23 month old beef

[Tremewan]

Good morning, I have a great offer from a local gastro pub to start buying my Dexter beef, will be a good story for me to use, only issue is that they need the first one in November and the only animal I have close to finishing is a (very good) 23 month old steer, he would obviously benefit a further 4 months to finish, but I am keen to get in with the pub now. I've never slaughtered so young, will the beef be ok? Or am I cutting of my nose despite my face by slaughtering at his age? Here is a pic of Morris.

[Louisa Gidney]

After November I'd rather have a beast in the freezer than in the field. I usually kill at about 21 months and have had no complaints. Partly depends on how long the carcase is hung before cutting. 18 days is standard for my butcher.

[Rob R]

I would have no concerns beefing a steer at 23 months providing he's in good condition. If he can be kept out on grass for another four months, great, but if you're feeding hay it's best going now.

I'd be more worried about the prospect of supplying a fickle & unreliable (in my experience) catering outlet than the age at which you're slaughtering.

[Robert & Alison Kirk]

We would certainly get him slaughtered. We supplied a local high end establishment every four weeks for 11 years with steers and heifers around 20-24 months of age (they had 146 carcasses off us) until it was sold in 2016. We continued to supply the new owners (no longer privately owned), payment was taking longer and longer, and we stopped supplying them when all the staff handed in their notice. We would deliver early on a Friday morning, boxed in primal cuts and vacuum packed, having hung for 21 days. The invoice was e-mailed on the Friday evening and by Monday morning payment was in the bank!

We were charging £9.35kg on a dw basis, but that included abattoir costs of £200.

Hope you find this helpful.

Alison Kirk
Boram Dexters
Gloucestershire