Grass-fed beef on the menu

[grassfarmer]

Sumdumguy, You too must be hypocritical then if you want the "marketing choice" option but want to deny the right of those board supporters to retain the single desk selling authority. Cuts both ways.

[burnt]

grassfarmer, I must be getting a bit jaded in my older years because I no longer believe that democracy = representative or responsible government. There is this little hindrance to the process called "bureaucracy".

Bureaucracy is the toxic, persistent residue that accumulates behind generations of successive governments.

Its successive layers provide an unyielding barrier between the elected official and the unwashed electorate, propagating itself under the guise of providing service to the constituency.

There is no institution - from religious to political to agriculturally oriented - that escapes this cursed burden once it matures into a "trusted" entity.

Thus, just as is shown in the federal election, getting your representative of choice into a seat does not mean that he will represent your choice!

[Happytrails]

From GF's defense of the CWB it is apparent that he has a very poor grasp of how it works. I am even willing to bet that he has never signed a delivery contract with them. Talk about ideology driven. My guess is that he is parroting one of his NFU friends. HT

[grassfarmer]

OK then HT in an effort to educate me could you answer the question I posed Allfarmer?

"If the CWB made such a bad job as some guys alledge and returned the lowest prices to farmers anywhere in the world how come the "value adders" weren't building processing facilities in the past but are starting to build them now when anti-cwb farmers are anticipating higher prices?"

Please explain that to me because it would appear to totally defy logic.

[ASRG]

grassfarmer: I've seen beef aged 21 days, never 32 days! How much extra does the abbatoir charge for aging tha long?

[grassfarmer]

They didn't charge any different, once it's hung up there isn't any more work in it afterall. I guess if I was doing a lot like this there might be an increase as it takes up more chiller space and a little more electricity. I think the butcher probably charges enough on custom processing already to cover the extra cost.

[greybeard]

I would expect the burger from beef hung that long to smell more than a little off to most people.
The Argentinians hang their grass-fed a relatively short time and have a good scientific and logical explanation for it.
Cryovac beef I believe has a 60 day expiry date. Makes market timing much less risky. Virtually no shrink. Dry age shrinks 5-7% ? Like 50 to 70 head per 1000 died in the lot before getting to the kill floor.
I think Cryovac is a big part of the reason beef consumption continues to decline. Crappy,tough stinkin beef. But the numbers say it's here to stay.
Good opportunity for direct marketers.

[grassfarmer]

Not at all Greybeard - we get more compliments on our ground beef than anything else - because it DOESN'T stink to high heaven when you cook it. When they cut our beef it's done one half at a time, cut the steaks and roasts and grind the trim then start fresh on the next half. It's all off prime young animals too, not cull cows.

I've been told that in the big plants it's a continuous process of adding trim to a big vat that isn't necessarily cleaned out even between shifts. Hmmm, I wonder if that would make the hamburger smell, or be responsible for the huge scale recalls over ecoli contamination? Some of the very lean old cows that get ground can make some pretty rank tasting beef too.

[gaucho]

I could not disagree with you more GF
and gregbeard on cryovacing. Yes there
is a lot of hype about dry aging but
that is related more to the middles and
high valued cuts for steak houses.
Everyone wants some differentiation for
marketing their restaurant. Yes the flavor can be more intense with dry
aging but it does not guarantee any more
tenderness than wet aging. Dry aging is
a new vogue. .. as far as dry aging hips
and chucks... no one one gives a rats
ass. Shelf life on cryovacted products
is well beyond 60 days and we can get 90
- 120 days on the product provided that
it is kept at minus 1.5 degrees celcius.
The reason consumers are backing off
beef is not cryovac but all the other
shit we put in beef to make it grow
faster and cheaper... implants,
antibiotics, and and beta agonists....
not to mention poor animal management
and husbandry.. yes it all makes beef
production cheaper but it kills,
tenderness, flavor and consistency. The
hotels and restaurants in Europe that we
sell too are some of the highest priced
and managed by the most finicky executive chefs... if our cryovacted
product was not to snuff I doubt we
would be growing at 25%! the 3rd is food safety.... Besides selling it froze how would you think we could sell fresh
chilled beef globally without this
technology? GF nothing against your dry
aged beef... but you should see what
kind of crap is growing on the outside
of your carcass after 3 weeks hanging.
Its a good thing that provincial
inspected plants do not need to do
microbiologicals like salmonella and
ecoli before they are allowed to sell
the product. GF good on you for your
marketing.... that said everything
cargill and XL all do is not part of a
giant conspiracy plot to kill us all.

[grassfarmer]

Fair enough Gaucho, you undoubtedly know more on the beef product end than I do. I agree the reason consumers are backing off beef is " the other
shit we put in beef to make it grow
faster and cheaper... implants,
antibiotics, and and beta agonists...". Equally I realise Cargill and XL are not trying to kill us with their processing methods but they are in the business of processing it faster and cheaper and I'm sure that does entail them cutting corners and endangering human health in some instances. Look at the number and scale of ground beef recalls there has been in recent years, particularly in the US because of ecoli.

[gaucho]

one thing on the ecolis.... look at how we
raise cattle and have them stacked up on
on top of another in feedlots and then add
to this faster and intense line speeds at
the plants.... its no wonder there are
ecoli's...cheaper, faster and more....
thats how it happens

[tman]

And have the animals living in their own feces for how long. Whenever there is a news story about a puppy mill or a house with 17 cats, everyone (except the owners) are appalled and disgusted about the living conditions. But somehow too many people think that it's totally acceptable and fine for livestock who are destined to be our food to live in their own excrement.

I doubt there is a pen rider out there who would think it's acceptable to have their horses living in those conditions.