Using entire males for meat...

[Rachael@BRIL]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for some guidance. Does meat from bulls have any taint? Some people say tup and boar meat has a taint and I'm wondering if this is the case with cattle too?

Many thanks
Rachael

[Jac]

Eblex have done taste testing and found that under a certain age there is no difference in taste whatsover. Bulls grow much quicker than steers and are leaner. We have killed them at around 19 months with excellent results however, we always remind the abattoir that we are bringing a bull in so that he can be unloaded and killed without delay.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

I don't think cattle have anything like the taint on bull carcasses that you get with tups or boars - the main difficulty I think, with the vast experience of killing 2 dexter bulls for our own use, is getting the fat cover on when finishing on grass which is not perhaps the best. But both were quite acceptable - sometimes people want too much fat cover I think but you do need a little to allow the carcase to hang without drying too much.

Duncan

[Broomcroft]

Is it for your own consumption or for sale? If for sale and you want to ruin your business, then do entire bulls. If it's for your own consumption then generally I'd say they are fine. You get a LOT more meat at a given age but you can get some seriously tough meat. We've only done one bull for our own freezer, so much of what I say is based on others' experiences, but on the one we did do (which had never worked, was 27 months, with plenty of fat cover to say the least), his fattier steaks (sirloins etc) were delicious. The leaner cuts (rump etc) would have made good shoe leather if you could get the nail through! They were quite literally the worst meat I've ever eaten, in fact it went in the bin.

In the commercial world, usually bulls don't go into the normal food chain over 14-16 months. What flavour they have at that age I don't know, not much probably. I think there's good reason why nearly everyone steers their males!

[Louisa Gidney]

The best Dexter I've ever eaten was a 29.5 month old bull that starred at my 50th birthday extravaganza. Everyone agreed it was superb beef.

[domsmith]

Strangly enough, i have a stirk that missed the cut and has remained entire. i thought the best way to deal with him is to eat him. If our Irish buyer isnt tempted to take hime i would kill him in a month or so time at around 16 months. no real idea how he will turn out but i have nothing to lose in trying it!
i do not see why it will be tough, but i think it will be lean.

dom

[Broomcroft]

Forgot to say that like Louisa the bull we ate was also the best Dexter beef we've ever tasted, but the tough cuts were the worst. I suppose it all depends on the muscling of the particular beast.

[cairnhill]

I spotted an interesting research project on steers vs bulls, gives a good breakdown of pros and cons

http://www.animal-science.org/content/45/4/695.full.pdf

Does anyone have anything showing the optimum finishing time for dexter bulls, I had thought it was around 22 months, however many people seem to be finishing younger.

Anyway better get to bed as I spent far to long chasing weaned heifers back into the field this week, hopefully by day three they will start to settle!

[Mark Bowles]

I have kept 2 young bull entire this year, they are 11 months old now. one i really like and i will keep him, the other has only dropped 1 testicle. The one that has not dropped i can feel under his skin but the cost and hasstle of castrating him would be too much so i am keeping him entire to kill. I will wait and see how he progresses but the time when he is ready to kill may be overuled by how much agro he is causing me. No matter how old he is when he goes i will not put my customer base at risk by selling them bull beef.

[natmadaboutdexters]

Have just sent a 27 month old bull for beef so I shall see what he tastes like. We have eaten Freisian bull beef before but at approx 17 months. The Dexter was meant to be used for breeding but due to poor feet we decided to eat him instead otherwise he would have been castrated at a young age.

Natasha

[Rob R]

I used to rear bull beef, and once wrote an article about it for the bulletin, but was berated for doing so by a senior member of the society. We only stopped keeping them entire when we had to start running the herd as one group. I've always finished them from grass and find that my customers prefer the lean, tender meat that this produces, although it does reduce hanging times, as Duncan said, but as far as I can see hanging does little to improve a carcass that's spent 20-30 months maturing on the hoof. The customers couldn't tell the difference between well hung & one week hung, so I figured that it wasn't worth the extra cost. I haven't had a single case of toughness nor taint under this system in 16 years. However our abattoir takes animals in the day before & they have a chance to settle down before being killed, maybe that makes a difference.

[ann]

Hi rob

Where do you send your cattle for slaughter, its interesting that you say the cattle settle when left, do you always send more than one in at a time?

[cairnhill]

Hi Rob,

Just of interest do you have the article that you published as I would be very interested to read it.

Thanks.

[domsmith]

[quote="cairnhill"]I spotted an interesting research project on steers vs bulls, gives a good breakdown of pros and cons

http://www.animal-science.org/content/45/4/695.full.pdf


Is part 2 of that article available? its clearly quite old but worth reading.

d

[Rob R]

Hi Rob,

Just of interest do you have the article that you published as I would be very interested to read it.

Thanks.

I'd be able to find it, no doubt, give me a few days and I'll let you know.