I will be getting a steer next week and wanted to know what everyones thoughts were about a good time to butcher. When my wife asked the question I said "about the time we run out of meat". Is there a certain weight range or age that is better?
Steve
From almost 50 year old data It was at about 1 year of age or around 1000 - 1200 pounds live weight depending on the animal breed.
Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
We usually try to feed out to around 1000 pounds, like Egon said. I like to keep them separated from other animals and on feed for 6 weeks prior to butchering. Seems that puts them just a touch past yearling.
I also believe keeping them as calm as possible right up to the time their brains are scrambled. Less stress equals better meat.
Your weight and age also depends on the breed that you get. Your breeds like brahmas will take longer to finish, around 1200+ and breeds like angus, herefords will finish faster, around 1000+. Your feed will also affect how long you have to feed them. If your steer weighs 800 when you start feeding and he gains 3# per day then it will take around 70 days to get him to 1000#. Hope this helped, jdc40
I think you will find that beef animals are "normally" slaughtered at about a year and a half in age; i.e., 18 to 20 months. I think the commercial operations figure that to be about the right age for the best financial yield. The fact of the matter is that you were probably right when you said "about the time we run out of meat". Or perhaps the time you run out of cattle feed. Younger and fatter will probably be more tender and tasty. The breed of cattle makes a difference, too, in how big they'll be at a certain age. When I was a kid, we had a Jersey milk cow, usually bred her to a Hereford bull, although a time or two to an Angus bull. And I think we usually slaughtered the calves by the time they were a year old and I doubt any ever went over 750 pounds. As with lots of country folks in those days, we didn't have any money, but we sure did eat good. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
Quite a difference between commercial optimization with considerations of carcass weights and traits, feed conversion ratios and all that and what may be better for the homeowner one slaughtered animal at a time.
I know a lot of cattlemen who sell their beef live at the auction barn and buy their cut meat at the store. Some others will feed one out and have it processed for personal or family and friend consumption. I only know one family who slaughters and cuts up their own and that is because the family patriarch (in his 90's) has always done it (he gives a lot of it away after it makes his freezer.)
I'm not too familiar with other than Angus and Angus cross beef (you know a little limo or whatever in the family tree.) With Angus and Angus cross (not Brangus) a good weight for personal non-commercial slaughter is about 800 lbs. This yields good tender beef with good flavor. It may not be the absolutely most efficient slaughter weight but using your own beef is often not about efficiency so much as knowing what you are eating (or not eating).
You can get excellent quality packaged meat (standard cuts) out of an Angus at 800 lbs just probably with less rind fat (that is useless anyway) and the steaks are a bit smaller (so cut them thicker.)
Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
I have always got my beef from my uncle who is a butcher. We have horses, goats, and sheep but this would be my first time with cows/steers.
Steve
Steve, You never did say what kind of steer you were getting or about what size/age.
I am currently running 12 head of mostly black Angus which I paid an average of 114/hundred weight with the smallest weighing 370 and the largest at about 550-600. Eleven heifers and one bull calf. These are breeders not food but any that don't perform will be eaten or sold and replaced. I have some expectations for the little bull which I bought from a friend/neighbor who has a considerable black Angus herd and about 1000 acres. The only stock he buys is a new bull every so often and they are terrific bulls out of the Parker Ranch. I'm hoping my little bull will turn out as good as his parents but if not he goes to the auction
With normal calving rates and survival plus my expansion plans I have 2-3 years till I have to start seriously culling. Reproductive difficulty does not influence table quality so you can eat the substandard performers and sell the excess.
I have a neighbor who gets his beef on the cheap. Dairies sell their bull calves pretty cheap as they are of no particular interest. They get them prior to weening and bottle feed and ween them. The feed conversion ratio isn't the best but not all that bad. This table beef is about as cheap as is available. Not the finest steaks available but beats the cost/lb of most alternatives. They too butcher at about 800 lbs.
Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
We did our last one at 1.5 years. It was an angus mix and hanging weight was around 650. I think it was around 1100 on the hoof, but no way of knowing. I think if you weigh out all the efficiency factors you'll probably find that 1.5 years is probably the ticket. Of course younger steers will be more tender. Ours seemed to work out just fine, so I'll probably stay on the 1.5 years program.
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