How much grain to feed daily?

[Kettle Creek Cattle]

Anyone on here ever butcher their own cow? If so, did you find that it was worth it to do it yourself or just have a butcher do it and pay the fees? Other than the size factor, how much different is butchering a cow than a pig? I do about a dozen pigs a year and don't find them to be hard to do at all but I've never done a whole cow. I called a local butcher and his fees are 1.30lb cut and vac packed.
My problem is that my steer has a huge attitude problem and will not go quietly onto a trailer. By the time I would be able to get him trailered, he'd be so riled up he'd need a week to calm down to be worth eating. Thoughts?

 

[Alaskan]

Anyone on here ever butcher their own cow? If so, did you find that it was worth it to do it yourself or just have a butcher do it and pay the fees? Other than the size factor, how much different is butchering a cow than a pig? I do about a dozen pigs a year and don't find them to be hard to do at all but I've never done a whole cow. I called a local butcher and his fees are 1.30lb cut and vac packed.
My problem is that my steer has a huge attitude problem and will not go quietly onto a trailer. By the time I would be able to get him trailered, he'd be so riled up he'd need a week to calm down to be worth eating. Thoughts?

Only done one cow, a couple pigs... about the same, just a bit bigger

 

[Kettle Creek Cattle]

Would you do another cow, or pay the butcher to do it next time?

 

[farmerjan]

If you have a way to hang the meat and keep it cool enough to age, and you are fairly good at hogs, then no reason why not. You are right about the adrenaline in the steers system if riled up, will make the meat tough and/or give it an off flavor.
Ask the butcher if they will let you bring it in "hanging".... here we have a couple places that will work the meat up but don't kill there. But if you have a vaccuum packer then if you are able to do it, it might be worth it.

And around here, getting a kill/processing date is like a year out.

 

[Kettle Creek Cattle]

Ok great! I got the hanging and cooling down. My cousin and I converted a shipping container into a meat locker to hang pigs and deer in. It's insulated with ridged foam, and cooled by air conditioners haha. It hits the ol light bill pretty hard but works great when the weather is too warm to hang meat. Its supposed to be in the 20's and 30's for the foreseeable future so I think we might give it a try. I had a butcher date since last October for March of this year but they now rescheduled me till may and that don't work for me. Thanks again, I'll keep you posted!

 

[Alaskan]

Would you do another cow, or pay the butcher to do it next time?

Do it ourselves

 

[farmerjan]

He// yeah, if you have someone that can help... like your cousin...with a cooler and all available..... I'd do it myself in a heartbeat.