when to butcher

[knabe]

ok, here's a draftpick, late cut about 6 months, that's on finishing feed for 3 months and a grower feed for a month before that.  he's out of the same midas cow the twins are.  he's not nearly as good footed as his mother or the twins (he toes out a lot) kinda small footed for how big footed his mother is, has some swelling on his coronet bands, still walks in his tracks.  he's stiff on his right side hind and likes deep therapy on his shoulders, so getting a little stiff.  his cod is full, i'm not real clear on what a brisket should look like.  i want him to grade high choice or prime and will hang for at least 4 weeks.  he is sold to some winery, with a few cuts skimmed for myself (not stealing, only qc'ing including hamburger at 85% lean).  want more pics from the rear or front?

 

[knabe]

dang, a pic would help

 

[chambero]

If you for sure want him to grade out, I wouldn't kill him till he's up close to 1300 pounds.  I'm terrible at judging weight off a picture.

 

[cowz]

How much Angus influence on the dam's side?  If not much, I would side with the 1300# idea.  Looks like he might be starting to build up a little "pone" fat back there!  Once that starts to jiggle, it's time!

 

[knabe]

other than he's black, he's "purebred" Maine.  direct draft pick son, out of a direct midas cow/powerplant.  she's a low BW cow.  thought people might be interested in seeing a draft pick steer.  my across the street neighbor used to have a lot of draft pick semen when it was $15/straw and a tank dryness "error" kinda eroded that business model.  she has cunia cows and no PHA, but obviously might have a carrier or two.  i'll post the carcass pics when it gets that time

 

[cowz]

How much Angus influence on the dam's side?  If not much, I would side with the 1300# idea.  Looks like he might be starting to build up a little "pone" fat back there!  Once that starts to jiggle, it's time!

I had a question about "pone fat".  Maybe that is a feedlot slang term.   Anyhow, here is a picture of pone fat, 2 mound of fat just below and to either side of the tailhead.  This is some of the last fat to be deposited on a fat steer or heifer's body.

Click on the link below.

 

[knabe]

aha, this is the same fat that was on some bred heifers at a show in my area, and now that you mentioned it, it did jiggle.  man, that has to be a disaster in the making.  can't believe this isn't shouted loud and clear instead of just being called "she wasn't very athletic"

 

[knabe]

more on this pone business, check out this article, yeah, it's got too much info, but i think its at least a gene, instead of just a mysterious marker offered by MMI, bovigen etc.

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:3EApnjqJFB0J:www.plosone.org/article/fetchObjectAttachment.action%3Bjsessionid%3D4343353FA1D81D17E20CFC86B549E5E8%3Frepresentation%3DPDF%26uri%3Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1371%252Fjournal.pone.0000080+pone+fat+cattle&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=firefox-a

sorry this is an html link and not the pdf which i couldn't link because it was truncated.  this is for TJ.  notice that one gene has 5 snps, which one gives the fat, who knows. one mutation every 140 base pairs, that's a heck of a lot, and may explain some of the marbling differences in cattle and how hard it is going to be to "fix" the desirable combo, much more difficult than polled or horned.  notice also a deletion insertion in the promoter region, boy this is going to be fun.

 

[steermaker]

If you can the best way to tell is to actually handle the animal.  Feel the area near the 12th rib about 6-8 inches below the back.  Also feel the area of the flank.  A well finished calf will have thickness there that should be width of the palm of your hand.  This will should be soft to the touch but firm as you give it a little squeeze between your thumb and fingers.

If you can't do that, here are a couple of tips.  The fat pones around the tail head are a good sign but not all your need to consider.  As you look at the brisket of a well finished steer there will little sign of that ridge of skin in the middle of the brisket between the front legs.  The flatter the fatter.  Also watch the twist area as the calf is on the move, you should see some jiggle there.  Some cattle, including high percentage Maines will also develop a "saddle" on the top line over the area where the rib gives way to the loin.

 

[TJ]

Hard to tell by the picture, but he doesn't look quite done just yet to me.  I agree about looking at the "pone fat" & I like to see the brisket area filled out too.  Plus, like was mentioned, it is good if you can feel the cover over the last few ribs & feel the flank area too. 

I don't know too much about finishing high percentage Maines, but like someone else mentioned, I'd probably want to see him in the 1300-1350 weight range, but that is just a guess.   

 

[ELBEE]

Knabe, the key word here is "prime". In the antiquated USDA grading system, to make prime, your animal will have to be obese, (at least another 90 days on full feed from when this picture was taken). By the time you age the carcase for 28 days, and trim 90% of the fat, you'll be lucky if it yields 50%.

Sure hope your charging these folks enough to make it pay.

Oh, and by the way! The hamburger? Nobody will like it!

 

[knabe]

thanks ELBEE,  actually i talked them out of it, he's gonna get killed in 2 weeks, still gonna hang for 4 weeks.  80% on the hamburger.  i didn't breed this calf, he came with the cow.  bred her to saturated marker bull.  next year, she'll get bred to a smaller bull that is also saturated with markers.  haven't seen ANY data on carcass quality (only tenderness) markers in maines at all.  i think i'll be contacting tj for my heifers next year.  yes, they're paying a decent price.