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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 7:05 pm
by Pauline
If a bull has worked,(ours has serviced about 10 cows)will the meat taste tainted?I know this happens with pigs,but am considering eating a young 28 month old,as I have a more promising young bull close to maturity.
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 7:49 pm
by Duncan MacIntyre
We slaughtered a 28 month bull in 2004, no problem with taint if anything lack of flavour was the problem. It is also very difficult to get enough fat cover on an entire bull and this makes difficulties of drying out during hanging and cooking, but certainly worth doing. That is the second bull we have used for ourselves - the best we ever did was a heifer, steers second and entire bulls third, but it is still Dexter beef and a lot better than you will buy in the supermarket.
Duncan
Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 9:25 am
by Louisa Gidney
I don't castrate. The last bull I put in the freezer had been used over 2 seasons & was 29.5 months old & the beef is excellent. Everyone who has eaten it is saying how nice it is & a cold joint at Folk Club last night disappeared like a snowball in hell.
Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:07 pm
by oliver1921
I am still considering keeping my bulls entire to help finish them faster - i have not had a problem with handling entire bulls but not tasted the meat - any dexter meat is great!
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:15 pm
by Rob R
We used to keep bulls entire for slaughter, despite being considered 'irresponsible' by some members of the DCS. It produced some of the best meat ever from the herd, but we now castrate to make it possible to graze heifers & steers together. Also, it is easier booking steers into the abattoir than bulls as they don't mind killing them, but they need to make sure they are away from heifers in lairage.
Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 9:47 pm
by jim
We have slaughtered a couple of bulls to date. One was about 30 months and had covered my cows for a couple of years; excellent beef. The other was just 20 months and as far as he was concerned I would agree totally with Duncan. He was extremely lean and somewhat tasteless. A couple of years ago, while in New Zealand [trying to figure how they could ship NZ beef all the way to Canada and sell it cheaper here then our own] I found out that there was a trend toward raising bulls instead of steers. They got more for there animals that way and didn't find their management to difficult. As I heard it most of their beef goes to hambuger chains in the U.S.. So I guess thats what you eat at McDonalds.
Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 1:19 am
by Inger
Jim, the only problem bull farmers have had, has been the destructive nature of bulls versus steers. Steers don't destroy trees, dig holes in a bank, etc, for the sake of it. Our two bulls do more damage than all the steers put together. The last time the bulls had an altercation, they broke a fence post off at the base, which will need to be replaced. Next time we have to put them together again after mating season is over, we'll choose a bigger paddock where they can't do as much damage to the fences. Thankfully one is polled and the other dehorned. All I had to do was spray iodine onto the few cuts and scraps they gave each other. They're now grazing quite happily together and there's no more bellowing across the valley at each other. :laugh: Trouble is, weaning will be coming along soon. 
Earplugs time again.
Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:49 am
by jim
I came across a study that stated bulls are the most efficient feed converters, then steers, then heifers. Anyone know if there is a difference between carriers and not?
jim
Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 11:27 pm
by Inger
Our 2 carrier cows are nearly always in good condition even when other non-carrier cows in the herd are looking a bit thin and have to be given supplementary feed. One carrier in particular is always fat looking. Her constitution suits our steepish hills very well. I'm going to keep her until I get few heifer calves from her. The heifer she had this year (non-carrier) is doing very well.
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:07 pm
by oliver1921
Interesting topic - we are considering keeping our bulls entire - are we sure that they will finish faster - if so we will definately try it - i must admit we have held back castrating a couple to see whether they could make it as bulls and they do look superb at 12 months - probably heavier than their mums already - what would be the difference between short and non-short - ours are both shorts out of non short.
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:37 pm
by Mark Bowles
I have only had the one rig ( one testicle remained after castration) the animal was short legged and killed at 18 months, he was quite stocky.
He was hung for three weeks, the meat came back and was very lean, when cooked was less tasty, tougher and dry.
I certainly would not kill an entire bull for meat through choice.
Heifers yes, especialy if one had calved, it does make a difference.
Mark
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:49 pm
by jim
Anyone trying to finnish on grass in 18 months will surely have very lean beef. True the taste just is not there, but some folks like that. The trick is to not over cook very lean beef. Treat it like wild game. Or add fat, but then you lose the healthfulness of lean meat.
chef jim
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:09 am
by Rebecca
In Australia some growers (of beef animals) run their animals on as bulls to get them to grow faster. The animals are then castrated and kept on for a few more months so that the animals put down more fat on the carcase - particularly in a feedlot situation as they tend to lay down fat fairly quickly. The idea being that you get the fast maturing of the bulls but the conditioning of steers. If you have a lot of animals to castrate and good yards/crush it is economically viable to have a vet in to do the lot in one hit. Mind you the big farmers do their own. We haven't tried it with our dexters - but might give it a go in the future - the bulls certainly mature on grass a lot quicker than a steer.
Rebecca (Australia)