First ever beast sent for slaughter . - carcass weight

John C · Post by **John C** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:59 am

Sent my first ever beast in for slaughter on Monday. He was a nearly 30 month non short bull. I've just been on the phone to the slaughter house and he's come out at exactly 200 kgs. Is that the sort of return you would expect ?

Louisa Gidney · Post by **Louisa Gidney** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 11:03 am

Peter thornton · Post by **Peter thornton** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:01 pm

Presumably you have been quoted the carcase weight? You may be in for a further shock when you get the actual meat which will be just over half that again. However it's the best beef you will ever taste!

Post by **Mark Bowles** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:16 pm

Not convinced myself on bull beef, we did an 18 month old rig and he was very lean and frankly tough compared to our usual steers.
Mark

John C · Post by **John C** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 8:32 am

As a very small smallholder, heres how I've costed my resulting meat.
I purchased the beast for £150.
Slaughter and butchering £170
He was kept on grass and haylage ( quite a bit of this was waste from the horses)
He was fed on bread waste, sugar beet, and had a mineral lick.
A guesstamate of these costs would be 80 to a hundred pounds.

Total £400 to £420.

Issy · Post by **Issy** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 10:17 am

That's good John, the two we sent in at 23 months cost 500 each to produce and returned 80kgs of meat each. Still worth every penny as the meat was outstanding. :D

John C · Post by **John C** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 3:10 pm

Billy the bull was a real bargain because as well as eating him, he's sired one bull calf and has two others on the way .

My intention is to pick up another cheapy in the new year , so that we keep a steady flow heading towards the freezer.

Rob R · Post by **Rob R** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 3:50 pm

Mark Bowles wrote:Not convinced myself on bull beef, we did an 18 month old rig and he was very lean and frankly tough compared to our usual steers.
Mark

Interesting. When we changed over from bull to steer beef (for grazing reasons) we were told (by people who didn't know) that the steer was not quite as tender as the bull, but it wasn't a very big difference.

John C · Post by **John C** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 11:47 am

We've eaten some of him now and he's scrummy.
This is the first dexter meat that we've tasted so we can't compare 'Billy' with the meat from a bullock or a heifer but he was really tender and tasty.

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 2:05 pm

We have just collected from our butcher our most recent animal.I have just finished weighing all the meat, we have 80.3 kg. He was our first short leg that we have sent , our others have been non short.He was homebred and like John's was fed on the haylage that was left over from the horses, he didn't have any hard feed , even through the winter.The grazing is of medium quality , certainly not typical cattle grazing , more like the bits the horses don't eat !!The slaughtering and butchering was £180 , it has all come back really well packaged and labelled. I have even worked what weights of different cuts we have !! We had 19 kg of Mince , 21 kg of Topside, 9 kg of stewing , 10.81 kg of Slow Roast , 8.16 kg of Sirloin steak , 5.87 kg of Rib , 4.82 kg of Rump Steak and finally 1.76 kg of Fillet steak. I haven't weighed the meat before but will in future and next time will ask the carcass weight too. I found that the short leg finished alot quicker too but I still waited until he was about 28 months before sending him.Just laziness I guess !

Do these weights seem about right to others , would love to compare !

It's hard to work out what he did cost to keep but very little and certainly well well worth it !! Steak, chips , peas and gravy for tea tonight for sure !!!

Sylvia · Post by **Sylvia** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 5:39 pm

With the colder weather now approaching it would be really useful if everyone who sends a steer/heifer would do what Dominic has done, by Spring we ought to be able to have a chart of averages to refer to and could see how well or not individuals have done. Well done Dominic.

In warmer weather I suspect everyone wants to throw the meat into the freezer ASAP!

Penny · Post by **Penny** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 10:43 pm

I have documentation of every cut back from every animal sent in, which is how I work out which size dexter gives the best returns financially etc, and for alarm bells to ring if numbers do not tally, which is why I will say that I suspect the butcher kept a bit of Fillet for his tea too!! Even the short legs will provide 2kg at least, generally. However, sounds like he has done a good job for you, and every job has its perks now and again!
Sorry Sylvia, I do not currently have time to print out returns but totally agree with you that this would be useful information for all to access. I may have more time after Christmas as January is generally quite for meat sales!

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 8:57 am

Hi
Had some of our beef last night and as expected was superb!

I have had my suspicions from last time that maybe all of my beast was not there !!

Is there any alternative to sending to a butcher. It has always concerned me that do we really really get our own beast back.We thought the size probably is an indication as most people are probably sending large commercials, however when we took this one along to the abbatoir the trailer in front unloaded a really small runty looking HFD X :D So who knows! There are no labels / documents to tally the meat with the tag of our beast.
It has crossed our minds several times to look into other ways of getting the beef done. One thought was for one of us to learn how to be a butcher :p

One good thing about our butcher is that he hangs for 3 weeks with no trouble , he doesn't need to be asked !!

oliver1921 · Post by **oliver1921** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 8:25 am

I think a register of weights would be a superb idea. it would not only stop anyone being conned - particularly those new to the game but if someopne was hireing out a bull the facts and figures for that bull would also be available. it may not be the bulls with the fancy names producing the meat - it could even be 'Our Sam!

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 6:16 pm

Is it really necessary to hang it for so long? I understand that it won't tenderize the meat and all I can think is that it adds flavour. An animal raised only on grass/hay should probably have enough flavour??? Anyways, my butcher says he will hang my steer for 10 days. I had the steer farm killed to minimize stress and to slow down cooling the carcass so hopefully he will turn out tender enough ??? I will weigh all the bits when I get him back.