Buying Meat on the Hoof for Dummies

[Farmfresh]

Learning to use meat to its best advantage can REALLY save some big money. Even if you buy chicken at the store you can save money by buying the whole chicken and cutting it up yourself. Use the legs, thighs, breast meat and wings like normal, but then freeze the backs, necks and wing tips. When you have about 4 to 6 of those carcasses make up a big pot of chicken stock!

When I package my homegrown birds (or ones you buy from a farmer or CSA) I always pack the necks and backs separate in this way. Not only do you end up with great stock there is a fair amount of meat on those bones as well! Perfect for making chicken salad sandwiches or adding to a soup or casserole.

While we are at it you can save a lot of money by learning how to butcher and process those small animals your self. I live in the city and process all of my own chickens, turkeys, ducks and rabbits. I get this done by being a little discreet. Process in the evenings when others are in front of the TV and children are inside.

Buying live rabbits to eat is easy and pretty cheap. Chickens (especially roosters) are often advertised with low price or even free! While old chickens or especially old roosters are not the best for the fry pan, dishes like Coq a Vin were designed around using an old rooster. Even if a free skinny old hen has little meat the broth is usually AMAZING, you can still make dog food (if nothing else) and the bones are great buried in the garden to add minerals to the soil.

 

[Wifezilla]

I found this on a thread at BYC...

"
Common terms:

Cow= female that has raised calves
Heifer= young female that has not raised calves
Heiferette= a young female that has raises one calf
Steer= castrated male
Live weight= weight of animal on the hoof
rail weight or carcass weight=weight of animal after hide head and entrails are removed
Carcass dress out= % of meat on the rail after slaughter. Anything over 60% is very good lighter cattle do not dress out as well as fats
Fats= Steers or heifers coming out of a feedlot destined for slaughter


Some Facts
Fats can weigh around 1400 lbs on the hoof and will dress out in the range of 800 to 850 lbs /this of course can be affected by genetics
Finding values for beef on the hoof is not difficult most rural areas have established markets.
Cattle with no Dairy breeding in them are worth a lot more on the hoof than beef cattle.
Price for cattle per lb. goes down as the weight goes up.
For example 400 lbs calves can bring up to 1.25 and up and 600 lb calves are less

IMO the farmer should be compensated at market value for the animal, should be comensated for delivery to processor etc. and if they have added other value such as organic, natural, or whatever suits your needs there should be some compensation for that as well.

Cattle are a very market based commodity and finding their actual value takes a minimal amount of research"

Thank you greathorse!!

 

[Farmfresh]

Some more terms for "on the hoof" buyers.

Feeder cattle are sold by grades. If you go through a cattle auction which is another place to buy an animal to put in your freezer. You must be MUCH more cautious when you go through an auction as you really have no idea HOW an animal was raised nor what medications an animal has been given. Even so you can often get good deals there.

A feeder going through an auction could be described as a L1 heifer or a S3 steer

The letter refers to frame size Large, Medium and Small and the number refers to thickness.

Large frame cattle are tall and long, Medium frame cattle are moderate in height and length, Small frame cattle are shorter in both body and height.

Thickness number 1 cattle usually have beef breeding they are thick throughout muscled well over the back and loin and good width between the legs. Amount of fat is not the subject here. Number 2 cattle are narrower, back and loin are more sunken and legs set closer. Number 3 cattle are often dairy breeds in general more thin and bony.

Number 1 grade is Prime and Choice, Number 2 grade is Good and Standard and Number 3 is less than Standard.

Then there are the older cattle. The cull cows.

They come in four classes:

Breakers - (the best grade) fleshy with good dressing percentage
Boners - still a well nourished beef breeds just not best quality
Leans - usually a number 2 type of cow with lower body weight and poor condition
Lights - usually a dairy breed and thin to boot

These older cows are often purchased as hamburger. The whole cow (except for the loin when possible - USDA certified butcher shops will not allow the loin stripped out of an older cow) is simply ground up into ground beef.

Let the learning curve begin!!

 

[abifae]

*

 

[Wildsky]

Having grown up in another country, I was shocked when I came here and couldn't find a butcher shop!
In South Africa, you find them EVERYWHERE - and you can go in and select what you want, you can see the animals hanging in the back at most places, and you can see them cutting the meat up and packaging it etc.
Each butcher has his own specialties, so you can normally find your favorite one or two, go there for dried meat products, go here for sausages - or one place for lamb and another for beef etc.

Only when I came to the USA did I have to buy meat from a grocery store, and I always felt a little odd not being able to see where it was being cut up and packaged etc.

 

[Farmfresh]

There should be all kinds of information available from any land grant university. University of Missouri Columbia is our land grant University.

Most of these places are federally funded and have low cost or free brochures available on butchering and raising animals to eat. The better informed you are the cheaper you can fill your freezer.

I think visiting with a butcher is a great idea abifae! I am sure many of them would be happy to help you learn more. Probably a few positive strokes about their profession would not be a bad idea as well. Everyone sees a fireman as a hero - well how about a little hero worship for our butchers!

 

[Farmfresh]

Having grown up in another country, I was shocked when I came here and couldn't find a butcher shop!
In South Africa, you find them EVERYWHERE - and you can go in and select what you want, you can see the animals hanging in the back at most places, and you can see them cutting the meat up and packaging it etc.
Each butcher has his own specialties, so you can normally find your favorite one or two, go there for dried meat products, go here for sausages - or one place for lamb and another for beef etc.

Only when I came to the USA did I have to buy meat from a grocery store, and I always felt a little odd not being able to see where it was being cut up and packaged etc.

You just need to do a little networking. Those butcher shops are out there, but often they are just located in a designated barn on someone's farm! Get on Craigslist and talk to some of the people selling meat animals and find out WHERE they get their processing done.

Our little butcher shop also retails meat. They often have farmers bring in three or four to be butchered and just accept meat as payment for their work. (ex farmer gets 3 they keep 1) Then they sell that meat at their shop. We often supplement our meat this way, if we say need MORE bacon than our pig had to give us. You are not assured of grass fed meat or special condition, but the meat is ALWAYS far and away better than at a grocery store. Well worth checking out. Especially for bacon and cured meats. You might not like the way a particular shop cures their meats and need to go elsewhere.

 

[Farmfresh]

Here is a useful poster of beef "primal cuts". Good for learning the basic cuts.

Beef Primal Cuts

 

[Wildsky]

Here is a useful poster of beef "primal cuts". Good for learning the basic cuts.

Beef Primal Cuts

Awesome.
Does anyone know the other name that London Broil would be called? thats normally the cut I buy to make jerky!

 

[Farmfresh]

I believe that is called the flank.