Guest guest Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 Darrell- >We had our less-than-a-year-old jersey steer butchered and, of liver, we got >back 4 of the little plastic cups like chicken livers are sold in. Should we >have gotten back more? The live calf weighed 700 pounds. I'm no expert, but I suspect you should've gotten more. The total variety meat yield should've been at least 15#, I'd think. That includes heart, brain, tongue, sweetbreads, liver... hmm, maybe tripe is in there, which would probably amount to most of that weight, so maybe not. That said, calves are much less nutritious than older animals, so in the future I'd really recommend not choosing a calf. >For some reason my parents have the idea that jersey is one of the best >meat breeds. What would be the top 4 meat breeds that are >reasonably fast growing, dress out well, and tasty? Wow, good question, and not one I can answer, though I'm positive Heidi will tell you longhorn. <g> The conventional wisdom is that angus (genuine pure angus, not the hybrids generally passed off as the real thing) tastes best, but I don't know whether grass-fed angus would work as well. As far as nutrition goes, we're largely in the dark, I'm afraid, but I'd suspect heirloom breeds would tend to be better, and I'd certainly try to stay away from modern freaks like Holsteins. If anyone has any info on this, I'm eager to see it! - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 Darrell: >We had our less-than-a-year-old jersey steer butchered and, of liver, we got >back 4 of the little plastic cups like chicken livers are sold in. Should we >have gotten back more? The live calf weighed 700 pounds. Sounds odd to me. The steer that weighed about 2,000 lbs live had a liver that weighed at least 15 lbs, and was say, 3 gallons worth of liver. The liver is usually pretty darn big. Sorry you missed the kidneys and cheeks ... on a calf you could have maybe had the thymus too. >For some reason my parents have the idea that jersey is one of the best >meat breeds. What would be the top 4 meat breeds that are >reasonably fast growing, dress out well, and tasty? I don't know, statistically. 700 lbs for a year-old calf sounds BIG to me, so you probably are doing well with Jersey. The steer I've been getting are at least 3 years old ... the Longhorn are a heritage breed, and according to the farmer at least, are best at 3 years old or more. I tend to believe him. Last time I got a 1-year old steer (Angus, I think) it wasn't near as tasty. Our family thinks Longhorn are THE best, but I haven't actually compared them to say, beefalo or elk or older grassfed beef. Feedwise, elk take only 30% of the food for about the same size animal. I suspect goats are the same, far more efficient in turning food to meat. > Heidi Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 Darrell, A full grown bison heart is about 3-4 pounds, if that's any help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 Sorry Darrell, you wrote " liver " , but I was thinking (or not thinking) " heart. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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