Beef Available NC/SoCentral VA

 emailed you

 Damn, if I had the money I'd SO take you up on that....:(

This may be a periodically available resource - in fact the price on it may improve because the person who's doing this may be setting up her own processing facility.  If she does that she'll most likely offer these culls, and other scraps, at cost.  Her main business is/will be pasture based all-natural beef.

She uses the dogs to rotate her stock through fresh paddocks and transition them from weaning to all forage.  She does feed concentrates but they are sustainable "wastes" from local mills, packing, and canning facilities (ie, veggies, cotton, peanuts).

I'm very excited for her.  One of the breeds she is starting to use is Hanging Tree Cowdogs so I'm getting to know them a lot better.  They are very interesting.  the other breed she uses is Border Collies - she's bred, raised, and trained five generations now, on mostly raw diets.  She is amused at the "new raw" revolution when she's been doing it for almost thirty years.  It's just now she's got the ability to share it with others for the first time!

ETA:  There's a good explanation of how this works on her web site.  Anyone can use this as a guide to work with other off-the-farm sellers too.  http://hart.stockdogjournal.com/ 

 Bugsy says he wants to be a 'cowdog'

Thanks for the link Becca it helped me a lot

I've been doing some research tonight and my mouth is watering!  There's some good eatin' in our future if this works out (and the calf is any good, of course, for people eating).  I know it will be lean which works for me - it's so hard to find lean meat that works for my Weight Watcher's plan - I mean, lean meat that is not through the roof expensive!  Yeah, sure, I can eat a sirloin steak and baked potato every night but $$$$! 

This was a wonderful resource: http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/resource-room/meats/cutsofbeef/  Karen's site offered a good overview, but then I got stuck on, what do I tell the processor in terms of individual cuts?  How much of each cut can you get from each "primal" part?  Click on the link at the bottom of the table "Complete Diagram blah blah" to see a very good description of how a whole beef turns into what you see in the grocery store.

I think as a resource I'm going to do a blog article on what I learned tonight in terms of ordering meat from farmers.

Don't worry though, you don't have to have an exact idea of what to order. There's so many unknowns in this that I can't take any more specific orders than what you've given me already, unless you'd like a roast or something.

I do believe we are going to make it!  I've got someone getting 100 pounds plus bones.  That should put us over the top and then some.  It would be nice if we could get both calves in for her. 

She could use some cheering up. Her best Border Collie was killed in a working accident this week - she's pretty shook up and it's going to be hard to find a replacement - he was honestly one of the best in the country already, as young as he was.  So no, Bugsy, trust me your mama wants you to stay far, far away from the mean cattle. 

This was a cool post and a cool idea. We have a small herd of beef cattle (I so loooove cows <3) and we usually butcher one cull a year for ourselves. For us, a cull is any calf that is slower growing or small in size. They are still delicious though and it's a more manageable amount to store. Yes, the steaks and roasts are smaller but that really doesn't matter to us. The meat is lean, but not excessively so. It's tender, flavorful, and juicy. Maybe I can find some dog homecookers in my area who would be interested in having a cull for themselves and their dogs once in a while

Brookcove, if you have any questions, I can try to answer them. I might be able to answer questions about the different butcher cuts that can come from each primal and I can also e-mail you my cut sheet if you want to see it.

 Wow, that's cool.  Yes, I'd love to see that cut sheet.  I'm gathering resources to put together in a single blog post to help those who are looking to purchase "off the farm."  I think it's only the learning curve that makes people hesitate to approach producers.  I'm also looking for sources for cuts for pork, venison, goat (if different from lamb), and I've got plenty of lamb resources.

Keep an eye on this thread - I probably will have questions.  For instance, what percentage between live and hanging do you typically get on a cull calf?  I was reading and realized we might have less waste because these calves will be quite lean, and we'll be asking for lower shanks, hooves, neck, tail, etc.

Oh, and what is the part right above hooves called - do you know?  I've always asked for "feet" back in my lambs and that part comes with it no problem.  But that will be a big part in the calves!  ;)  I'll need that cut also.

I do think this is a great opportunity for all producers to get into.  It's a little difficult getting all the buyers together - it's a little like herding cats getting all our acts together at the same time for commitment, payment, and finally for delivery.  But I think it's worthwhile. 

When we sell cattle at auction, they get weighed at the stockyards, but when we schedule a ranch kill here, the mobile butcher dresses the carcass here so we only get a hanging weight later when it gets to the meat locker. I'd like to have a livestock scale here, but they're expensive and we haven't had a serious need for one yet. You're right, for dog purposes, there would be very, very little waste. I try not to be wasteful as it is and we keep a lot of cuts other people would just disgard. I love things like shanks, oxtails and neckbones for making stock, but you're right, they're perfect for dogs. We don't keep the foreleg, hock, and hoof below the shank. It's a lot of bone, hide and sinew. That, along with the hide, entrails and head gets sold for rendering. We get to keep the tongue, liver, heart and hanging tender fresh.

I'll say this, you may choose to have a small young cow or a very old one ground into burger or cut into stew meat, but the premium steak cuts are always worth keeping from any cow, old or young. I can't imagine giving the whole calf to the dogs, even if it was a "cull calf." I for one would be reserving out the premium cuts for the people

If you pm me your e-mail address, I'll send my cut sheet. It's in MS Word. I can answer any questions you have about it, but it's geared toward people not canines!

 The people cuts help because I need to translate into what the processor knows.  I learned last time that it's hard to get through what I mean by "small chunks" - basically I got sub primals on much of the lamb carcasses, even though I specified size on the chunks.  On a lamb that worked out okay but it would be disasterous on even a small calf!

We will definitely be saving out the prime cuts!  I'm very excited about that because my meat for WW is so expensive from the grocery.  Between my lamb and this I'll be set for months.  By then Karen will have more stock finished.

you can send that attachment to me at shouse at mebtel dot net  -  thanks!

brookcove

She is amused at the "new raw" revolution when she's been doing it for almost thirty years. 

I am reminded of something kind of funny. The father of my co-worker, John, used to breed and raise Beagles. And he always fed his dogs raw, bones and all. John has a Sharpei named Gus (Augustus Caesar) and Gus won't touch a raw bone but John feeds him cooked pork and pig remnants. Yes, I have explained the dangers of cooked bones but John isn't changing and Gus hasn't had a problem, yet. He's a chewer and grinder rather than a gulper. What dogs lack in lateral mastication they make up for in how they move their head in relation to the bone. Anyway, John's father calls Gus a "city dog" because he won't touch a raw bone.

Speaking of cooked bones, Shadow got one yesterday before I could do anything about it. On our walk, he picked up what looked like a chicken drumstick bone and chewed it into little pieces and doesn't seem to have any ill effects from it. Anyway, I'm not as worried about him getting raw or some bone as I have seen him eat cotton rats, though they do have small, soft bones. But he will eat the whole thing. I have found an eliminated rat carcass while cleaning the yard. A cylindrically squashed mash of hide that used to be a rat, much like the scat of a coyote. Anyway, I wish I lived closer to take advantage of your meaty windfall, so to speak.

brookcove

The people cuts help because I need to translate into what the processor knows.  I learned last time that it's hard to get through what I mean by "small chunks" - basically I got sub primals on much of the lamb carcasses, even though I specified size on the chunks.  On a lamb that worked out okay but it would be disasterous on even a small calf!

Lol, yes it helps to speak in their language. I don't know what you mean by small chunks either, but I'd imagine what you want to do is just figure out what cuts you want to keep for yourself and then ask for everything else ground (with a specific percentage of fat) or cut into stew meat. You'd also have to explain that there is very little you'd want disgarded and that you'd like to get all the bones, left meaty, and cut into 4" sections, packaged in 3lb packages (I made that up, but it's an example of what you could ask for).

Most processors have their own cut sheet, but it seemed like I was being more specific and detailed with my requests than a lot of other customers, so I made my own to be sure that I was clear. You may want to do the same. 

I'm sure you're familiar with a beef cut charts, but it can give you a starting point for figuring out what cuts you'll want to save for yourself. Primals can often be cut different ways to yield different cuts, for example, cut the loin parallel to the spine and you get New York steaks and filet mignons. Cut it perpendicular to the spine and you get T-bones and porterhouse. There's almost nothing in the rib or loin that I'd want to give to the dogs (even the bones are people grade, hee hee).

This page looks a bit cluttered at first but it has some really good information. Scroll down to find the "Beef carcass breakdown" and then you'll have to scroll down some more but you'll find a detailed breakdown of what you get from each primal, INCLUDING fat and bone, which might be helpful. Scroll down some more and there are yield calculators:

http://www.askthemeatman.com/yield_on_beef_carcass.htm 

I'm e-mailing the cut sheet now 

I've asked a few hunting friends what the yield is off of a deer. One guy could harvest a 100 lb doe and get about 40 to 50 lbs of meat that humans desire to consume. Brisket, backstrap, loins, etc. But one could yield more when feeding dogs because you can feed organ meat and bones to the dog that you wouldn't normally feed to a human.

And you can grind the meat into chili grind or stew grind, cartilege and all.

Brookcove, did you get my last email? I'd be down for between 50-175 pounds; either now or anytime in the future. Or both.