Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire jim conrad...beef

Jim i am wondering what you bought to process barley ? We used to feed a lot of barley to hogs way back when we started farming ,and also some to cattle .We ran it through a hammer mill but i imagine a roller would be better for fat cattle . Rolled barley would have less fines and dust . Barley works well , it may take a little longer for hogs to finish because its lower in energy then corn but on the flip side you purchase less protein to add to your finish ration ..For those not farming - corn is higher in energy but barley has more protein so in a corn ration you have to add more soy ..Hogs are cheap in my area of SD right now - sons friends processed 5 this weekend . These hogs were open gilts , over 300 lbs and cost 50 bucks a head ..his friends did thier own work and made a lot of sausage . we have a couple more coming for our familys in a month but they are going to the local looker ..Due to plant shut downs i hear that a local big hog finisher sent three loads ( over 600 head ) to a pet food plant in Minn for euthanizing and pet food just to get rid of them..On the beef subject . Grass fed beef can vary a lot , i want mine fed grain for marbeling and taste , if its hamburger your after grass is perfect and most any used up old cow will be as good or better then store bought as thats where hambuger originates..I used to buy short term cows and run them on cornstalks and often sold some with imperfections to a local family with a bunch of kids for hamburger ,Good beef will not be cheap if your going to be fair to the guy that raised it and did the work , processing is expensive but unless you have a lot of freezer space and know how a do it, your self project is a lot of work, a 1400 lb animal it not like rolling a 150 lb deer over,, any way we have raised and eaten our own meat in my nearly 5 decades of farming and all beef is not created equal even out of your own feed yard..

Thanks for the info Winchrman.


We bought an old OMC 430 grinder/mixer.



It has a 1 inch screen that we hope will crack in coarse enough. If we run it slow enough.

Butchers are well known for pinching the best cuts to take home.

Jim i just read your reply on the grinder mixer - you posted while i was replying , you have it figured out . Fines are not as much of an issue if you blend with a silage ration for cattle ..you can auger grain into the supplement hopper and mix a ration with mixed grains with out hammering also ..as in chicken feed ..those grinder mixer are a versatile machine

I will look around and see if have any old screens in the iron pile , prob the same as the IHC mixers as owatonna or some one made serveral different brands . used to have a bunch of screens ..and still have a couple scrap mixers ,ground ever thing from milo to ear corn ..

Canada beef tastes terrible, even prime grade. To get prime grade beef that tastes good you need to feed them at lease some corn.

I think Canadian beef is good. They us a AAA rating instead of good, choice, and prime.

We prefer barley beef and pork.

But then again.....we dont live in corn country.

Sawdust ? Yes ! And chicken chit too. I can’t remember the portioning but my friend owned a dairy and sawdust and chicken chit was a good portion of the feed. He also had a supply of bread trimmings from the bread plant. I think using chicken chit got banned but as far as I know sawdust is still part of the mix. He sold out to a developer and got out of the business.

i have always wondered about that........bob

Barley, corn, wheat, milo, most ant grain will fatten cattle well. I can't say about barley, but corn makes for white fat.

wabi...what grains turn it a differant color........bob

All I know is what I've heard. I've seen white fat on corn fed beef of course.

Getting to prime beef depends a lot on the breed more than the feed. I don't know what Jim is feeding out, but he might have something that will make it fairly easily. It also depends a lot of frame size, beef that grows really large frames take much longer to reach a prime level than a smaller framed beef. I'd try to find a RED Angus or Shorthorn as these are smaller framed cattle that put on weight really well and have highly marbled meat. Also realize that you're going to have to feed the beef longer than normal so expect paying a premium to get to prime.




As a young man Dad fed out a few steers on onion tops one year, kept one to eat and said it smelled like frying onions every time he cooked any of it. You need to find out what they finish the cattle on for grain and/or keep them completely off the grass they're eating. This is what's putting the flavor in the meat.



What is the live weight? If it's in the 1200 lb live weight range you should be close. You loose about 40% live to hanging weight, and then you'll loose some more weight in the trim. Packaged beef usually weighs in around 40% of live weight.




Hey Jim I grew up feeding cattle ground milo, wheat, oats, and barley, and you're correct it just needs to be cracked/rolled for cattle. However, you'll get some fines still in the mix and I wouldn't worry too much about it. A simple roller would have been better, but the grinder mixer is more versatile. You can add in trace minerals, salts, and other sources of proteins to help get your cattle to grow.

Too cold or too hot slows down gains with animals that is for sure. You should be able to pack on some pounds now as you're not as hot. Cattle gain the best in cool weather.

We have about another 75 days to go before fair (if it happens) with Waylon and Willie here (Daughter's FFA project). However, we're already in the mid 90's a lot and we'll hit 100+ before too long. We will more than likely loose our A$$ on these guys because of the market, but not as many as other kids that spend a lot more for their cattle, feed, and keeping them in a cool room than we did. Since the lock down we've just been feeding straight rolled corn, sorghum hay, and trace minerals just to keep the costs down.



BTW they'll be for sale and will deliver up to 200 miles from La Junta Colorado to processor of choice if the fair doesn't happen. Hit me up mid Aug to Sept.

I've heard that all my life.

But, I've never seen it. Even once.

And I grew up working in my family's meat packing company.


Which is more valuable? Stealing a few dollars worth of meat, or establishing a reputation as a good business, which grows through word of mouth through the community?

I'm sure some disreputable meat packers are out there. But they won't be in business for long.

I lay the vast majority of those stories on the ignorance of people not knowing what cutting loss percentage is.

My experience is "grain fed" versus "grass fed"...

It's easy to tell grain fed beef from grass fed beef.

The fat is indeed white on grain fed cattle, and yellow on grass fed cattle.

Seen differences in taste too.

Grass fed cattle can be quite strong tasting, and even more so if that grass is green.

pm sent jim....bob

Some where in the house i have an old dairy book with grain conversion tables.

Back when i raised hogs milo was a 1-1 sub to corn.

Grass fed does have a yellow tint if not fed some grain a few weeks before being butchered.

I had some hogs on an old alfalfa field and the first butchered had a green tint and you could taste a slight taste of broccoli.

Peanut trash would turn the fat tan to light brown.

Got a half a beef for sale.

Local pick up.

When I only ended up with 5 ribeyes for my whole half of a 1200lb animal, i assumed more than ignorance.

What’s done is done.

I won’t work with Livingston’s packers in Hopkinsville, Ky anymore.