rachels.haven's Journal

[farmerjan]

Understand that the yield is based on HANGING WEIGHT. At least on beef. I tell ALL our beef customers..... If the animal weighs .... Using this as an example....... 1,000 lbs. the hanging weight will be between 5-600 lbs AVERAGE. That is taking away the hide, head, hooves, guts...... then you can expect UP TO 63% (according to USDA) of that as cut out value. So a 550 lb carcass will yield approx 300 lbs edible meat.

So again, what I tell my beef customers, if it weighs 1000 lbs expect to get back 25% or more of the weight in actual beef. That will depend on the cuts, whether or not you get back alot of bone in cuts ..... So a 1000 lb animal will give you back at least 250 lbs actual meat in your freezer. That is why a better finished animal will yield better as the hide, head hooves will not change in weight, and the guts will change only if you weigh it full of feed/hay, then they leave it overnight before killing so the guts are more empty.
Since lamb and goats are smaller, there ought to be better cut out.
Getting back 200 lbs of HALF a steer weighing 1100 lbs is not bad. The off taste is something I cannot address.

 

[farmerjan]

Most all animals are sold with the price for HANGING WEIGHT here.

 

[Ridgetop]

And as you said, a properly finished animal will yield more meat than one that is too thin.

Keep in mind when buying a steer to butcher is to make sure that the animal is long, thick, and has been properly fed. Animals that have not been properly fed when young often won't finish out properly. I prefer smaller boned animals to process because they put more meat on the frame with less feed than a large framed animal that requires more feeding and growth to yield the same amount of meat. The best meat we used to raise were veal calves. They cost us nothing because we fed our goat milk. Next best were the dairy calves, again goat milk and the hay the goats refused to eat. And if we were not concerned about white veal meat we could also give a little grain. Not much fat, but good meat for nothing except the price of the bull calf from the dairy.

Sometimes newbies just buy what they find cheap without understanding where the meat is produced on the steer. The meat often disappoints them in quality and yield. Look up the different carcasses on line and you will find a chart of where the cuts come from. Compare that to the Standard of Perfection on the animal and you will see that the judging Standard gives more points to the meat areas. This is true on all meat animals from rabbits and poultry through steers. It helps to know where the meat is.

When my kids first went into 4-H and showed livestock, there was a girl who won all the Grand Champion and Reserve Champion awards. She did not buy super expensive animals but her father was a commercial butcher and knew how to choose good animals. He also knew how to feed them out. She did all the work, but her father's knowledge gave her an edge. She was a super sweet girl and we really liked her but were glad when she graduated 2 years after DD1 first started showing market animals! However it brought home the idea that knowing where the meat is on the animal you are raising will help you understand the difference between a nice animal and a champion.

 

[rachels.haven]

Brr, 26 degrees this morning. I filled buckets and the duck pool last night when we were above freezing so all I had to do was break ice and feed this morning. That went well. I think I'll make that a habit.

I really need to get the dog out on a walk and walk her into the ground. Today she retaliated for not being allowed to try to mooch in and go for the goats' alfalfa pellets by chewing the hose. She may have gotten told off and chased away from the whole feeding area. Hose isn't hers either and she knows it. Not funny, not cute, not happening. Plus, alfalfa pellets give her diarrhea and I need that hose. Right when I thought this morning was going so well. We've also been working on her streaking up and knocking people over by their butts to their knees (or worse, from the front from the crotch for men) . She came with this habit, I fixed it, then recently it cropped back up and I've been working on it for the last week or two. This morning she chose to take the command I taught seriously, so I thought we were all good again, but apparently not completely. She's going to have to figure out the hose is always off limits or she will have to stay at a very respectful distance when I feed any animal at all anything forever. There's too much going on at once to have her adding to it.

New doe is lovely and fat. Everyone else is looking good. I wormed the lamancha yearlings this week. With the kids school I can't steal any time to do a fecal so I just treated. One was scouring so I wormed and coccidiasated him. Scours gone magically, he's filling back out now. I suspect it was coccidia as his breeder said his mom was struggling with it when we brought him home. He had no symptoms so I waited to treat. If this is a reoccurring thing as an adult I may have to chose if he stays or goes.The the other yearling was looking thin. After I looked at pics of his sire at a year old and he's lightly built and on the thin side too, so I guess he may not be wormy, but just light and lean. No real change in my yearling's condition post worming. He still likes jumping around the pen like a 120 pound kid. I suspect someday he will fill out better once he finishes getting longer and taller. He's taller and longer than my almost 4 year old adult lamancha already and looks like a string bean. Everything I give him seems to just make him stringier...grow just a LITTLE body fat for winter please? Sheesh, bucklings.

Ava is either full of kids or going to kid first this year. Her kids will be pulled and as soon as I have enough milk coming in to fill her babies bottles and feed the kids she'll be listed. No more biting brats is the new slogan. Meanwhile, the countdown to first exposure dates in the breeding pen is starting. Next month on Christmas eve will be 5 months since Patrick went in. I'd love to see some Patrick babies and lots of full udders for milking. Not going anywhere for the holidays has some perks.

Regardless, good frosty, frozen morning.

 

[Bruce]

Plus, alfalfa pellets give her diarrhea and I need that hose.

Curious. I wonder why she likes alfalfa pellets. Figaro, the cat at Lumnah Acres, was begging pig grain until the pigs were processed, now he's begging for chicken feed. Silly cat.

 

[rachels.haven]

She wants what the other animals are enthusiastic about. Remove the goats from the equation and she doesn't want the pellets. The dog has quirks.

 

[Ridgetop]

Years ago we used to feed rabbit pellets (almost pure alfalfa) to our house dogs. it stopped any gas they had and did no harm. In the wild wolves and coyotes eat the full gut of grazing animals which gives them green feed. When we switched from a corn based kibble (this is 45 years ago) to a rice based kibble most of the nasty stinky gas stopped. Corn gives our dogs the runs but since the Anatolians are not house dogs except for several hours of family time after we lock up the sheep, no problem.

How old is your dog that is chewing up hoses? Some young dogs chew them because they are the right size and consistency for chewing. One of our young dogs chewed all our hoses and we had to drape them from overhead hooks until they grew out of it. All Erick's puppies lie to chew his hoses too. We wondered if it was because Anatolians hate snakes and will kill any snake on sight.

Winter is coming, that is for sure. With the new administration I have a feeling they are going to make sure it is a long dark winter like Biden prophesied. There is another run on toilet paper starting here in California.

 

[rachels.haven]

I think Bailey's going on 4-well past hose chewing stage. She only does it while looking at me while I'm out there doing something else that isn't her so I'm pretty sure it's an attention game. We'll get through it. She hasn't tried again since I addressed it with her.

That rabbit food thing is interesting. That doesn't surprise me. I think gas can be fatal for bunnies. Something antigas may get added to help. I may be tempted to see if she's tempted by it. Maybe she has a need. Possibly not because she's never interested in the open bag of alfalfa pellets on the pallet by the grain cans, just what the goats are eating but it wouldn't hurt to try. Her feed isn't corn based though. She prefers the corn ones, but we got one that's sorghum (corn's cousin?) and rice because I think corn makes dog poop smell like the bottom of a big iowan grain bin when they clean it out after shipping all the corn...and I don't want the dog poop to smell like that. Weird? Oh yeah, but that's how I choose to roll. If I had to guess that's probably the smell you're talking about. It stinks. Also it makes her poop bigger and she seems to need more of that food to get full (which also makes it less cost effective) but if she had a choice she'd be an Iams dog, farts and all.

Either way, she's not a bad dog. We just had a bad day and she's a dog.

 

[Ridgetop]

If you have gas in your rabbits(?) maybe you need papaya extract in their feed. I know that some of the Angora breeders used to use it for hair ball.

If your dog is eating grass, adding a scoop of alfalfa pellet to the food will help also. Corn based food does give the dogs looser and smellier stools, more poop piles, etc. We switched to a rice based kibble years ago and it helps the odor and amount of poop.

Our LGDs will try to get in the stalls and eat the grain - they like the sweet feed but also try the rolled barleycorn too! LOL I think they relate t the sheep and I have seen Angel when she was younger trying a mouthful of alfalfa hay with the sheep!

 

[rachels.haven]

Oh bummer, looks like I can't go to TSC in Pelham, NH for curbside pick up and come back anymore according to the state. That's a pity, because the other TSC that's a similar distance away but in Mass is in a hot spot and the goats don't like the farmers' exchange ones (that are $5/bag more expensive and higher in protein...and better).

I can only go for Sam's club if I want according to the state. The only other states on their okay list are HI (lol) and VT.

And Mass does creepy things like track your phone and send you daily notifications to remind you to do what they want. Yuck.

No more agricultural exemptions I guess?

And I haven't forgotten, Mass had a bad, bad hay year and all...surely people bringing hay to be sold will be allowed?

Glad I have my loft full at least. Annoyed again at this state.