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Originally Posted by momtoalexsarah  A young steer with that kind of hanging wt - grass fed will not have hardly any fat on it. Yes you will have to add fat to the pan to do hamburger, thats the way it goes. The steaks may not have been trimmed - that is the way they look - with that dressing wt I would immagine this is just a weanling animal and what you are describing is normal.
Did he ask if the proccessor took some meat - this is not a normal practice, actually illeagal. Again depending on the breed of anamal that wt could well be right and none was taken.
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I'm used to grassfed. We've been eating it (from a different place) for a few years. I've never had to add fat to the pan to cook the ground meat. Maybe the place we've been getting it from just has a breed with more fat than the cows you eat?
We also know for sure that there was fat removed (and a fair amount of meat with it). As I said, we asked for extra fat and were given 2 lbs. (there will be another 10 lbs. from the next animal). The bag contains fat and a fair amount of meat with it. The folks whose cows these were took the rest of the fat to donate to a wolf sanctuary out here. They said there was a fair amount of it, and it, too, had a lot of meat on it.
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| I saw your other post about organs in plastic - this is relatively common where we are. Organs are pkged on day of kill because they contain large amounts of blood and are highly perisable. They are placed in plastic bags because when paper wrapped they often leak blood and that paper becomes very soiled and unapealing. The BEST way I have seen liver (and other organs done) is in vac pac - but most proccesors are not set up for that. It may also have been left whole because they did not have your instructions on the day of kill (as this is when organ meat is handled). When we shipp animals I have instructions for the organ meat that go in with the animal - even if I don't have the rest of the cutting instructions yet. |
It's true, I didn't realize that I needed to give instructions for the cutting of the liver (the place I've been getting it from vacuum packs it already sliced). And really, I have no problem with them being in plastic. My problem is with the quality of the plastic. It's in flimsy produce bags, not something that will give any protection in the freezer, plus it tears way too easily. Plus, I paid $60 extra for the processing of the organs (plus some bones and fat, but the main thing he asked for it for was the organs). I would think that would cover a heavier plastic bag. Maybe I'm just too unaware of the process and work involved.
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Originally Posted by noobmom Interesting subject! When we bought our side of beef we lost about 50% from the hanging weight->take home weight. The hanging weight of our side was 200 lbs and we brought home 105 lb. I added up all the packages. A couple of things to note. First, we received no organ meats (didn't tell the processor in time). Second, our beef was dry-aged for 2 weeks. That actually costs quite a bit of loss of weight. I was concerned initially at first about the weight, but the processor assured me this was a normal amount of take home. So, to me yours doesn't sound too far off, except I don't understand why the processor took any of the meat at all. Did you not pay for the processing? Was this a barter?
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I hadn't thought about the dry aging taking some of the weight. That makes sense.
As for the processor taking some meat, our neighbors said they told the processor and each of his assistants to take a package of ground meat each. I'm not sure why they said that. Probably just being nice. Yes, they paid for the processing (and I paid extra for processing of the organs, fat, and bones). It was not a barter. But, three packages would only have been 4.5 lbs., and our neighbors know pretty closely how much was cut, because they were there for the cutting of half of the cow. That's why they think the processor took 25 lbs.
Our neighbors have decided to try a different processor next time. They're further away, but they're more experienced. This was way too much work for them, too. They're very frustrated with the whole experience.
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