Beef from old cows

[ann]

Hi have a old girl of 16 and she has had problems calving the last couple of times so as she is getting a bit arthritic I'm wondering if it would be worth taking her to our local slaughter house and having the beef back, rather than have her put down on the farm and skipped.

[Mark Bowles]

I have never done an older cow like that although I have one that is carrying a leg through damage somehow at the moment and I am thinking of beefing her for mince for the dogs...

[moomin]

We "downgrade" the meat i'e.braise the steaks except the fillet which will be fine as it doesn't do any work in the cow [human fillet would be seriously tough as we walk upright]. Pot roast joints . Mince all the stewing. Just cook very slowly. It will be rubbery if you don't cook long enough. We never sell any except the mince as it is not up to the standard of our normal beef. Flavour will be fantastic.

[Jac]

Haven't gone there. Humane slaughter on the farm is a kind, dignified death for an old faithful. £20 to kill and negotiated rate of £70 for environmental disposal.

[bjreroberts]

Don't leave your decision too long, I have an arthritic cow that has gone down hill rapidly in the last 2 weeks with the onset of cold and wet weather, so I would no longer want to put her on a trailer.

[Louisa Gidney]

This topic is discussed in detail, with regard to meat from the cows I obtained for reference skeletons, in Chapter 5, The Cow: Beef of my thesis. Put Offspring of the Aurochs in to Google to find it online.
Also worth going through old topics on this forum as the subject has been discussed before here.

[Tim Watson]

we sent a 16 yr old bull up the hill a couple of years back and got 92Kgs of sausages and burgers.
They were stunning and could have sold them three times over.