OT: Butcher beef, how to have processed.

I traded hay with a neighbor last summer, they have delivered two of the beef to the butcher.

Mine is either 579 or 589 pounds carcass, neighbor couldn't remember which is correct. Butcher will be calling for how I want it.

They are corn fed, bucket beef. I plan to have the steaks cut 1 inch. I do have a full beef. Usually make a choice between T bones or New York Strips, but with whole beef should I have half each?

Should I have any ground into hamburger, or just keep buying 10 LB tubes at our local grocer? His hamburger is good quality, at reasonable price. I am thinking roasts would be better.

We also have 3 always hungry(but fat) dogs. What all should I have saved for them? DOUG

We usually get 6 pound roasts, as many as it will make. A t-bone is basically a ny strip on one side and a sirloin on the other. I get ny strips and t-bones mostly, few sirloins. I don"t care for rib eyes myself, too much fat. Round steak is good for lots of different meals. Get 8 pound briskets with a half inch of fat covering them. Keep the tail to put pieces in a pot of beans. Get soup bone and stew/chili meat, and grind the rest into hamburger. I have 2 steak in a pack around a pound each and get the hamburger done in one and a half pound package.

I have also enjoyed my beef 'hung' for at least 10 to 21 days, it's worth any extra cost to enhance both tenderness and flavor. In this day and age the packers don't do this and it sure effects the meats flavor. Hamburger should be a natural product, it's the trimmings, the size of the package is often determined by the size of your family, your butcher will know. I'll be glad to send you my address if you make any mistakes!!!! Gary

It's according to what you like. Work with your butcher to get the most desireable cuts that you like. If you don't like some of the cuts make them into hamburger instead. We usually have some patties made and some ground put in 1 lb. packages too. Just depends on what you prefer.

The longer that it hangs before processing the more tender it will be. Local Fairway store has the best meat in town, My wife always asks for the oldest meat they have, browner the better, and it's always tender. Once it a while you get a steak you can cut with a fork. Chris

First of all, there is no guarantee that you"ll get that beef back. There"s no law in Illinois that says they have to give you the meat from your beef. Also you may not get the prime cuts. This is why we still cut up our own beef. As far a hamburger, you will get some no matter how you cut it up.

Our local cutter can make slim jims from the tougher cuts. They are very good and not a bit like the ones at the check out of the convenience stores. Maybe you's does too.

hi AB, can you tell me the source of the cutout picture? I would like to get a copy of it.

I sell smaller beefers for grass fed beef. my standard cut is arm roast, enlish roast and only the better chuck roast,(no low grade pot roast)all the t-bone, porterhouse, rib steaks and sirloin steaks I can get, also get sirloin tip roast. 2 rump roast, 1/4 of round area in cube steaks,1/4 in swiss steaks and grind rest of round. Will end up with at least %50 ground beef. I often get 10 pounds of soup bones. save oxtail for making the best soup.

We're lucky enough to be able to do our own, so we don't have to worry about not getting back the same cow we sent in. We also don't have to worry about them letting it rot (hang) for 2 weeks.

If you DO go the locker plant way, get as many steaks as you can, then have them grind the rest into lean hamburger - you'll be surprised how much better it will taste then the tube stuff.

Ask them to save the bones for your dogs. The local locker alsways has tons of bones - some ith good meat on them. They sell them for $6 a huge bag. I feed a bone a day to our LGD, and have extra at the end of the month.

I was once talking on the two meter ham net and I asked the question: What is the difference between a new york strip and a kansas city strip. Someone told me about 1500 miles. Is there a difference? ohfred

Watch the bones around dogs. I fed some big butcher bones with lots of fat. Our cockapoo ate the fat and got a bad pancreatic attack. Everytime after that she got into something with a lot of fat such as turkey or chicken scraps, another pancreatic attack. Finally died from one.

The Kansas City strip steak usually has a portion of the bone connected, whereas the New York strip steak is boneless.

Alot of what you get depends on how many people are in the house. If it's just you and the wife yall are gonna get pretty tired of roast before yall eat a 5lber. If you have 4 youngs she will get pretty tired of openen 1lb hamburger packs.

The shop here is good, they will give you what ever you want out of calf. They will mix and match some lean hamburger and some fat, will cut some 3/4" and some 1" steak. Some 2 lb roast, some bigger, some 1lb. (That may be why they are booked till August)

Dave

It depends on what you and your family like to cook and eat. When we had 5 kids at home, our packages were much larger than they are now that all our kids are grown. We have our good steaks singly packaged, and about half of our roasts are no more than about 3 or 4 pounds. We grind most of the round into hamburger, along with the short ribs. The hamburger is packaged in 1 pound bricks and ends up being so lean that it isn't suitable for barbecuing hamburgers--it falls apart while it is cooking. But it is great for everything else. Since we like soups, we have the bones packaged for boiling and also have quite a few stew meat packages included.

All the small packages cost us a little more for the added labor and materials. But for us, and our situation at this time, it is worth it, since we can get just what we need out of the freezer. There is very little waste. We usually get a large half every year and eat it up over the course of a year. Our most recent half was supposed to have been butchered last Saturday.

I am careful to use up the older meat first. It does not get better in the freezer and after a few years, it isn't very good at all. With pork, I try to never let it get to be a year old, as it seems to get rancid after that. The same with chickens.

I have our good steaks cut 3/4" thick because I prefer the way that thickness of steak cooks on the gas barbecue. But you may like thicker steaks...the butcher will make them, and the packages whatever sizes you instruct them to do. Good luck!

Thanks AB for the info...I'll pass it along to the one who said 1500 miles. ohfred

But Fred, I see lots of KC strips around KS with no bone but as AB said, in some places it has a little piece of bone on the side. Also called the Delmonico(NY strip).

Fred, maybe you need to spend more time on the 20 meter band.

Well, the new wife is moving in here and she ordered the desk and all that ham radio gear out of the front room! Can you imagine that? Shes a lid for sure. So, I won't be on any band for a while. I got shuffled to a small bedroom and as slow as I am, it will take a while to get coaxs rerouted and such. ohfred KE8SS