Best Friday I have had in a long time at the shop

Last Friday we had a local rancher bring in 3 whole steers from his farm near Bozeman. Everything just clicked that day, the ribeyes had perfect marbling and I only had to trim about 2 pounds of silver skin off one whole side. Has anyone else had a random day where the animals just break down easier than normal?

3 comments

3 Comments

elizabeth_gonzalez1mo agoMost Upvoted

Three steers in one day from one rancher, that is a solid score. I had a Tuesday like that last fall with a pair of Angus from up north. The fat cap on the strips just peeled off like butter, barely had to touch them with the knife. I swear it comes down to how they are handled before they even get to you. If the animal is calm and the cooling is done right, the connective tissue lets go way easier.

lewis.charlie1mo ago

I read something from a old USDA bulletin about how stress hormones in cattle tighten up muscle fibers before they even hit the kill floor. They measured pH levels at 24 hours post mortem, and the ones that stayed calm had a slower drop, which kept the meat from getting that tough, rubbery feel. The fat just slides off those calm ones. That Tuesday you mentioned sounds like a textbook example of low stress handling paying off. Makes you wonder why more places don't invest in better facilities for loading and unloading.

faithbaker1mo ago

Got a buddy who runs a small slaughterhouse down in Missouri. Tells me about these Holsteins he gets from a dairy that switched to low stress handling a few years back. Says the difference is night and day. Those dairy steers used to be a nightmare on the rail, tight and tough. Now they cut like grain fed beef. Says the guys on the kill floor noticed it before he did, the fat just peeling off without any fight.