{"id":314,"date":"2009-11-26T16:07:31","date_gmt":"2009-11-26T23:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/?p=314"},"modified":"2009-11-26T16:09:47","modified_gmt":"2009-11-26T23:09:47","slug":"beef-share","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/beef-share\/","title":{"rendered":"Beef Share"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey Folks!<\/p>\n

We just got our half beef share back from the butcher and thought there might be some folks that are unsure about all the terms and prices that are involved in buying an animal on the hoof. \u00a0To this end – here is the breakdown of our purchase this year.<\/p>\n

First things first – why buy a share? \u00a0Everyone has a tipping point concerning what they eat. \u00a0There are a million things wrong with the factory animal model that must be balanced with the suspicious taste and price. \u00a0My tipping point for beef (where I don’t care how cheap I can get it or what flavor enhancers are in it – I will not eat it) was the Stephanie Smith<\/a> story. \u00a0How is it possible for bits of meat, taken from hundreds of animals from different factories around the world, that then \u00a0get a dose of trimmings, bread crumbs, ammonia\u00a0and\u00a0different\u00a0additives, are then amalgamated into a frozen patty and labelled as ‘beef’. \u00a0 How can it be that there is ‘recipe’ for meat? \u00a0How is it possible to add things to meat to make it cheaper than the purchase price? \u00a0Anyway- we haven’t had beef in a while except for what we get from the Home on the Range guys out east.<\/p>\n

Okay, \u00a0back to the breakdown. We bought a half share of an 18 month Angus cross, grass fed and rotational grazed, and lightly\u00a0finished cow. \u00a0This beef was customer inspected (we were there when the calf arrived and visited just before slaughter- with several stops along the way) and were pleased and excited for our share. \u00a0The steer was about 1000 lbs on slaughter day. This is the live weight. \u00a0After slaughter the skin, feet, guts, and head are removed and the carcass is weighed again; this is the hanging weight. \u00a0This is the second most important number in the process. \u00a0You will likely pay the farmer and the butcher based on the hanging weight. \u00a0Next the animal is hung for two weeks (typical) to allow cooling, drying and for enzymes in the meat to break down\u00a0connective\u00a0tissues to help with tenderness. \u00a0The younger the cow the less this is needed- this is called dry aged beef and is something that you will only get from the our local\u00a0abattoirs. \u00a0Another benefit of grass fed beef is that the shrinkage is less than found in grain fed animals. \u00a0Remember, the hanging weight is taken before the shrinkage…so the less the better.<\/p>\n

Next the carcass is cut to your specifications. \u00a0This is where everyone’s confidence takes a nose dive – mine too- when it comes to beef. \u00a0I think there is a great\u00a0conspiracy\u00a0to make sure that this process as confusing as possible to the novice, that way the shops can get a more or less a\u00a0consistent\u00a0cut list. \u00a0For example, I was with a guy when he was specifying his cuts and the shop asked, “Do you\u00a0want\u00a0x or y’?” My friend asked where the cut came from and the response was, “Oh, you won’t find it on any chart you find on the internet.” \u00a0 So how is one to do their homework?? \u00a0The key part is this is your beef and making sure you get the cuts you want is the primary goal of the discussion with the butcher shop. \u00a0First step is understanding the primal cuts – these are the natural sections of the animal. \u00a0However, this will trip you up to in that there are primals and subrprimals and some elevate subs to primes and everyone will call them something different. \u00a0You can further be tripped up by leading questions like, ‘ “Do you want T-bone steaks’?” You say ‘yes’ not even knowing that you just gave up your filet mignon. \u00a0There are far better resources on the internet to help with this than I can provide, but just be pateint and ask questions. \u00a0Some butchers ask \u00a0just four questions – 1- How thick do you want your steaks ? 2- How many people will be eating per package? \u00a03- How much hamburger do you want in a pack ? and, 4- Does you dog like bones.? But even this guy will cut it anyway you want, so make a day of it if you have to, but get what you want or you will be frustrated for a year when you pass the clear packages at the grocery store wondering why you cuts didn’t look like that.<\/p>\n

Back to the breakdown….started with live weight (1000 lbs), then there was hanging weight (625 lbs in our case), so 313 lbs a half. \u00a0This is not, however, what you take home. \u00a0Your cutlist will determine what the wrapped weight will be. \u00a0Obviously, the more bone-in cuts you have the higher the wrapped cut weight will be and visa versa. \u00a0Here is what we got from our 313 hanging side:<\/p>\n