Buying Meat on the Hoof for Dummies

[Wolf-Kim]

I have a question, maybe someone can help me with.

Hubby and I have butchered a 130# sow, but would like to expand into beef. Someone was saying that beef has to hang a certain amount of time, what's the deal on this.

Adam and I would love to learn how to butcher a yearling beef, but we don't have the place to hang a whole or even half a beef.

Anyone here home process a cow?

As usual, now that it's on my mind, I'm off to google.

 

[Bettacreek]

I wonder if you could rent space in a butcher's cooler. Shouldn't be too expensive.

 

[TanksHill]

Very informative looks like the prime candidate for a blog article.



gina

 

[Farmfresh]

Wolf-Kim "Someone was saying that beef has to hang a certain amount of time, what's the deal on this?"

Aging meat allows the meat to go through rigor mortis and develop full flavor and tenderness. Pork is about the only meat that is not usually aged.

Or you could do it like they did in the "good old days". That is why they often did the butchering during the cool days of late fall. They would simply use the natural temperatures to chill and age the meat. A friend of mine uses cool temps to "hang" their venison in their detached garage. Simply hanging from a rafter and covered with a sheet.

I have often wondered why more people don't just go ahead and cut up the meat and then age it. You could probably fit an entire beef in an extra refrigerator to age if it was already cut into pieces.

 

[Wildsky]

I've seen folks around our area of the woods, hanging their deer from tree's - it looks really ugly and the first time I saw it I was shocked and angry!
We get so cold here this time of year, its colder outside than in my fridge or freezer - not sure if its too cold at this point, but last week the guy down the road from us still had his deer hanging from the tree. It hangs there for two weeks or so....

Our beef will be hung for two weeks at the processor.

We normally leave our meat in the fridge to age some more before cooking, we very seldom eat a piece of meat thats blood red in color!
My father leaves his meat even longer, he tells me to leave mine alone until JUST before it turns green
He does that for tenderness.. the steaks he cooks are like eating butter! But I'm always scared to get sick (funny enough I never have)

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

FF - THANKS for starting this thread! all great info

WK - i was going to echo what FF said - thats why in the old days they butchered in the fall/winter. we hung our pigs in the garage only over nite. but heck, since early dec the garage hasnt been above 40 and has been hanging around 30* for weeks.

a couple things about dressing beef - from what i've learned from The Master - one of the biggies is that you have to solve the problem of how to hang that cow. even a SMALL/young cow is going to be really long so you'll need an extra tall ceiling/rafters..and some way to get it up there. i know folks who use a tractor to do this. aside from this, its pretty much the same process as the pig you did (congrats by the way!!!)

someone asked about where to hang it? our small local butcher place rents space, provided they have it for cheap. like $10 a month or something like that.

where to find folks who do this? craigslist - look for 'freezer beef' or heck sometimes you can just drive around. there are a bunch of places near us with signs out (i know - not an option for everyone). also our small butcher shop takes in local beef and resells by the quarter/half etc and also in packages with a number of cuts at a good price.

also - and apologies to FF if this was covered - one of the reason that you can buy 'on the hoof' and not direct is that it avoids the question of FDA approved butchering on farm. so b/c YOU own the cow when its dropped off at the butcher its not the farming doing the butchering (so they dont have to be licensed or whatever) and also... its YOU that has to pay the butcher so the farmer isnt stuck paying for it if a customer never picks up the meat.

and then - dont rule out deer processing places as a resource to find out who can grow a beef for you. for instance, our deer place does pigs and such and they smoke our bacon. they know their customers and may be able to recommend someone for you.

and then... what cuts? one thing you could do while you're saving up the $$ is notice what cuts you buy and use that as a guide. also the shop probably has a 'standard' way to give you the meat. but you can customize. for instance when we cut up the loins we did smallish roasts - since there is just the two of us a monster roast would be impractical. something new we did this time - we trimmed the chops off the bone and packaged them in 'grill ready' baggies - individually separated so we just need to take the appropriate # of chops out for a summer supper (or whatever).

and then - can you save $$ by cutting it yourself? sure! for instance the bacons and hams were almost twice as much if the shops did the cutting and wrapping. we saved that $$ by doing it ourselves. you can probably ask for the meat back in quarters. but remember that is a big ol piece of meat you need to put somewhere when you get home and then have the space to cut it!

and i think thats my $0.02...other than get all the weird/offal cuts and cook 'em up for your dog!

 

[Farmfresh]

Actually OUR little butcher shop walked me through the cutting order the first few times. I just told her I was dumb and she went through chunk of meat by chunk of meat and gave me options. Some were easy... Do you eat more steak or roast? Some were fun... How thick do you want those T-bones? Some were practical ... Do you use hamburger 1 pound or two pounds at a time or would you rather have some made into ready to use patties? But when you start talking pikes peak roasts or shin most people need a bit of help the first few times.

After you do it a time or two you begin to get the idea of what you like. A 2 inch thick T-bone sounds great, but if it takes a family of 4 to eat it it might be a bit thick!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

A 2 inch thick T-bone sounds great, but if it takes a family of 4 to eat it it might be a bit thick!

or one The Big Man!!

... say that reminds me of when we invited my bro's new-to-the-family-VEGETARIAN-girlfriend over for the first, and last, The Big Man Food Fest. we had big men and big food. she was a very good sport but nearly went green when them big men started tearing into those very rare, big-as-your-head-sized porter house steaks!

whoot!

 

[Occamstazer]

Wildsky, I've never processed anything but chickens, but I do have a suggestion for the cow's tongue!
Ever had tacos de lengua? They are marvelous! You can usually order them at any Mexican restaurant that is staffed by Mexicans. They won't be on the menu, but they make them for the staff and they'll serve it if you ask, because as one guy at my fave place told me, "We miss food from home"
The tongue is boiled for ever in a huge pot with lots of herbs. It is diced up and served on little soft corn tortillas, and you then add cilantro, onions, lime juice, and tomatillo salsa.
Heaven!
I have cooked cow tongue at home, and I did something wrong. It tasted like...cow tongue! Not the rich meaty flavor of what I'd had before, but stinky and digestive-tracty. So I have no cooking advice, but I reccommend the cut

 

[Cinebar]

Someone was saying that beef has to hang a certain amount of time, what's the deal on this.

I was a meat wrapper for a farm butcher for five years.

Although my former boss had an on-site kill license, the majority of the actual killing was done at the farms. He has a fully equipped "slaughter truck" for that.

The animals would come in and be hung immediately in the "drip cooler."

Hogs could actually be cut and wrapped the following day, after a complete chill-down. The "fresh" cuts would then go into the freezer, with the hams, bacon, and hocks being cured/smoked (if that's what the owner of the meat wanted).

The length of time the beef would hang would depend on the size of the animal. The larger the animal, the longer the hang time. Generally, ten to fourteen days was average but if someone had a preference, my boss would accommodate those requests.

The people receiving the meat would choose the thickness of steaks (one inch was the most common, although some would request 1/2 inch and some as thick as 2 inch - ouch!), how many steaks per package, the approximate size of the roasts, to have the round steaks cubed or not (or left in roasts), the size of the packages of ground beef, if they wanted their short ribs (or trimmed into ground beef), etc.

There are other miscellaneous cutting instructions that are specific to individual processors but this should give you a basic idea.