This ones for those of us that know the difference, what's your favorite breed of cattle for beef? I know Black Angus gets all the marketing cash, for me though it's always been a toss up between a good Shorthorn or a Hereford. Could just be the way we finish them, but they seem to get a little better marbling. Could also be how they cross, most of the steers from Dad's place are half dairy anyway.

I could be biased though, just polished off an inch thick T-bone(Shorthorn) for lunch and it was really good.

The best beef is "Bush Beef" aka moose.

Most of it is just marketing wank.

Certified this and that.....



It comes down to marketability and how well they do on YOUR ranch.

For us it's black Angus and black Baldies.

no clue what brand/variety of beef that winn-dixie carries, but they're preparing for bankruptcy?

my folks always raised cull cows, with a good bull on top. the meat went to market.

protein is protein, but the price of beef in these parts are high.

The best I've had has been grass fed Texas Longhorn.

I wish I had a ranch, Dad has 123 acres of land, I help him out quite a bit as I only live a mile down the road. The downside is I can't even count the number of times I've wandered up there with the 22 to wack a few squirrels and it was too dark by the time I got out of the barn, seems like I have a bad habit of showing up right after something breaks. That'd be my dream retirement though, small farm and a few head of beef cattle.

Whatever comes from McDonalds. Hard to beat a Quarter Pounder with Cheese & Fries.

L.W.

I have a friend that says his family prefers grain fed holstein. (The fact that the beef breeds tend to bring more on the market could have something to do with this...)

I think it is more on how they are finished.Some of the best tasting beef I ever had was old dairy cows that were on the down hill side of production.Great tasting,but those old cows were chewy.

Talking about which breed puts on weight faster, or has bigger calves that sell better in the fall,or which ones fares better in hot or cold climate is whole nother discussion

Super market beef can't be compared to beef that is served in high end restaurants because that grade of beef seldom reaches the super market,

As a kid we had some pure bred Polled Hereford cattle. We always ate a cross from one our dairy cows. Usually a Holstein/Hereford cross, but sometimes from a Jersey/Hereford. Finished out on corn that we raised and hand picked. It was ground in an old hammer mill, cob/shucks/grain and some cotton seed meal mixed in, but I do not know how much. Plenty of hay and water. Home butchered too. Best that I ever ate. miles

Grass fat cattle is not as good as those finished on grain (corn).

Grass fed may taste better, I can't say, but the grain fed will usually be tenderer. miles

My Son in Law purchased a few longhorn for my pasture. He was looking for a leaner, healthier steak. But leaner and healthier does not necessarily mean tastier. I have eaten lots of dairy steers, and dairy crosses. They also do not in any way compare to a good beef steer.

We much prefer hereford, angus, or a cross between the two. And we prefer them fresh off of clipped pasture in the fall, with never a taste of grain.

I have never found Angus to be all that it is hyped to be - not bad, but nothing special.

I've bought more than one Jersey Bull in my lifetime as a bucket calf so I could eat him later and still be able to sell a good calf. I'm not saying that's the best but it's pretty damn cheap eating with free grass and 30 to 60 days worth of grain.

Agreed. Far as breed goes I think it depends how they were raised/finished/processed more than breed

Kuroge Washu from Japan

I lived for quite a while in southern Idaho working a full time job and supplementing low wages by working on farms in the area. Learned enough about beef to form definite opinions about cattle raising, what breeds and why. An Angus will yield out at about 900 lbs in about nine or ten months, a Hereford at about 1100 lbs in a year. Three extra months of feeding before sale raises the cost of a steer considerably but this is offset by the Herefords ability to forage on less desirable feed, requiring less supplemental feed. A Hereford will dance for joy at the prospect of green tumbleweed shoots which will cause an Angus mouth problems. A crossed Angus/Herford (black baldy?} will yield out at 1000 lbs in 10 months with about three weeks to a month in the feed lot. They were my favorite cows. As far as taste, I've eaten Holstiens from feed lots that tasted as good as the finest beef but Lord knows, they were the ugliest steaks you've ever seen. I guess they are what they eat but dairy cows just don't do it for me.

It's far more important when they are killed than most other factors. If they are killed when on the gain (gaining weight) they will be tender, if when off the gain they will be tough. Ain't enough money in the world to force me to have a Holstien on the place.

I' ill not knock another man's cattle. We raise Angus, we will buy most any breed to feed out.

I have read, "There is more difference within breeds, than between them".

I don’t pay any attention to breed. It’s how much marveling in a steak ( preferably NY strip) how it’s aged and then how it’s cooked that’s important to me.
I was raised on a Ks farm and dad had a feed lot. We ate steaks, roasts and burgers on a daily basis. It was mostly herford with some hereford and angus cross. Later on in life I worked for a large agri business company that had feed lots and beef processing plants. I had a contact that allowed me to buy prime whole NY strips at a very reasonable price. I aged them about a month and “look out” that was some awesome meat.

This thread is moving along fast. This one of the few topics I feel like I know a thing, or two about. I'll be back as soon I roil up my pant legs, and find tall rubber boots.

The best tasting and chewing home raised beef I ever butchered was a full blood Jersey steer. The worst was a Charolais/Angus cross, it was tough and tasteless. A feedlot man in the mid-west told me that Holstein graded 90% choice, but didn't convert feed economically. Right now we are eating on an Angus/Brahman cross that broke a hind leg in the corral. Our adult kids and their spouses and kids all like it. I say it is ok for grass fed, it was fat enough. Low cholesterol beef is not to my taste.

I ate this today

Maybe, between the best beef breeds.

But there is not enough grain in the world to finish a holstein, or longhorn, let alone a jersey, to equal a grass finished Angus or hereford in tenderness or flavor.

There are a lot of beef breeds out there other than the traditional Old English breeds. Some with brahma blood. Some the "double muscled" breeds developed to satisfy the "lean beef" market. None of them butcher out with tenderness or flavor of angus/hereford/shorthorn.

Sorry George, but that is just gross. That is what I trim from my steak or roast before cooking.

IMO you're exactly right. My family started out back in ye olden tymes with Shorthorns and then Herefords started being introduced into the herd. I remember my Uncle HATED Angus...they were exotics. Then they crept in and now that's all my family raises, pretty much.

Brangus

DVD- They snuck some beef in your steak!

I agree with grain/corn fed being more tender, but damn if it isn’t pretty bland.

Gelbvieh

Even better when they are brushed and pampered daily by a 4H girl.

good stuff

BEEF = NEBRASKA

We make sure they have access to plenty hay(or grass) and corn both along with clean water, right up to the time we put a bullet between their eyes. Dad has always said that they tend to tste better if the rumen is healthy and working right.

I've gotten to the point I can't stand feed lot beef anymore. Something about it (fat composition?) that just coats your taste buds in two bites, and nothing but something acid will bring them back.

On Wednesday, I'll be picking up my freezer bull. Not steer, bull. Grew up on lean meat, and still prefer it. Grass fed, finished on alfalfa hay with a little bit of corn. Hung for three weeks. As close to moose as I've found. Half of it going to employees for their (late) Christmas bonus.

I've had grass fed beef that was not fit for consumption, tough and off-flavor, even a hint of rancidity (unsaturated fats?).

This is not a bad choice from a growth perspective.

http://www.thecattlesite.com/breeds/beef/69/santa-gertrudis/

How good the beef tastes and chews has a lot to do with when its butchered, how its fed prior to butchering, how quickly and well its processed, and how good the cook is......

When I was a kid, me and my brother worked the pens, scale and alleys at the local cow sale every week. The McDonalds buyer only bought the cheap stuff. Cripples, prolapses and cancer eyed cows. Things have changed since then, but I still have a hard time imagining all those cancer-eyed cows turned into quarter-pounders.....

You do a good job of keyboarding with those hooves!

I had a chance to hunt late season whitetails in Nebraska this past December. There were 5 of us in camp.I took enough elk steaks for everyone and the others brought Nebraska corn fed beef. Everyone agreed that my elk steaks were tastier and more tender than those New York Strip beef steaks.
I think some of the responses here are from people that raise a certain breed of cow and would not say a bad word about them no matter how they they tasted.Of course if they didn't think that way, they would be raising something else.

I don't buy much beef as mostly I eat elk ,deer,or pronghorn, but I raised some in my younger days. The last beef I bought probably 10 years ago was an angus. It was fed for 120 days on ground corn and wheat. It was just what the farmer had ready to butcher right then as he had angus, cross bred herefords, herefords and few rones there.He ate the same beef and wasn't too concerned about the breed. A lot of farmers around him that raised beef,bought his beef instead of eating their own that went to the sale barn.

I don't like straight grass feed beef .In my younger days we finished off some dairy steers, and they ate fine. They are not as financially rewarding as beef bred cows, but they be made to sure taste good, You just have lot more waste.

Corn is no good anyway.


The best flavor comes from barley.

I think a lot of the difference in grass/feed preference is where your cattle are grazing. I see a lot of those here from out west like the grass fed better. Our grass, here in Arkansas is mostly bermuda for pasture and hay. Back when I was talking about our good beef we were feeding Sirica Lespedesa. Back then some type of Lespedesa was the common hay. We can't grow Alfalfa here without hauling in a lot of lime. I am talking too much to make economic sense. Some places can grow it, but not in large enough areas to where it is cheap enough for cows. I know a lot of Western Ranchers got burned buying hay here, a few years ago when the drought was real bad. I could tell by seeing was was being baled in the fields. miles

You're joking, right??

They don't compare to good beef. We raised quite a variety but I really liked the Simmentals we butchered. Second choice is hereford.

I've had both and the longhorns tasted better, and better for you.

Gotta agree with Conrad on the barley for feed. We fed out dairy beef cross with oats and barley everyday while on grass. Does not get any better. Works for tasty hogs also. Ed k

Had an awesome pot-roast at a Wyoming cattle ranch a few years ago. We asked if it was one of theirs, they said they'd tell us after dinner. The answer was "roping steer" He bought a few roping steers from the rodeo circuit and fattened em up for the family to eat on. He also had a couple longhorn for the same purpose.

I grew up raising Herefords, mostly polled, a few with horns. I like Hereford cattle, but the market doesn't. We have Angus, and Angus-Charlois cows, all Black, and breed them to a Angus bull. If I could change anything, it would be the choice of a bull. I let my son pick and he went with Angus. I wanted a Hereford bull, for black baldy calves, as they usually sell a little better.

As far as which breed produces the best beef, I'll go with a grain fed beef breed anytime. The dairy breeds just don't have enough fat to make good beef.

+1...
Overall, grass-fed angus brings the goods.
We have some fantastic beef in this northwest country, mostly Angus, Hereford, Pinzgauer
.
That said, the best beef we've ever eaten was from a neighbor's grass-fed Jersey cow. Absolutely sensational.
And we don't eat "corn-fed" anything anymore....

^^This...I feed mine beardless barley when I can source it...best feed there is along with natural grass.

We have only butchered two of our own, a Jersey steer and a Dexter Angus heifer. The steer was killed in late summer, it was dry and he was not gaining. He was almost 3 years old. Plenty of meat. The steaks were excellent. The ground was too lean for hamburgers, and I got sick of tacos.

The heifer was killed in early summer, right at 2 years old. The spring flush was still going, and she was gaining. Steaks were even better than the Jersey, but the ground was perfect!

Two different breeds, times of year, ages, genders. Not a useful comparison, but fun.

We won't have a beef ready this year, unless another heifer comes up open. We will do pigs and maybe 50 meat chickens. You wouldn't believe the difference between home raised chicken and store bought!

It probably wasn't started right:

Full blooded Jersey steer or black /white face steer

The meat Co. buyers want black angus. They used to pay tops for black baldies.

That's for damn sure

My brother raises Florida Crackers on our little ranch. They aren't the most tender, but they have good flavor, a lot better than anything bought in a store.

So single malt Scotch would go better than Bourbon as an after steak dinner drink then.

I give away 30+ 33 gallon Rubbermaid cans of spent barely every week to a few cattle and pig guys. They love it. The beef and pork they bring me doesn’t suck either!

They say you are what you eat and part of your environment.

I love good beef type cattle of the normal type already discussed and they are good to go fed and handled right but will never forget a pair of blind (from birth) Holstein calves I bottle fed and fed on Bermuda grass polished off with grain. Just outstanding flavor and tenderness. I will always believe their blindness had a hand in the quality. We have an Angus steer going to the butcher later this week that won't be any better and he will be damn good. Would not be afraid to duplicate that again given the right conditions....

Much like wines, I would have to line them up and do on the spot comparisons. I'm not aware of any market that furnishes a mix of identified varieties.

If marketing of beef is like produce, we are probably consuming whatever gets the most rapid gain for the lowest price or least input.

Garden fresh produce far exceeds market material in every way, and today's market varieties are all about rapid/early growth, machine harvest, and shelf life. Flavor is pretty much an after thought.

There is nothing better than Iowa corn fed beef. The breed doesn't mean a thing. We always had black angus crossed with Guernsey milkers. But when the milkers went away we had shorthorn Herefords bred to the neighbors black angus bull. Hell, even our deer are corn fed. I have had some Texas beef but it is not very well marbled and was a tad on the "dry" side. There was nothing wrong with the flavor other than it is different than the corn fed.

kwg

True that.

Fat is white vs yellow too

There seems to be somewhat of a lack of consensus on this topic. So far it has been handled with a degree of civility that is somewhat lacking over on the optics forum.

being in arizona i ate mostly beef that was raised around here. What sticks in my mind was a dinner in an expensive hotel in new york city where i had what they called steak. I couldn't eat it. Last year i did another thing. there is a guy in the sun city area, a retirement community, filled with transplanted midwesterners. He does a pretty good business selling beef he cuts up from there, iowa corn fed beef or something.
the steaks are not inedible, but to me they sure taste different.
still in the freezer.
i guess i run to ones that ate cactus, desert plants, and had to scrounge.

The beef I had when I was a kid, sure tasted better. Herefords and Shorthorns my family raised.

While Angus was bagpiping his way to glory, I ran into this breed:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_cattle

The Scots call them "Heeland Coo." I have heard they are the best tasting beef out of Europe, and the Queen keeps a herd at Balmoral to supply beef for the Royal Family.

The reason I took an interest in them was it seems they do a fairly good job browsing on red cedar, and will take a fairly large tree and knock it over. They sound like the perfect sort of animal for my steeper hillsides down at the farm where I can't get a bush hog.

Brangus Hereford cross. Black Baldies(Hereford Angus cross) are second.
There's lots of reasons to go with the Brangus/Herefords. Mainly is that they
put a lot of feed through there system. Brahmas don't lay down like European
breeds do. Not lazy at all.
Beefmaster is another good breed that I'd look at.
I've been in the cattle business for a lot of years and you
can take my advice for what you paid for it.

Back in the 90's, I bought some cows that were part Beefalo. They were very easy keepers, and always raised some good calves. When I bought the cows, I bought a Simmental bull, and thought I'd got been had. I would see cows in heat, and he would act as if he was not paying them any attention at all. My neighbor told he that he'd always heard that Simmentals bred at night, something I couldn't believe. Anyway, I got rid of him, and got a Brangus bull. Every one of those cows had a calf by the Simmental, so I guess there was something to that night breeding thing.

Many years ago at the local salebarn I bought a 6 weight, lop eared, red brangus heifer. She had many
good calves for me and we always kept those for our own freezer. They didn't finish quite as heavy but
it was good lean meat.

Lots of interesting thoughts. Couple points I want to share.

There are definite differences in breeds. But that means there is no guarantee a steak from breed Z will always be____. IOW, there is variability within the breed and there is a huge environmental influence on the eating quality of any meat from any carcass.

Different people referenced flavor they had from cattle run in the desert, or older cows or grassfed beef or roping steers etc. In my experience, that difference comes from advanced age of the animal at harvest giving the meat itself a stronger flavor. Slightly similar to the stronger flavor of game.

Fat flavor is also different in meat depending on management/feed. The fat composition will change dramatically as a result of type of feed. Fat from grass fed cattle is significantly different from grain fed. Then throw in a breed difference that impacts fat composition, Wagyu. Wagyu fat has a higher percentage of monounsaturated fats which are "softer" and actually deemed to be good for your health. The flavor is quite different from what we would consider native cattle here in the USA (angus, herefords, simmentals, etc.)

Environmental issues include harvest techniques, environment immediately preceding harvest, post-mortem handling (aging, temp, boning etc.), feed composition, etc. etc.

I worked for many years as a retail meat cutter—Missouri—Minnesota—Ontario and I owned a meat processing shop where I did mostly Moose and Deer but did process some locally raised beef and hogs.

I also had a lot of fishing and hunting clients who raise their own beef from MICHIGAN, Montana and Virginia and they brought their own meat with them.

In my opinion,for what it’s worth, grass fed beef sucks—so does locally raised pork on leftover restaurant and grocery store waste.

Pretty hard to beat Iowa corn fed beef and I have always preferred hogs from southern Manitoba—maybe those hogs are raised on barley.

This is maybe a good time to point out that the current Angus breed is a far cry from what we saw back in the 50's and 60's. As a breed they were way smaller and used a lot for breeding heifers. I don't know how they got the size where it is today, whether is was by selecting the larger of the breed, for breeding stock, or outcrossing. Back then a grown Angus would top out around 700 lbs. miles

Miles makes a good point on the size of cattle. In the 80's, boxed beef came in. No swinging beef, and the local store cutting what the customer wanted. The beef cuts needs to fit in a box.

Karl is on the mark, as usual. It would be a pleasure to serve Karl a cut of Iowa corn fed beef someday when we are in Wabigoon.

Rumor has it the Canadians introduced some Limosin into the breed.

Grilled up a flank steak last night. Grass fed. It actually tasted like beef.

No idea what breed it was.

You would sure be in luck down here.

Some ranch sold out their entire longhorn herd not long ago. I had the misfortune of sitting at the auction when they were running through the ring... They were bringing half, or less than half of what any European breeds were bringing. Cattle buyer sitting next to me commented that you could have several 18 wheeler loads of those, and still have nothing...

Our neighbor has some of those, pretty cool. He said they are slow gainers though...we have a baldie heifer , grass fed, in the freezer. Very good!

Can't say much about one breed vs. another, but I can comment on one especially delicious beef animal.

When I was a teenager, I had a Brown Swiss cow. She was smaller than the Holsteins we had, by quite a bit. And she was kind of a pet. She'd follow me around and nudge me with her nose to get scratched behind her ears.

Life was a little too busy for me to milk her, so we bred her Black Angus and let the calf run with her. The first day of his life, that calf got out of a pole corral with net wire waist high. And that dang animal got out every day of his life after that. He was trained to the point that all you had to do was find him and wave a stick at him, and he'd get back in.

After a year, he was big and milk-fed. And delicious. And he didn't escape anymore.

I don't remember ever enjoying beef as much as I did that beef.

What was funny when I was a kid is very few people had a corral. Most just had a lot made out of woven wire with a couple of strands of barbed wire and if they were big time some kind of head catch in the barn. Most folks had a old chute and hauled their calves off with a stock rack a few at a time.

Then the crossbred craze hit and everyone got a Bramha bull. There's no telling how many gooseneck stock trailers that sold. For a while there was lots of cattle to be caught for $50.00 each or on the halves if they was sure enough bad azzes. Good times.

I worked in a Wisconsin packing house when I was going to school and we only killed what I considered "good" range type cattle (Angus and Herefords) on Tuesday afternoons. The rest were all burned out old milk cows. No farmer is going to ship a good producing dairy cow until it is either sick, didn't breed or it's milk production has gone down. Once you get the hide off them, it is all about the marbling in the meat. Our neighbor supplied the upper end restaurants with their meat and he said that you can't buy USDA prime beef in the store because that all goes to the high end restaurants. All we buy for steaks is Certified Angus USDA Choice tenderloin and six of our retirement age friends have all said that the steaks that I barbecued for them "Are the best steaks that they have ever eaten."

Packing houses hate Texas Long Horns because those horns kill everything in the truck and they don't fit down the chutes. I remember the day that the foreman told me to go skin a still warm prime Angus steer that had been gored and died in the truck. I rolled that skinned carcass into the bone truck for the junk that we got a nickle a pound for. I should have punched out and took it home.

We made a lot of MacDonald hamburger in those days (Remember those .15 cent burgers? They were 10 to 1. Ten patties to a pound!!!) I was working the grinder and the boning room foreman told me "That's too good for McDonald's." So I threw in some big chunks of kidney suet. I don't eat at McDonald's much these days.

Where the animal comes from does make a lot of difference in how it tastes. Sorry Wisconsin, but Florida Certified Angus tenderloin tastes better than Wisconsin Certified Angus tenderloin.

I was watching one of those cooking shows on TV once and the chef said that for burger, the ground chuck has the most flavor. Your cardiologist might not agree with your choice, but fat burger like 80/20 has more flavor than the ultra lean 90/10 stuff.

Question... I've certainly noticed some beef tastes better than others. I'm curious what would make beef taste so bad. I had beef in central america that was what you'd have to call stringy and a strong taste similar to wild game. Actually stronger than a lot. This was a tropical environment and I'd see cows surrounded by grass that was taller than them, along with a lot of plants.

Any idea what would make beef taste like that, so strong? Was the toughness and stringiness due to breed, feed, or both? Thanks in advance for any answers.

I’m not sure what breeds they raise in Argentina and Chile but the steaks there are on average way better than what retaraunts in the US serve. They my age them differently or something but the flavor and tenderness is generally outstanding.

Any animal tastes relevant to their diet. (Deer, elk, goats, pigs, beef... no matter)

Toughness and stringiness is directly related to marbling and age and sex.

No marbling, it will be tough.

Too old and it will probably be both tough and stringy.

Bull meat ain't good for much other than hamburger meat.

Breed has a lot to do with it as well... Holsteins, longhorns and a few others may taste ok, but no matter how much you feed them, or what you feed them, they will not marble up like the other breeds. So, they will be tougher. In my opinion, these breeds are only good for hamburger meat and cubed steak.
YMMMV.

It goes beyond Angus. Here, if they’re black, angus or not, they bring 11 cents per pound more. I’ve seen the skinny black Corrientes bring more per pound than well filled out beef calves that were any other color than black. I think the best mix here is any really beefy black calf. Black simmentals or sim/angus do well.

John

If they are black, they call them Angus anyway, as that is the only beef industry standard. They don't ask for registration papers at the sale ring or the packing company.

They WILL bring more money.

Agreed on all points.

John

I'll vote for good prime porterhouse beef.

Do you raise that breed?

Post up a photo of those...

We’re talking about beef, not jersey and Holstein.... dunno about longhorn, though some folks love it....

That's what I raise....yep, slow gainers....but known to be fantastic lean, tasty meat. But can't personally comment on beef quality; three years in we haven't butchered yet.
Have a plump steer getting there though...

That's what we get every year. The breed is from Scotland and it does very well up here on the Wet Side of the PNW because the climate and natural grasses are so similar.

Raise these Highland Cattle on the natural grass of an alluvial plain that fans out to sea and finish them on the same grass with a bit of barley available and you will not believe how good beef can be.

I remember back in the mid to late '70's through to around the late '80s - early '90s grass fed beef was promoted as a less expensive 'economy' option for budgeting households.

Wonder what they would look like after they went through a cockle-bur patch. miles

Been there, done that. The Hawthorne can do a real number on them.

Ours will stand for grooming with a metal comb, something my wife enjoys doing.

No idea on breed, but if it isn't grain-finished, it won't get any awards from me.

Barley finished and properly grass finished both have good qualities.


It would be like hating a white wine because its not a red wine.

Haha! Not any more.


Grass finished is the premium product now.

Eating wise I think it's what one grew up with and get used to
Marketing wise breeds come and go in popularity. But long term Angus have been hard to beat.

As far as taste,,,, I can’t discern them. I’ve raised angus, Hereford, angus Hereford cross, scimital, limousine, and cross with good old dairy cows. But in regards to raising them, nothing in my pasture put on weight as fast as angus. My experience in my pasture.

MM

Kinda partial to Herefords myself.......





Tonight's supper....

Miles reminded me of somethin —Angus cattle used to be little bitty things compared to Herefords, and when and where did these Red Angus come from—never saw any when I was a kid.

I well remember the first time I saw a Charlais Bull, I believe it was at the sale barn in Clinton when I was all of 10 years old in 1959. I remarked to my daddy that if we was to butcher that one we might need the 30-30 cause I didn’t think the .22 would put him down. Made a bunch of old men sitting around us chuckle—biggest damn thingI ever saw.

Don't know about the best breed, but I miss getting dairy steer bottle calves for free or a few bucks and raising them up on grass, clover and corn finish. The fat has a yellow tint to it and yield is not high but it sure ate well

What Idaho Shooter said . . . That's not not buying beef, that's buying FAT.
May be good eatin though

Sam Olson those look like fine eating steaks.
Those Herefords in your picture sure look awfully dark, maybe my screen is going bad

I though Black Baldies were the fair haired children of the beef industry

Don't any of you fuggers break 'em to ride, before you eat 'em?......

Also rumours of a small amount of Chianna. I believe this one

I'll have to agree with Denton. The best beef I've ever had was from a Brown Swiss cow crossed to an Angus bull. Then hand-raised as a "pet" on good alfalfa hay, limited corn silage, and finally finished out with ground oats and soybeans.

Other than that, I think if the beef is growing well on a mix of good hay, some alfalfa, some corn, and especially oats or barley, that they always taste great. If they are stressed, killed when not really growing, or dehydrated due to really cold or really hot temps, that they don't taste as good.

The ranch I work on sometimes has purebred Angus cows that go 1800 pounds. They definitely are not a small breed anymore. He has selected for size for 30 years or so, and many of them seem too big to me as they are slow finishers.

Here's something that surprised me, in the early history of San Antonio by the late Eighteenth Century, longhorns which had by then established widespread feral populations, were not held in high regarded as table fare, tho surely all were grass-fed.

Their market value lay in their hides and tallow, one wonders just how much tallow (fat) was on them. In the early years cattle ranching was an iffy proposition in Spanish Texas mostly due to the mortality rate among isolated vaqueros to Indians. For the most part relations with the Indians were cordial, but all it needed per vaquero could be a single uncordial Indian at some point and the vaquero wasn't coming home. OTOH slaughtering the longhorns in place and then collecting the hides and tallow could be a group proposition, therefore less risky. The hides and tallow then being shipped by oxcarts, big two-wheeled carretas drawn by pairs of oxen (which carts could haul around 500 pounds). So many feral longhorns were slaughtered this way by groups of men acting on their own that San Antonio authorities attempted to regulate the process without much success.

Alternatively, groups of Tejanos would band together and organize annual drives to deliver the hides and tallow on the hoof. Mexico was a major market via Monterrey, 250 miles distant though drives in that direction were dependent upon whatever the annual rainfall happened to be that year. What has been mostly forgotten in popular history are the annual 500 to 600 mile cattle drives to New Orleans beginning in the year 1779, from the San Antonio area and especially further south around Goliad which became the center of the Spanish Texas cattle industry.

http://www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/opelousa.htm

A pity these original Texas cattle drives ain't better recorded, those old-time vaqueros might have boasted a few flintlock smoothbores, and prob'ly more'n a few bows and arrows, but that was it. Must have been some epic drives. When the Americans arrived in numbers beginning in the 1820's they took up the practice and also drove cattle east, the first big Texas cattle drives.

Anyways, closer to the topic, in the winter of 1835/1836 about 500 American were waiting in the Goliad area (weren't nobody supposed to be at the Alamo) to repel an anticipated invasion by the Mexican army, a period of waiting spanning about three months. This was the Texian Army, at that time officially fighting to restore the Mexican Constitution of 1824 rather than for Texas Independence. During that time these men were armed and fed by the cabal of New Orleans merchants and Southern State governments that were financing the war. One of the supply ships sent by the merchants ran aground over by present-day Houston leaving these men critically short of supplies.

One of the biggest subsequent complaints of the Texian army around Goliad was that they were reduced to feeding on longhorns.

Meanwhile, throughout this period until at least the 1830's, buffalo robes and meat were an essential component of the annual economy of a typical Tejano household, 100 plus mile expeditions to the north and west being organized in the late fall and winter for this purpose, these expeditions centering around the ox carts used to transport the collect meat and hides home.

Birdwatcher

Of course we all know about the 1860's and '70's cattle drives heading north and the millions of longhorns involved.

I do gotta wonder about the quality of beef coming out of the big 19th Century meat packing plants in Chicago and such

A taste test done in AU called paddock to plate judged by a panel of chefs found...DEXTER... was the most tender and most flavorsome of all the standard and fringe breeds. \Wagyu fat is a completely different gene to common european breeds, as it dissolves, so you are left with just the muscle. George has it!

I've put up beef from holsteins and herefords, but my best 2 ever butchered came from a neighbors small herd of murray greys. He's got a waiting list...

I wouldn't mind raising some Dexters.

I like grass-fed better, personally. It isn't worth arguing about, though.

Save the corn for the bourbon. Though I have to admit I won't turn down a good scotch

From a producer standpoint I will say that the buyers love a nice even set of black calves. They most certainly bring a premium in the sales ring.

And from my point of view they make pretty damn good cows as well.


Our last beef was finished on a combination of alfalfa and hay barley.

It's quite edible...

I try to bring out the old western plains taste in our butchered beef. Just like a buffalo, I chase the cow with a horse until it is hot then shoot it.

laughing!


Hell, that's actually not a bad idea.

Call it Wild West Beef or whatever and the yuppies would be lining up!

Sign me up for a quarter. I'll take my quarter off the top, and some ribs. Maybe a coupla shanks and the tail for soup. And the head, to cook in a pit for tacos.

Geno

PS, Sam, how come them Herfeords of yours don't have white faces? Growing up, that was all I knew as Hereford, white faces. The again, Angus were smaller too as noted by others. Don't tell me cows are getting like GM cars? Call em what you want, they're all the same anyway.

A couple of years ago my wife and I watched a documentary on Netflix about beef and it’s production from the UK to Japan to Argentina to the US and other countries. I can’t remember the name but you might look for it; it was extremely interesting as to the different breeds, feed regimens, how they were raised, etc.

One thing among others that stood out was the incredible amount of fat the Japanese like in their choice beef.

I live in Sioux County, IA which is I believe the number one CO in the nation, or was, for the number of beef cattle in confinement’s. And, it’s kind of ironic that I get my steaks — I like ribeyes about 1.5-2” thick — from Costco and cut my own. I don’t know what breed/cross they come from or where but they are excellent.

I like beef fat, so finishing is key. It doesn't really matter what of breed you slaughter it is how it is approached.Even Longhorns are good( roping cattle) if they spend time on barley etc

Black baldies ruled for the previous 20 years here in West-Central Colorado. But the last few years I've hardly seen a one. Mostly all black. I started raising Angus in 4H in the late 60's in the middle of Hereford country. Even though it was a hard sell I did pretty well in fairs and open competition.

Geno, I was just being a wise guy. You are indeed correct on the Hereford, white face with a red hide.

You don't see too many of them around anymore. Still a few registered herds around here but somewhat rare.


My parents and I run all commercial black angus cows. They aren't all 100% black angus but close enough....

I'd say the average cow in our herd is around 1300-1400lbs.

We sold a 4 year old(?) canner bull 3 weeks ago and I believe he was 2200lbs.

We raise black angus, and a few crosses. 90% of the animals we buy for our feedlot are black Angus. We ship to the packing plant and are paid on how the steers grade. Angus do well for us. But in the future if there's some that did better maybe we'd try it.

Sam, I bet you have a bit of whitetail heaven there with those cotton wood shelter belts don’t you?

Of course the cattle look good too.

Athough slower growing and more medium framed, for eating, I’m partial to polled Herefords. We had all polled Herefords for years, then bred Simmental in. Now they’re just about all Simmental.

When they started the angus beef burgers and such is when that breed took off. It is one of the best sales scams I have ever seen. If you hear it often enough it's got to be true. Lol Ed k

1. Angus ,red or black
2 Hereford
3. Black or red baldies

You can get bad dispositions in all of them. Cull hard.
Thes are my favorites for pasture situations.

I like that HEB breed.

It must be what you grew up eating. Back in south Indiana and Kentucky we ate a lot of Holstein steers or Holstein Angus cross.
We would stick those steers in a little dry lot and finish them with two five gallon buckets of shell corn per day for about a month then cut them up! Man that was good meat. Here in Montana the only good tasting beef I have eaten was oddly a Corriente roping steer that a friend kept and finished with grain. Outstanding. My ranch neighbors all have a standing saying, "neighbors beef eats best".

Dad, raised purebred Black Angus. I rebelled and this is a representative of the cattle on the place now. For the most part Black/Red Angus, Simmental and Charalois cross. A neighbors Hereford bull jumped the fence so it is in the herd, too. I had 45 head of pure bred Red Angus recently, but sold them lock, stock and barrel. They were more of a novelty around the place.

I finish about 10 head every year for family and friends consumption. No complaints.

Ben, if there were better cattle available you'd probably be buying those instead!



George, oh yeah, lucky for us there is still good natural windbreak and cover down on the river bottom.

Roughly 100 resident whitetail running around.


Kingston, my mom's grandpa and his sons had Herefords. Nice herd back in the day I guess. I've personally never been around them.

We have a neighbor a couple miles away that has Simmental cows. Every once in awhile they get mixed up with a couple of ours. I think our black cows are wilder...





Ed, I've heard that some guys run a good polled hereford bull or two with their best cows and end up with uber mother black baldies.

Oh. so now I've been reduced to peon for eating longhorn?
Thanks for the history, Bird, great stuff!
In reality, the longhorn we've had have been incredible specimens with regard to size and build, not the scrawny critters you see in Lonesome Dove.

Black angus gets all the press and was marketed as the best....never know every critter wil be a little different...around here in se Nebraska. Black baldy steers will command a premium at the sale barn....usually angus cow Herford bull...but as a kid we had black whiteface cows..nothing special but had a sanagatrutis bull....it was the best beef I have ever tasted..
Nehbor butchered a shorthorn angus cross....pretty top notch...

Please forgive my ignorance, but what is a black or red baldy?

Tex, scroll up to Roundoak's post...

He's got red baldies, black baldies, char cross baldies, brown baldies. Pretty much any baldie combo imaginable.

Yeah, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Sam, thanks. So a baldy is a no horned cow.

Negative Tex, a baldie is a critter with a white face and a black/red/brown, etc., body.


Some people just call them a 'black white face' instead of black baldie.


Here's a miniature version black baldie.

Is that Kim K's crotch behind the double OO?
Talkin' about black baldies....

Slave
P.S. You guys keep up the good work. I love the beef.

That would be a polled animal. As in Polled Hereford, not a horned Hereford. A baldie has a white face. My Dad raised Registered Polled Hereford cows when I was a Kid but found out that Cross breeds did better Here, especially those with a touch of Brahma in them. They stood the summer heat and mosquito's better. A neighbor had some High dollar register horned Herefords back in the 80's but got rid of them due to the fact they did not produce the milk that the calves needed. He switched to Quarter horses and got out of the cow business all together. Did not matter to much about the money as He made a fortune raising Golden Shiner minnows. miles

Slave, I was seriously thinking the same thing about that old bald stump!

Great minds...




Miles, hybrid vigor!

We need cattle that can tolerate the cold as well as heat but lean more towards cold weather.

When we do pasture moves in the summer we start at daylight and try to be done around noon. Last summer was brutal hot in July and it was a struggle.

Those old black cows don't move when it's in the 90-100F range, way too hard on them, especially in the hills.

Thanks miles, I got it now.

Bald is the Old English word for white hence Bald Eagle. Herefords where originally from England and where often referred to as Baldface Herefords. That gene for whiteface must be pretty dominate,

Slow gainer? Yeah, that's what I've heard too. They are fairly docile, and they don't get pissy when you walk around their calves. They also will do work pulling carts and such. That's how I first saw them -- at a Highland Games. I was thinking of starting a few on the 5 acres directly behind the house and seeing how things go.

They are hardy. You don't have to give them shelter over the winter.
They can stomp a coyote. That's a plus around here.
They eat red cedar down to a stump. That's a huge plus.
They can be taught to stay inside a fence.

The very best steaks I can remember ever eating were given to us years ago by a elderly couple, long time members at church. They fenced in a rather small area behind their home and raised a few beef up just for their own use. Don't know what breed they were, all I can remember is they were all solid black or a really deep deep brown in color and were feed a special diet of what ever the family had researched to make the highest quality beef. They never left the relatively small enclosure until the day they were took off to be slaughtered and butchered. Every bite was melt in your mouth tender and delicious.

Sam, your post didn't show earlier when I saw miles post. Cute calf. We will be headed to the country before long and hope to have a few cows. We definitely want a Highland or two. We just want to raise our own beef not sale. Any particular breed do better than others as far as being docile?

Red Baldy- John McCain

Black Baldy- Barrack Obama

Check out plain, old Shorthorns. Problem with the docile ones is they make good pets. Hard to slaughter a pet for food. Of course, some of my ancestors ate dog so...

When registering the pure breds, there is a definition of where and how much white could, and must be on an animal. At least there used to be on polled Herefords. Another tidbit is that if a purebred horned Hereford dropped a muley calf, it could be registered as a Polled Hereford. Seems the lack of horns is dominate and the muley will have calves without horns if bred to another polled animal. At least that was the rules back in the 1960's. miles

Those Scottish Highlanders are so gentle you can ride them. They make nice pets.....

I've mostly worked with other peoples' cattle, so maybe am less biased- Hereford, Angus, Charolais,
Simmental, Limousin, Galloway, Chianina (sp), Gelbveih (sp), and some various crosses and mixtures
of many of both taurus and indicus blood lines. All can be tasty, all can be a pain, all can be interesting.
Also have worked with Holstein, Jersey, Brown Swiss, Shorthorn dairy breeds.
"Best" can depend on conditions- I prefer breeds more adapted to life as beef, rather than life as
dual-purpose. But I once heard the best test is to watch different cows' reactions to walking up to
a good, tight 4-strand fence-
Angus crawls through it, and teaches her calves to do the same. Anything Brahma-related jumps
over it, and doesn't stop running for several miles. Charolais walks through it, without noticing.
Hereford takes one look, and has a uterine prolapse.
Handling, I found that Herefords were always my favorite. Horseback, afoot, whatever. Galloways were
the easiest to calve, that I've seen. Angus were next, Simmental worst. The very worst thing I ever tried
to handle were bison. You can't tell what they'll do, and neither can they.

Huntsman, do you have to bareback em or can you throw a saddle on😀.

You can debate all you want but the best eaten' breed is Highland. Lots of other issues with them but the best meat is Highland...end of discussion!!

Thanks Sammo,

Me too, wise acre as the old man used to say. We REALLY need a sarcasm font.

We had a registered herd of Herefords up where I used to live in WA, really nice looking animals and from the looks of the operation very well cared for.

Also, from what the cattle folks up there told me, we had a well respected Wagyu breeder in the area. I met him a few times, one of the nicest guys I've run across.

Loads of cattle around here, mostly black ones with a surprising number of Corriente types. I hear they do pretty good on our range.

You folks just kee[ growing that good stuff, so I can have a nice burger now and again.

Geno

Oh, Sam and you other cattle folks

I'm such a "wise guy" as Sam calls it, when I first opened this thread I was thinking of posting:

The Best beef breed is a


Lamb!!


Just to see who's dander I could raise.

But I was nice instead,

Honestly, my favorite meat is what's on my plate, especially if you bought it.

Geno

Thanks to all you beefers for providing the wonderful porterhouse I’m going to devour this weekend.

Pards raised dexters in the past, cool little critters, downfall is steaks, speacilly rib steaks are perty small. He went back to regular angus after a couple years

Don't get me wrong, I think they are cool! I may get some myself soon. I just find it ironic that they are slow gainers, all the Scottish wimmins could make a single calorie go a LOOONNNGG way, lol. Dam efficient! They could store fat just by looking at food.