Butchering young bull

Dave from MN · Dec 6, 2011

have a red beef bull(red angus/charlias/pinzgaur cross). about 19 months old. Was with the cows all mid-late summer. Bred them all. Was on pasture, no grain until we brought them back. Now he gets about a 3 gallon pail of the feed I posted the other day. Will he be any good for roast's and steaks? Or should I put him to hamburger and sausage? Some say once they are with cows and breed they get a bad taste. How long should I grain him, 30 -45 days? Is graining going to make a difference even? He was born here, raised here, and is a nice tame bull, but he is a bit short on length and height. Was going to go back to a red angus bull next year. Everything I do is freezer beef so black is not needed.

the tractor vet · Dec 6, 2011

Just put a Angus bull about the same age in the freezer but he was on feed . Eugene and i needed BEEF and we took two down . He and i were a little lax on getting to banding this round of feeders and none of the bulls got banded. Eugene butchered the two and they hung for over three weeks. All i can say is the steaks are just great along with the roastes.

oldtanker · Dec 6, 2011

Dave we do our own butchering and have butchered animals that most people think will only be good for burger. I think the biggest concern is age. We don't butcher old animals for our own consumption......we sell those and the city folk get to eat them......I think where the idea that bulls can't be eaten or only used for burger came from old farmers who sometimes kept a good bull for years. In our experance anything over 2 1/2 has a tendacey to be tuff.

Now here is the funny part for the city guys who have to buy their meat.....under federal guidelines to be sold as Angus the animal has to be at least 10% Angus.....to be sold as grass fed the animal has to be fed only grass for 30 days sometime in their life. To be sold as pasture raised they have to be on pasture only 30 days. Those 30 days can be anytime between birth and butcher. Guy near me north of Alexandria ships about 1000 head a year as grass fed pasture raised. They get exactly 30 days on only grass when they are about 500 pound feeders. They are in pasture most of the time.

rrlund · Dec 6, 2011

All I know on the subject is what a guy who worked at the sale barn was telling me one time. Said there was a guy who used to buy bulls like that and would castrate them and sell them as steers later. I don't know how much later though,or how long it would take to change the flavor of the meat if there was even going to be any difference in the first place.

LAA · Dec 6, 2011

What makes some bull meat tough is lack of finish and marbeling, if they are active and running with cows just prior to butchering they are usually not fat even if well fleshed and well fed. As young as the bull is you described and the fact that you are feeding him for should mean good eating. I would keep him seperated from any cows and heifers plus give him unlimited alfalfa hay and all the concentrate mixture he will clean up twice a day for 6-8 weeks, if he is already well grown and in good flesh he will finish pretty quick.

El Toro · Dec 6, 2011

I heard that a long time ago that you shouldn't let them breed if you're planning on butchering them. One of my former co-worker was a project engineer and his family has a farm over in the next county about 30 miles from me. He always raised a bull for meat. He died last year and his son has the farm now. He was well liked and you should've seen all the people at his memorial service. He was project engineer on several track laying vehicles, but most were wheel vehicles. He took them to Jennerstown PA for brake testing. I did the instrumentation on all his vehicles. He trained a lot employees
on how to do that brake testing and it is still being done by the Army. The Humvee was tested there too. Hal

NEBeef · Dec 6, 2011

Age has little to do with the quality of beef, despite what the USDA would have you believe. A lot of Kobe beef, which is supposed to be the tenderest in the world, is slaughtered at 36 months of age. It depends much more on how they are raised, not on how old they are...

Anonymous-0 · Dec 6, 2011

When I was a kid, we usually ate bull meat. We would buy the best young Hereford bull we could find at the stockyards, and use him for breeding for about 2 years, and then that bull would go into the freezer. And then we would repeat the process.

I have always thought that YOUNG bull meat tasted better than steer or heifer meat, but that is just my opinion. I sure wouldn't be concerned about eating a bull that was only 19 months old. You might want to confine him for a month and give him some grain to add a little fat. He won't like being confined, especially if he can smell cows in heat, so you really need a stout pen. And he will probably be noisy! Good luck!

dabees · Dec 6, 2011

I would give him more than 3 gallons of feed if he is on grass. If he is getting alfalfa or similar,3 gallons might be enough.
You need a good fat cover/marble so as to age the carcass long enough.
As far as what some say about not butchering bulls,I say bull.
Taste wise I prefer mature animals. Unfortunatly these store bought teeth sometimes say otherwise. If toughness is an issue for you,try this.
Cut the loin as you would normaly cut rounds for chicken fry and braise. If you are having a commercial shop cut it they can put the round steaks through a tenderizer. That's exactly what is served in 75% of restraunts when you order chicken fried.
Much of your sucess depends on cooking. If you have cuts that turn out tough,low and slow will take care of that. On the low and slow subject,here's an experiment. Try cooking a briskit any way other than low and slow. Just be prepared to throw the result in the pressure cooker long enough to tenderize it. Let us know what you decide and how it turns out.

oldtanker · Dec 6, 2011

(quoted from post at 12:29:52 12/06/11) I would give him more than 3 gallons of feed if he is on grass. If he is getting alfalfa or similar,3 gallons might be enough.
You need a good fat cover/marble so as to age the carcass long enough.
As far as what some say about not butchering bulls,I say bull.
Taste wise I prefer mature animals. Unfortunatly these store bought teeth sometimes say otherwise. If toughness is an issue for you,try this.
Cut the loin as you would normaly cut rounds for chicken fry and braise. If you are having a commercial shop cut it they can put the round steaks through a tenderizer. That's exactly what is served in 75% of restraunts when you order chicken fried.
Much of your sucess depends on cooking. If you have cuts that turn out tough,low and slow will take care of that. On the low and slow subject,here's an experiment. Try cooking a briskit any way other than low and slow. Just be prepared to throw the result in the pressure cooker long enough to tenderize it. Let us know what you decide and how it turns out.

LOL we don't feed very much grain at all. It's just a treat for ours because we want lean meat with little fat and our beef taste great. I pasture raise feeder pigs too. Now they get grain, all they want but a lot of the time they would rather eat grass, root and they love hay. It's the best tasting pork I've ever had and lean too.

Rick

Wesley Stephens · Dec 6, 2011

We don't grain feed our cattle, and have had bulls slaughtered along with heifers. We also are not picky about breed, but we are picky about the quality of the animal itself. If it is a good quality animal, you will get good quality meat. Some people swear by certain breeds, and that's how I look at he bull/steer issue. Once the hide is off, all you know is good beef is good beef. As long as he is well-conditioned, I would get the steaks and roasts and enjoy them. Our family and customers have done so a good many times. Boar hogs and billy goats on the other hand...

2x4 · Dec 6, 2011

had same situation only grass fed only. Ate steak from him tonite. Delicious as usual. Hang 3 weeks in cooler at 32-35 degrees & enjoy!

Butchering young bull

Dave from MN

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the tractor vet

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oldtanker

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rrlund

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LAA

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El Toro

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NEBeef

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Anonymous-0

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dabees

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oldtanker

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Wesley Stephens

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2x4

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