In the last Countryside, there was an article about raising dairy breeds for meat...

One year we raised 2 Jersey steers and a Hereford heifer. All were raised on the same pasture, hay and grain, but the Jersey were totally unfit to eat! The Herford was wonderful.

The Jersey meat was tough but worst of all--had a rank, nasty gamey taste to it....question is--why????????

I'd love any insight???

Tracy

-- Tracy (zebella@mindspring.com), December 24, 2001

Answers

Oh no, just sent our first Jersey steer to the processor. I'd heard that Jersey is the best meat around if the steer is fat, which ours definately was. I'll let you know how it turns out.

-- Joe (botaur2@yahoo.com), December 24, 2001.

Interesting question. I think this is the first time I've heard someone say they weren't pleased with Jersey beef. Send the question in to Countryside at csymag@tds.net for possible insertion in the next issue.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), December 24, 2001.

Thanks, I will send it to Countryside and see what reponses come there. The dogs didn't even want to eat our Jerseys :((((

Tracy

-- Tracy (zebella@mindspring.com), December 24, 2001.

Are you sure you got your own own steer back? Was the fat yellow in color? Never had a bad Jersey steer.

-- Larry (SorBckRnch@tznet.com), December 24, 2001.

Yep, they were the only Jerseys in the place at the time. And yes, the fat was yellow, and tasted horrible :(

Tracy

-- Tracy (zebella@mindspring.com), December 24, 2001.

I don't know much about this, but kinda makes me wonder about the processing.....

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), December 24, 2001.

But if it was the processing, then why wouldn't the Hereford, done at the same time, by the same people, taste as bad????

-- Tracy (zebella@mindspring.com), December 24, 2001.

Never raised a Jersey, but raised lots of Holstein/beef crosses and several purebred Holsteins. Best beef we ever had. I can't think of a single reason the Jersey would taste different. The comment about being sure it was your steer refers to the fact that small processors have had a reputation of switching out carcasses and giving a superior one to a friend, relative or their own freezer. Had a friend who followed the whole process from start to finish to be sure she got her own back, this after getting back several hundred pounds of crow-bait once. Never had another problem after that.

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), December 24, 2001.

The Jerseys and Hereford both were handled by the local high school meat cutting program. It is very carefully watched over and they are not allowed to keep ANY bit of meat at all. We tried to give the instructor some steaks one year and he said he couldn't take them. We had used them for years and years, and never had a problem.

I wouldn't mind trying the Holsteins, I know of several folks here that have done that....but every local person I have talked to here has just said that Jersey meat is gamey and that's why they won't raise them. So it isn't just us!

Tracy

-- Tracy (zebella@mindspring.com), December 24, 2001.

Tracy How old and how much did your jerseys weigh? Jerseys steers dont make good beef until they weigh about 800+ lbs. They are slowest growing of all the dairy breeds. We butcher them quite often and find young bulls make the best beef. 2 year old bulls Nathan

-- Nathan Harris Sr. (barnyard_mini@yahoo.com), December 24, 2001.

They were both ~21-22 months. One weighed in at 845 and the other was 798.

Tracy

-- Tracy (zebella@mindspring.com), December 25, 2001.

Hi Tracy, We raised Holstein steers when I was growing up, purchased calves from all the local dairy farmers and had about 60 head at various stages of growth on the place at all times. We butchered them at 2 years of age and around 1200 lbs. Wonderful beef. Never had any Jerseys though. That's really odd about yours. As others have said, I've always heard and read folks making a case FOR eating them, not saying they were bad. Are you going to try again? I'm curious: Were these Jersey steers from the same farm? Perhaps its a genetic thing??

-- Renee Martin (icehorse@altelco.net), December 25, 2001.

Our first beefer tasted terrible and the fat worse. We've done 100 percent better on beefer #2, #3 and #4. The mistake we made was to not take him off pasture and pen him up. Take them off pasture for 2 to 3 months and slowly build them up to about 10 lbs of corn per day. Make sure they have plenty of water and salt/mineral block and throw a flake or two of hay to them every day. Get them fat enough to see about a 1/2" lump of fat between each rib. We've fed as much as 25# of corn per day the last few weeks.

We raise excellent, tender beef now. Hope this helps.

Stephanie Masters

-- Stephanie Masters (ajsd@united.net), December 25, 2001.

Stephanie, What breed were you raising?

What really surprised me was that all of ours were raised exactly the same....why would the hereford taste just fine and the Jerseys bad?

Ours were on pasture (short, irrigated bermuda--we were in Az at the time) alfalfa hay, and grain.

Tracy

-- Tracy (zebella@mindspring.com), December 25, 2001.

Hi Renee,

Yes as a matter of fact, they were from the same dairy....no clue as to whether they were related...likely not.

No, I doubt we will try the Jerseys again, I can't afford to feed them for the experiment. If I ever find a nice Jersey cow to milk, I will probably cross her with an Angus bull.

I am thinking of trying a Holstein steer later on. We have some friends who bought one this year and were quite pleased with the meat.

Tracy

-- Tracy (zebella@mindspring.com), December 25, 2001.

All of ours have been jersey crosses from a local dairy. I am sorry I forgot to mention last time that we also put about a 1/2 cup of dried molasses mixed in with the corn. The man at the feed store said it would help sweeten the meat and we wouldn't get that rank, gamey taste to the meat. So we make sure and do it everytime now.

We ended up cooking the yucky meat in a crock pot and mixed with other leftovers to feed the barn cats and dog. We didn't buy any dog food for a year and a half!!!

I have no idea why one animal would turn out bad and another good on the same feed. Everyone we asked about it had a different answer. They all have differing opinions about what the best/worst breed is and what the best feed out formulas are. So, we just took ideas from all of them and tried again.

We have a milk cow. A jersey/brown swiss mix. We breed her to Angus everytime. It turns out a nice beefy calf. So go for it.

Stephanie Masters

-- Stephanie Masters (ajsd@united.net), December 25, 2001.

Stephanie:

My experience with feeding whole kernel or cracked corn to beef cow is most of what goes in the front end comes out the back end. Besides, corn is fairly low in protein 8-10%. You might want to feed out range cubes instead. They are 20% protein, about 20% cheaper than whole kernel corn and include molasses, vitamins and minerals. My cattle love them to the extent I call them deranged cubes.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), December 26, 2001.

We have also raised a guernsey steer, tasted good but the fat on the roasts was so tough!! Have raised holsteins & hereford crosses, always excellent tender beef. Have a jersey steer, and a holstein steer but will probably sell the jersey shortly. They grow slower, rather put the hay into faster growth.

-- Suzanne (weir@frontiernet.net), December 26, 2001.

Stephanie:

Correction to my post. Locally a bag of 50 lbs of whole kernel corn in $3.50. A 50-pound bag of range cubes is $5.10. Thus, cost for 100 pounds would be $7.00 for corn versus $10.20 for range cubes. While cost would be about one-third higher, protein (plus additives) would be more than twice as much.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), December 26, 2001.

Stephanie,

How long does it take you to finish out your angus/jersey cross calves?

Tracy

-- Tracy (zebella@mindspring.com), December 26, 2001.

It has taken anywhere from 19 to 22 months to get the dairy steers looking the way I want before we take them in to be processed.

Thanks for the suggestion Ken. I'll try some of those range cubes. I really like the cracked corn because you can smell the corn sweetness in the meat when it cooks.

Not to sound smug or anything but I don't worry about the cost too much. Now that we've been turning out excellent beef I can't keep up with the requests from friends to sell half a steer when it's time. I charge 3.00 lb for cut, wrapped and delivered, homestead raised beef. It pays for the animal, all feed, butcher fees, I get my side free and I end up with a tidy little profit.

I'll try the range cubes.

Stephanie Masters

-- Stephanie Masters (ajsd@united.net), December 26, 2001.