need the cheaper hamburger and some roasts. I don't need the expensive steaks that will end up making me pay more than I would if I just stick with buying ground beef and an occasional roast from the grocery store or butcher shop. Local ground beef has always been $5-6 a pound at the cheapest (grocery has been $1.99-2.50) but with the significant price increases on beef right now, I'd hate to see what the local prices are. I used to buy a little bit here and there just to support local farmers but I can't afford to pay double or triple, especially for meat that feels and tastes no different than what I can get from the grocery store.
I'm a butcher sounds a little low. Lots of bone in dairy beef. I bone all my deer and boneless you don't get much but it doesn't take up room in freezer. I'm going to have a steer this year curious to see how I do I'm going to process him myself.
What a terrible spot to be in, having to eat steak to make room for pork... LOL You poor thing ! The steak shot looks awesome... So... Where exactly do you keep the key to that freezer ???
Wal-Mart buys meat from the cheapest countries, so it should make u want to really question where does that meat come from, it's not fresh, there are no butcher's at Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart doesn't care about community or customers. Don't shop there for anything.
Hi there. Curious did the 810$ include buying the steer, feed, supplements and butchering costs? Also, I run an Abbatoir here in southern Ontario Canada and we find the average yield is about 66%. That’s on a nicely finished beef. Up to as high as 72% on a lean beef bull and down to as low as 40% on an old dairy cow.
when i was a kid i fattened a gilt, dad took it down to the local butcher he said there was a old boar hog in the pen with ours. most rancid tasting meat we ever had! i think all of it went to the dogs lol also my great uncle used to have all of his beef ground into burger and all pork into sausage. tell me that butcher was grinding up steaks! lol
I live in a studio apartment it can be done but you must be ready for the animals bowel habits and be Johnny on the spot with shovel and bucket in the hallways in my building as well as weight restrictions on elevater, although I will admit the cow pies give the place a more homey rural look.😛
For your sake @keepingitdutch look up All The Cuts You get from a Cow on youtube , and they break it down and show you the no waste amount you should get just from one half . Its beautiful. Also for anyone interested !! Here is a Beef Certified PDF below On Why beef tastes or smells a certain way, and how the food the cow eats affects its meat and makes it smell or taste that peculiar way. www.beefissuesquarterly.com/CMDocs/BeefResearch/PE_Executive_Summaries/The_Chemistry_of_Beef_Flavor.pdf
Average is 42 percent. Take total weight minus 42%. Or another way to figure it is 62% of the total on the hoof weight. Then take 67% of the hang weight gives you the total meat take home. The 42% of total hoof weight should be close to the 62 / 67 percent method. Looks like you were shorted between 80-110 lbs conservatively.
You should contact the very nice gentleman from the channel, "Back to the Basics 101. He's a rancher and might be able to answer questions and help you cut feed costs.
Obviously I'm beating a dead horse here, since other people have pointed it out, but I hope you use a different butcher in the future! You got scammed out of a LOT of meat. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this video, though! I plan on buying land and setting up a small homestead in the next 5-ish years. Some egg chickens, meat chickens, hogs, cattle. I MIGHT try growing some vegetables but lord knows I can barely grow grass. Keep up the good work!
Kai Randall yes we use someone else. Hope you get your homestead going sooner then later you will love it. Thanks a lot for watching. Hope you subscribed
Yeah. You're correct you should have got at least 60% Back and his scales and his help coming and going I'd go find me a packing plant with experience to help people that continue to come to work you know I'll ask around stuff like this what Farmers talk about getting back to home grown meat I'll probably have a lot of people disagree with this but I'm going to say it anyway you really want to taste some good home-grown meat put your stock on Purina Chow got a flavor you won't find anywhere else good luck man I hope you find better meat packer
Did I hear you right 350lbs out of 1000lb steer ..... they easily kept 250lbs ..... I have raised lean Longhorns and still get 600 out of a thousand pounds... definitely wouldn't give them business.... Dutch you ever come through Paris texas
Dutch I think part of the problem is that we got used to store bought meat full of crap to make it look and taste good. I prefer the "real deal" myself....home grown.
The diet of the animal affects the taste of the meat. I won't buy Walmart beef because it to me tends to be tough and doesn't taste right. I live in Iowa and for my money corn fed beef is far better than grass fed. Heck Midwest grass fed tastes different than say California grass fed. So nutritionally beef may be beef but that doesn't carry over to taste. Also I doubt the butcher is wasting that much meat from your cow. They are skimming and skimming a lot!
Thx for sharing I am curious what happened to the ribs they should be just awesome. I hope you got some. After reading all the responses sounds like you need to process yourself or find somebody else to deal with that end of it. I must admit I am a little jealous looking at all that beef but you do have a beautiful family to feed. Take care from Calgary Alberta.
If you can, you should buy the saws, grinders, staffers and the equipment to do your own slaughter. If you don't know how to do that, you can learn and it will be a great experience for you.
That's disappointing. We're thinking about getting a feeder steer this spring, raising to mostly on pasture, and splitting with our sons. I'm wondering if it'll be worth it - darn.
Dutch...can u grow your own animal feed? That'll save money, butcher it yourself, more money saved. The pieces you can't eat or don't want can be cooked down & mixed with dog food or chow for the pigs...just an idea. Love your channel
You killed it to young. Thats why you didnt get much back. I usually get it to come out from $1 to $2.25 per lb.. Adding in feed is killing you on cost. Let them eat grass/hay only. You'd save tons.
The same thing happened to me,my nephew gave me some beef from a steer he had done, and I put a roast in the crock pot and it had a smell while cooking and I tasted it when it was done, I haven't eaten anymore after that and I still have 10 more packages in the freezer, if you know why or what this is from...help because I'd hate to have to throw out all that beef, maybe I should cook it the same as deer meat maybe that would help
Curious... I’m new to all this so of course I have questions... Man, if your steer weighs 1,000 pounds, but you only get 300 pounds back out of it, do you have the option of keeping some waste at all? Say for dog/animal food? Bones for broth, etc... I mean, if you can afford the gear and learn how to process your animals properly, wouldn’t that be an advantage of doing it yourself? I just would hate to know soooooo much is going to waste 😭. Thanks for sharing! Jenn Stone Seven Sprouts Homestead LLC Nicholls, GA
XxJennRNxX yeah it would be best to processes yourself for sure, and yes you can keep bone and all that if you wanted to. When we do this again will be doing a few things different. Man the meat was awesome just didn't get back what we should have.
They probably just bought a whole bunch of Walmart meat when it goes on sale due to best by dates then repackaged it giving it to you then enjoying the meats of your labor by keeping your quality homestead raised natural super tasty and of course lacking all those Frankenstein chemicals used in industrial operations, a dishonest processor might just do this .......
Someone said meat that tastes funny has a rancid fat (from sitting to long) or is a mixture of other meats by not cleaning before going to the next animal to be processed. That was for deer, but thought I'd throw it out there to you to have it to look into if ever needed. We took our deer to a different butcher one year because ours had a ton of deer to process. The taste was hard to eat and some we didn't. It was like, get Mikey, he'll eat anything. No one wanted to get it out and cook it even. Yeah, bad. Fed it to our dogs.
Yeah, that yield sounds way low! Did you get all the bones, fat, and organ meats as well? If not, you should have. The only thing I would have let them keep would have been the digestive track and maybe the head and hide (not sure about the hide).
I really would like to butcher a hog. Ive been butchering deer for years. I noticed i was getting a significant amount more from me doing it vs the processers. Id like to compare me butchering a hog vs the butcher for a comparison. Ive tried to learn the best butcher practices from local clubs and youtubers. Def sounds like you got took a little. Ill be adding you on snap in a sec!
Right on. all you need is a chainsaw cut then up into manageable pieces and it's just like a deer. .Im frugal when I clean a deer even if we got twelve.
Oh Dutch, you got taken to the cleaners buddy. BIG TIME. We butchered our own meat all the years of growing up. We always got back on average 40% of standing weight. That is live weight. so you should have gotten back 400 pounds of beef. I understand it will depend on the fat ratio but anything less that 350 pounds and I would have been pitching a fit. There is no way on Gods green earth, there was only 150 pounds of bring home meat on that animal . A friend of ours has had a couple of beef cows done in the last year and he said his didnt cost him more that a buck eighty a pound , total cost from purchase , feed to processor. I would for sure do some shopping around for a new processor when time to take Jesse in. Sorry buddy . Hate to see anyone taken advantage of.
I just paid $1,260 for a half an Angus/Shorthorn steer from a family member that was taken in at 1200 on hoof. I paid way over market. Meat is delicious but that is way too expensive.
I'm not sure where you are from, but I live in Minnesota and all I hear about is how grass feed beef is so great and it's the best beef. well being from up north grass feed beef does not taste good at all. you raise them up on grass and then the last month you add grain in their diet and to us that's the best beef you can get. so I guess it all depends on who and how they raise it. next I grew up on a farm and always had animals butchered and if I understand how you are explaining it I feel like you got shorted, but again there is many different ways to butcher and did you get certain things
Many times the USDA will condemn carcasses and portions of specific carcasses for various reasons. Worms and pneumonia are two common reasons for beef carcasses to be condemned. If you desire your hogs to be scalded they must not have mange or the inspector will condem it. Was a butcher for 7 years so I'm not exactly uninformed on this issue.
25 yrs ago my late husband and I would grow out a cow and pig once ever so often. It helped us feed our family.
When dealing with cattle your hanging weight may be 60% of live weight, but then you have the bone to meat ratio which further reduces what you get back as usable meat. Every breed of cow, and age of cow will have different ratios regarding hanging weight, and meat to bone ratios. For the average cow, a 45% ratio of marketable meat is average according to my research. If you do all the bone in cuts possible, and get all your remaining bones back for soups, excluding the bones surrounding the central nervous system. You can use those usable bones for soup stock by making real bone broth, which is used in quality cooking, is very healthy and nutritious; then any leftover bone material after making real bone broth can be feed to your dogs, or buried deep in your garden like a long lasting bone meal, if you don't feel like crushing the softened bones up. When you use all the byproducts a cow offers, it saves money all around, and provides better nutrition for your family, even years down the road if you don't waist those valuable resources. The hide, the bones, and most of the byproducts have beneficial applications if actually utalized. Even the gut pile and unusable bones immediately surrounding the central nervous system, can be buried deep in the ground where you plan on planting a fruit tree in the next year or so. The contents of the gut is mostly compost in the making, so after a full year of breaking down, it leaves the ground very fertile with all the nutrients for a tree to grow and produce well in. You have to think outside the box, and get old school, if you want to make the most of everything, and it definitely pays off in the end! Maybe even consider processing the cow yourself as much as possible, and just having the butcher do the few things you can't do yourself.
DIY Gardener I may have to butcher myself to get it all back for sure.
Spot on,Very well said.Waste nothing.
Great advice
You would at this slaughter house butchers . Best cuts go straight home with them...trust no one not even your wives.
Great explanation.
I butcher 3 to 4 deer every fall, and am going to get two heifers in the spring with one stear. If you have a front end loader you should just butcher it yourself. Get a buddy and make it a family day. You will get more that meat.
Daniel, God is my judge I know for sure, we butcher all our deer also, I built a walk in cooler so I can hang them for a few days.
@@KeepingItDutch how much did a walk in cooler cost to build,? What size? What kind of cooling unit?
He processed that right into his freezer and sold some.
Wow 4yrs ago . I came across this gem. Back in the early days. God bless.
Hey Dutch, that is a good price considering the variety of cuts of meat. Tri-tip and skirt steak will easily run $5.99 and up. Going in half with someone to raise the cow/steer is a good idea too. Great video!
It's about the same with raising chickens. We get plenty of eggs but the cost to up keep them, as far as food goes, we don't get our money's worth. We let them free range so that helps. I do love having fresh eggs, so we keep on raising them. Thanks for sharing😃
I use to love having my chicken and using the eggs and sharing eggs with the family
Dutch, thanks for the video. Serves to remind people that you can raise your livestock and know what goes in, but as soon as you hand it over to someone else, you're never certain what comes out.
Decades ago, we had a guy that I busted for shorting my beef, by about 60# of meat, mostly steak and hamburger. I got it back after an irate phone call and threats of having a police investigation - either way he was going to lose business because of the suspicion.
A few years later he lost his processing license after it was discovered that he had kept the beef from a butchering and gave the family mule meat instead - the owner noticed that it didn't taste right. The butcher became a preacher some years later, and got caught stealing sermons from other preachers - almost verbatim.
If you know how to process a deer, processing a cow or pig isn't that different. Done 'em all, you just have to make sure your livestock goes 24 hours without food to make the processing less offensive - if you know what I mean. : )
Wow, what a story! I'm glad to hear that this character lost his processing licence. He sounds like a con man. I hate hearing that people are being cheated.😤
We've raised 4 cows bought when they were baby's so we bottled fed them they got up to 1200 lbs. Sold 3 ate 1. When it comes to butchers you ask around, but we live and learn.
They are stealing from you. Know your butcher or do it yourself
I do my own and it’s not hard it’s just very time consuming
Thank you for the video Dutch! My mouth is watering from seeing the steak. I hope it was as good as it looked.
Glenokla it was awesome
Hola from Mexico 🇲🇽
Grate video my friend..keep up the good work
Mike Fee thanks brother,
Ground Bison is amazing. Taste like all ground beef used to taste. Awesome vid man.
We always buy a half of beef and we pay $3.25 a lb. I live in Oregon and we have bought one for years. We buy Black Angus
Good stuff Brother nothing better then fresh farm raised beef. Store bought and restuants suck. Their beef has no flavor! It's missing that beef flavour. I bought a stand up freezer and bought my first Black Angus. I help a buddy on his grass fed farm 3 days a week after work. The freezer wasn't cheap but it was the best investment I ever made. I believe some people don't buy fresh meat cause they don't have the freezer space. It is cheaper and healthier in the long run. Yummy Yummy shot out to all the farmers across the country.
The cost adds up quick, if you grain finish or only grass feed is a big difference. I have one cousin that only grain finishes and one that only grass feeds. There's a big difference in the taste. We always grass fed ours growing up and home butchered, very little waste that way.
TFS, I liked the way you explained the process cuz I never really thought about it before, so thanks again your time and effort 👍👍🤗🤓
A BIG PLUS You know the meat is Quality. You know what he was fed on, You know he was healthy, well cared for and Happy. Not like the meat from Walmart . Makes an enormous difference in your families health
Good video Dutch! $5 may sound high to some people but for the mixture you got, I would say it's pretty good. I was buying a few steaks the other day and couldn't believe some of the prices. Steaks ranged from $7-15 per pound! My parents raised cattle so I grew up eating steak fairly often, but now that I am on my own, they are a delicacy! I'll be glad when my land is fenced and I can start raising my own cattle again! I'm getting tired of chicken and turkey. Lol
Good deal Dutch, that's a lot of meat in the freezer for sure!! I've eaten fresh slaughtered pig before and I'd never buy store bought bacon again!! Thanks for sharing how it turned out!! Dan
Home In The Sticks I know right fresh is the best, I'll want to get a steer every year now
I'm a 75 year old woman and I would ask for my skin back my head back my bones back my innards except except for the guts and intestines and have him weigh it back on the scale you can use the bones for soup for your dogs or animals at all that waste then you know if he's cheating you ot not
Bobby Pin thank you
I'd be doing some research before shooting my mouth off. If you've given this a thumbs up then it's very obvious you haven't
EXACTLY.
I think people should start learning how to butcher it themselves. Get some friends and family together and learn how. From what I hear around our area is it is so difficult to even get an appointment for processing. We am trying to learn more about doing it ourselves. Thanks for the video.
Semper Fi. Love that patch.
I just bought a brangus steer from my brother. Gonna fatten him up to 1000 lbs. excited about it
This was helpful! Becky’s Homestead also has some nice videos on hog raising/costs/butchering, if anybody is interested.
I grew up on a small farm similar to yours. We raised a lot of calves. The breed makes a lot of difference on yield. Angus are high yield, Holstein low and a wide variety in between, mixes really throw a wrench in the projection. Knowing breeds help a lot and what are dominate genes on mix breeds. Works for milk or meat. We killed or old Black Angus bull when he was no longer useful for breeding and ate T-bones till we where tired of them. Over 1000 lbs of processed meat.
Also While harder to work with, big chest freezers are cheaper to buy and run. In the event of power outage they hold the cold longer and when power is out you can wrap them with blankets or other insulation. They hold more than an upright of the same size.
Thanks for the video, Kevin and I have been talking about going in and getting half a cow but we didn't know if it would be cost effective. Thanks also for letting us know about the different weights and how much it should weigh at the end, that's good information for someone who's new to this.
Heather GoinBatty your welcome, I think it's worth it and it's soooo good lol
Also depends what you ask for. If you don't ask for the head, tongue, bones, organs, leaf lard, tail, etc. that drops the weight of what you receive way down. Very healthy stuff from nose to tail!
There are good reasons to raise your own beef. Your butcher can be changed, no problem. I trust your judgment for your family's best interest. Good job.
New subbie here! Love your videos and looking forward to tuning in!
Homegrown tastes the very best! We bought part of a beef splitting it with several families. It was grass fed and delicious! Best steaks, hamburger meat, etc we had ever eaten. So much better take the grocery stores!
Best video in a while. You won on this. You know all the costs and where the cow has been. 5.30 is cheap. Well done.
Joaquin Ochoa thanks a lot
Keeping It Dutch obviously easy to get upset that you didn't get what you wanted out of it and the butcher could have done better. Yet, what you learned is with you for a lifetime. The value of learning never stops and those are lessons you can pass on to others like you did to us. Thank you for all your time and effort. It doesn't go unnoticed or unappreciated. Funny thing is I'm a NYC boy now but my roots are in the country where I grew up. Your channel makes me feel connected to home in odd way. LOL! Cheers!
Hi Dutch... yep sounds like you got cheated pretty good, due to lack of experience or whatever was going on at the processors. We have had that issue in the past when a new family took over the processing place where we had always went.... most of it was due to the people not knowing what they was doing and wasting alot of the cuts, plus they had some shady people working there they later found out was stealing behind there backs... it happens but it stinks. I do agree with you though, I still would invest in it just due to knowing what and where your meat comes from. Thanks for sharing.
Anita G's Hillbilly Haven thanks
My sister and her husband raise Angus. She gave me some steak and hamburger. Groceries can't hold a candle to the quality and taste of homegrown.
If you have to question your processor, do your own and compare the percentages. It takes a some work to process, however, you might like the results.
I worked in the beef industry for 8 years and as a supervisor. Strictly on the kill floor side. We had to calibrate our scale every month to insure accurate weight. And i don't Know if you were able to look at the carcass after the skinning and removal of the viscera. But if unskilled employees skinned it or busted the intestines/stomach that could cause major loss of yields. Then on the fabrication side you can have to yield loss if employees leave to much meat on the Bones, or cut into the meat when removing the fat. Anyways sorry for your bad experience brother
Love ya man keeping it. Real
Thanks sir! It takes time to do videos. May God bless you and your family with even more wisdom. Thanks again for sharing your wisdom.
Thank you very much
very informative thanks for sharing. enjoy all your beef hope you are having a great weekend GOD BLESS
Wonderful Blessed Life you to, thank you
We get ours butchered as well. Always around 60% sometimes the cuts you want can cause a little waste. If your not happy I would go somewhere else. Never heard of getting that low of a yield weight
People need to embrace certain cuts, from Tongue to tail, cheek, Liver, heart, kidney, and bone marrow etc. Most people discard these.
Semper Fi brother! Appreciate the video!
I had the same experience on a beef we got a couple years ago, didn’t taste just right. Figured we’d try one more time and that beef was awesome as was the one from this year. The first one tasted kinda old or something. As far as our butcher, I kinda have my suspicions on the types of cuts of meat we get, so this year we’re gonna have a little talk before he butchers our steer and see what up. Hopefully he’s not pulling some shenanigans, he’s a big ol tough cowboy type and I’d sure hate to have my face run repeatedly into his fist over this, but I’m payin on it and I ain’t gonna take no toro poopoo on this deal. Enjoyed your video, esaw you’ve got your very own troll. Sounds like a common day soy boy vegan who’s pissed he can’t have a good old rib bone to chew on. Cowboy up your man, stay good!
We just did our hogs and they are great. Your pictures still makes my mouth water. Might have to do a steer next. Thanks.
You know, the types of grasses and forbes a cow grazes on effects meat-taste, too. If your cousin has different species in his pasture than you, his beef's gonna taste different than yours. Example: When you mow grass, lawns that have more rye-grass smell peppery while fescue smells plain-green and bluegrass smells sweet-green like watermelon. That smell when you mow - translates into flavor of a beef. Also whatever plants are dried into the round-bales you buy, and whatever shrubs and trees the beef can browse from. And more corn and molasses/sugars in the grain makes a more buttery taste.
I think you should do the meat processing your self its fun, my dad taught me how to when i was 12 years old, its something very important and also i like to do it , i ll do with any type of animal, cow, goat, sheep, hogs etc, plus you got to keep the skin !!!!!
hi @Keeping it Dutch
i knoe little to nothing about it all but would suggest weighing truck with critter in it at your local dump/junk yard/scrap metal/recycling or weigh station. idk ty for sharing this with all of us.
be well & thrive,
©¿~salli
I bought a fourth of a cow several years ago. It turned out the steer was leaner than the farmer thought so we just had everything ground into burger. Best burger ever.
J I had some of this burger yesterday and it was great.
We use to go in 3rds on hogs with friends but haven't done it in a couple of yrs. Did the cow from ur cousin's taste grassy or have a green taste? If it did it's bc he didn't put it up and only feed it grains and hay bout mth before having it butchered. Well I'm with ya on how u feed ur family. We do the same when we can. Meat looks good.
Your videos are so educational!
Ouch 46% Hey if you don't try to you'll never know. I'd try it one more time and use another butcher to see if you get closer to the 60% and you'll definitely know if the butcher screwed you guys. Thanks Dutch
Yum! I need to find someone to go in on a cow with. That be some good stuff to have in the freezer!
Lone Star Living you might have some success by finding a farmer that sells directly to the consumer and tell them that you'd like to buy half a cow from the next butcher. They do that as fairly standard practice.
that is Awesome,id love to know what was in my food,and when you go to the grocery store you have no idea what you are getting. Thats why i try to eat alot of vegetables,but i love meat,and i remember going to the smoke house to get a slab of bacon oh my goodness good eating.that was our way of life we had a big family and we raised meat with my aunt and uncle.
Had 1 butcherd last January live weight 707 got back 450 lbs of meat
I've been hesitant to do this because I only need the cheaper hamburger and some roasts. I don't need the expensive steaks that will end up making me pay more than I would if I just stick with buying ground beef and an occasional roast from the grocery store or butcher shop. Local ground beef has always been $5-6 a pound at the cheapest (grocery has been $1.99-2.50) but with the significant price increases on beef right now, I'd hate to see what the local prices are. I used to buy a little bit here and there just to support local farmers but I can't afford to pay double or triple, especially for meat that feels and tastes no different than what I can get from the grocery store.
I'm a butcher sounds a little low. Lots of bone in dairy beef. I bone all my deer and boneless you don't get much but it doesn't take up room in freezer. I'm going to have a steer this year curious to see how I do I'm going to process him myself.
You should try Bison. Pick them up in the winter from Federal auctions.
What a terrible spot to be in, having to eat steak to make room for pork... LOL You poor thing ! The steak shot looks awesome... So... Where exactly do you keep the key to that freezer ???
Bumble Bee Junction hahaha I know right...
I'll volunteer to help make room for more meat!
Wal-Mart buys meat from the cheapest countries, so it should make u want to really question where does that meat come from, it's not fresh, there are no butcher's at Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart doesn't care about community or customers. Don't shop there for anything.
I avoid Wal-Mart like a plague!
They buy there meat any where
Yeah it is ashame that the meat at Wal-Mart does not say USA. They should support local farmers or at least farmers in the U.S..
@@christophersimpson3642 yet it does at Sam's club. Also have butchers there.
Hi there. Curious did the 810$ include buying the steer, feed, supplements and butchering costs? Also, I run an Abbatoir here in southern Ontario Canada and we find the average yield is about 66%. That’s on a nicely finished beef. Up to as high as 72% on a lean beef bull and down to as low as 40% on an old dairy cow.
Thanks for making videos!
when i was a kid i fattened a gilt, dad took it down to the local butcher he said there was a old boar hog in the pen with ours. most rancid tasting meat we ever had! i think all of it went to the dogs lol also my great uncle used to have all of his beef ground into burger and all pork into sausage. tell me that butcher was grinding up steaks! lol
Hey Dutch, I have a friend that swears by Walkie Bros. on Hwy. 66 West of Claremore. Good luck in the future.
lake bum awesome, thanks for the heads up.
I live in a studio apartment it can be done but you must be ready for the animals bowel habits and be Johnny on the spot with shovel and bucket in the hallways in my building as well as weight restrictions on elevater, although I will admit the cow pies give the place a more homey rural look.😛
Love that you're human. Music by "Soney Ridge" instead of "Stoney Ridge" Lol.
For your sake @keepingitdutch look up All The Cuts You get from a Cow on youtube , and they break it down and show you the no waste amount you should get just from one half . Its beautiful.
Also for anyone interested !! Here is a Beef Certified PDF below On Why beef tastes or smells a certain way, and how the food the cow eats affects its meat and makes it smell or taste that peculiar way.
www.beefissuesquarterly.com/CMDocs/BeefResearch/PE_Executive_Summaries/The_Chemistry_of_Beef_Flavor.pdf
My wife brought home a few Silkies. Very unique chicken.
Great video,brother. Subscribed recently and really like your channel.
Kerry Dills thanks a lot brother
Average is 42 percent. Take total weight minus 42%. Or another way to figure it is 62% of the total on the hoof weight. Then take 67% of the hang weight gives you the total meat take home. The 42% of total hoof weight should be close to the 62 / 67 percent method. Looks like you were shorted between 80-110 lbs conservatively.
You should contact the very nice gentleman from the channel, "Back to the Basics 101. He's a rancher and might be able to answer questions and help you cut feed costs.
Well done , someone thinking before shooting their mouth off .My research is saying hoof to plate 43%
Obviously I'm beating a dead horse here, since other people have pointed it out, but I hope you use a different butcher in the future! You got scammed out of a LOT of meat. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this video, though! I plan on buying land and setting up a small homestead in the next 5-ish years. Some egg chickens, meat chickens, hogs, cattle. I MIGHT try growing some vegetables but lord knows I can barely grow grass. Keep up the good work!
Kai Randall yes we use someone else. Hope you get your homestead going sooner then later you will love it. Thanks a lot for watching. Hope you subscribed
Yeah. You're correct you should have got at least 60% Back and his scales and his help coming and going I'd go find me a packing plant with experience to help people that continue to come to work you know I'll ask around stuff like this what Farmers talk about getting back to home grown meat I'll probably have a lot of people disagree with this but I'm going to say it anyway you really want to taste some good home-grown meat put your stock on Purina Chow got a flavor you won't find anywhere else good luck man I hope you find better meat packer
Did I hear you right 350lbs out of 1000lb steer ..... they easily kept 250lbs ..... I have raised lean Longhorns and still get 600 out of a thousand pounds... definitely wouldn't give them business.... Dutch you ever come through Paris texas
Dutch I think part of the problem is that we got used to store bought meat full of crap to make it look and taste good. I prefer the "real deal" myself....home grown.
Do your own butchering or call someone to help you that knows how. Then your self sufficient golden . Mint tune at end of video.
The diet of the animal affects the taste of the meat. I won't buy Walmart beef because it to me tends to be tough and doesn't taste right. I live in Iowa and for my money corn fed beef is far better than grass fed. Heck Midwest grass fed tastes different than say California grass fed. So nutritionally beef may be beef but that doesn't carry over to taste.
Also I doubt the butcher is wasting that much meat from your cow. They are skimming and skimming a lot!
Yep kept some for himself. We have processors here in Arkansas that does the same thing.
Thx for sharing I am curious what happened to the ribs they should be just awesome. I hope you got some. After reading all the responses sounds like you need to process yourself or find somebody else to deal with that end of it. I must admit I am a little jealous looking at all that beef but you do have a beautiful family to feed. Take care from Calgary Alberta.
Rose Thomas I got the ribs back
If you can, you should buy the saws, grinders, staffers and the equipment to do your own slaughter. If you don't know how to do that, you can learn and it will be a great experience for you.
That's disappointing. We're thinking about getting a feeder steer this spring, raising to mostly on pasture, and splitting with our sons. I'm wondering if it'll be worth it - darn.
Dutch, You need to find a different butcher. They are ripping you off. You should get back 50-60 percent of live weight not hanging weight.
OkieRob that's incorrect. Actually about 300 lbs is a slightly below average yield, but nothing to be alarmed with.
OkieRob average yields are around 60-65% of live weight to carcass weight. From carcass weight you should expect between 55 to 70% yield retail cuts.
Dutch...can u grow your own animal feed? That'll save money, butcher it yourself, more money saved. The pieces you can't eat or don't want can be cooked down & mixed with dog food or chow for the pigs...just an idea. Love your channel
Yes i gave the animals a bunch of corn I grew, they loved it
You killed it to young. Thats why you didnt get much back. I usually get it to come out from $1 to $2.25 per lb.. Adding in feed is killing you on cost. Let them eat grass/hay only. You'd save tons.
The same thing happened to me,my nephew gave me some beef from a steer he had done, and I put a roast in the crock pot and it had a smell while cooking and I tasted it when it was done, I haven't eaten anymore after that and I still have 10 more packages in the freezer, if you know why or what this is from...help because I'd hate to have to throw out all that beef, maybe I should cook it the same as deer meat maybe that would help
Curious... I’m new to all this so of course I have questions... Man, if your steer weighs 1,000 pounds, but you only get 300 pounds back out of it, do you have the option of keeping some waste at all? Say for dog/animal food? Bones for broth, etc... I mean, if you can afford the gear and learn how to process your animals properly, wouldn’t that be an advantage of doing it yourself? I just would hate to know soooooo much is going to waste 😭.
Thanks for sharing!
Jenn Stone
Seven Sprouts Homestead LLC
Nicholls, GA
XxJennRNxX yeah it would be best to processes yourself for sure, and yes you can keep bone and all that if you wanted to. When we do this again will be doing a few things different. Man the meat was awesome just didn't get back what we should have.
There really isn't much useful waste left.
They probably just bought a whole bunch of Walmart meat when it goes on sale due to best by dates then repackaged it giving it to you then enjoying the meats of your labor by keeping your quality homestead raised natural super tasty and of course lacking all those Frankenstein chemicals used in industrial operations, a dishonest processor might just do this .......
Someone said meat that tastes funny has a rancid fat (from sitting to long) or is a mixture of other meats by not cleaning before going to the next animal to be processed. That was for deer, but thought I'd throw it out there to you to have it to look into if ever needed. We took our deer to a different butcher one year because ours had a ton of deer to process. The taste was hard to eat and some we didn't. It was like, get Mikey, he'll eat anything. No one wanted to get it out and cook it even. Yeah, bad. Fed it to our dogs.
Yeah, that yield sounds way low! Did you get all the bones, fat, and organ meats as well? If not, you should have. The only thing I would have let them keep would have been the digestive track and maybe the head and hide (not sure about the hide).
MotherOfManyHorses no I didn't get any of the bones
Keeping It Dutch That's terrible, the bones are good for stock. Think you'll ever start butchering your own animals?
silvernblack21 no not beef I wont
I really would like to butcher a hog. Ive been butchering deer for years. I noticed i was getting a significant amount more from me doing it vs the processers. Id like to compare me butchering a hog vs the butcher for a comparison. Ive tried to learn the best butcher practices from local clubs and youtubers. Def sounds like you got took a little. Ill be adding you on snap in a sec!
Right on. all you need is a chainsaw cut then up into manageable pieces and it's just like a deer. .Im frugal when I clean a deer even if we got twelve.
bubbacrabb I've butchered one wild hog, I need to do my own again also. I have all the stuff to do it, but the time lol
I appreciate the video. I would like to know how you processed your half. How many pounds of hamburger how many pounds of steak etc. thanks again
Casey Smith 67 lbs of hamburger and the rest was cut into steaks
Your freaking out the animals with all the butcher talk.
Why does the packaging say not for sale? How do you do this to sell the meat?
Oh Dutch, you got taken to the cleaners buddy. BIG TIME. We butchered our own meat all the years of growing up. We always got back on average 40% of standing weight. That is live weight. so you should have gotten back 400 pounds of beef. I understand it will depend on the fat ratio but anything less that 350 pounds and I would have been pitching a fit. There is no way on Gods green earth, there was only 150 pounds of bring home meat on that animal . A friend of ours has had a couple of beef cows done in the last year and he said his didnt cost him more that a buck eighty a pound , total cost from purchase , feed to processor. I would for sure do some shopping around for a new processor when time to take Jesse in. Sorry buddy . Hate to see anyone taken advantage of.
It was 300# take home. He split it with a friend.
You cant put a price on the experience and satisfaction of raising your own food. Definitely look for a new processor though.
I just paid $1,260 for a half an Angus/Shorthorn steer from a family member that was taken in at 1200 on hoof. I paid way over market. Meat is delicious but that is way too expensive.
JG you may have done good. Bc I had like 800 something in just a half of steer. So combined we had over $1600 in it it was 1050lbs or so live weight.
Thank you
I'm not sure where you are from, but I live in Minnesota and all I hear about is how grass feed beef is so great and it's the best beef. well being from up north grass feed beef does not taste good at all. you raise them up on grass and then the last month you add grain in their diet and to us that's the best beef you can get. so I guess it all depends on who and how they raise it. next I grew up on a farm and always had animals butchered and if I understand how you are explaining it I feel like you got shorted, but again there is many different ways to butcher and did you get certain things
I raise my own chickens for the eggs and the meat and my chickens are so much more tender taste so much better than when I have to buy it at the store
Many times the USDA will condemn carcasses and portions of specific carcasses for various reasons. Worms and pneumonia are two common reasons for beef carcasses to be condemned. If you desire your hogs to be scalded they must not have mange or the inspector will condem it. Was a butcher for 7 years so I'm not exactly uninformed on this issue.
I've actually always heard Angus is closer to 50%. Dexters mini cows are closer to 60%.
love this vid....all your vids are so insightful and appreciated👍👍👍👍
Storm The Bastille 2017 thanks a lot
Scale being broken is the first clue. Should be closer to 70% yeild. For what you lost you could have processed it yourself