As a cattle farmer who raises Angus beef, we get a lot of questions about types of beef. In this guide, we’ll compare Angus Beef vs Wagyu beef so that you can understand which is right for your plate.

As a cattle farmer who raises Angus cattle, we’ve spent years learning what makes a great cut of beef—both from the cattle we raise and from the industry. The cattle world is full of variety, with more than 70 breeds recognized in the United States alone. Each one of those breeds has distinct characteristics. 

One comparisons people have started to make in the beef world is Angus Beef vs. Wagyu Beef. While both are a popular choice, they are different types of beef in terms of breeding, marbling, flavor, and the way they’re raised.

In this in-depth guide, we’ll compare Angus beef vs. Wagyu beef – as well as Japanese Wagyu, Kobe beef, American Wagyu Beef. We’ll point out the key differences so that you can understand which beef is right for your plate.

The Origins: Angus vs Wagyu

To really understand the biggest difference between Angus beef vs. Wagyu, you need to start at the source: where these cattle come from.

The Angus breed hails from Aberdeen, Scotland, and was introduced to the United States in the late 1800s. It is prized for its tenderness, deep beefy flavor, and well-balanced marbling. The breed gained massive popularity in the U.S. due to its consistently high-quality beef production. 

There are two main breeds of Angus are Black Angus and Red Angus. The term “Red Angus” may be new to you, but it’s one of the more than 70 cattle breeds recognized in the U.S. Interestingly, outside of the U.S., most countries register Red and Black Angus cows as the same breed. Outside of their coat, the breeds truly are the same, and that includes the type of beef. Red Angus Beef is identical to Black Angus Beef – it has the same mix of well-marbled meat and flavor.

Wagyu Beef originates from Japan and is known for its intense marbling and rich flavor. The term “Wagyu” literally means “Japanese cow.” These cattle were originally used for labor due to their ability to store fat efficiently, which later became the reason behind their famous marbling. Wagyu Beef is primarily raised in Japan but also bred in the U.S. and Australia. Wagyu cattle have been bred in Japan for centuries, with a strong emphasis on genetics and selective breeding to maximize intramuscular fat (marbling).

The four main breeds of Wagyu are:

1. Japanese Black – Most common breed, known for its intense marbling.
2. Japanese Brown – Leaner than Japanese Black but still highly marbled.
3. Japanese Shorthorn – Less marbling but a stronger, beefier flavor.
4. Japanese Polled – Extremely rare, leaner with a robust beef taste.

Marbling: The Key Difference

One of the most defining differences between Angus and Wagyu beef is their marbling—the intramuscular fat that gives beef its buttery texture and rich flavor.

Angus beef also has excellent marbling, particularly in Prime and Certified Angus Beef cuts, but it is more balanced, consistent marbling. It has a meaty, robust flavor with a firmer texture. Angus beef uses a meat grading system created by the USDA. Prime is the highest grade, followed by Choice and Select Grade Beef.  Prime Angus steaks are known for being full of flavor, and very tender and juicy. Only about 2 percent of today’s beef is of the highest USDA grade, or prime, which, has the highest level of marbling.

Wagyu cattle are genetically predisposed to store intramuscular fat. This exceptionally high marbling is web-like marbling throughout the beef, and it melts at a lower temperature than traditional beef fat. This rich marbling results in a buttery flavor and delicate texture that is highly sought after by high-end restaurants. Japanese Wagyu Steaks, particularly A5 Wagyu, is considered the gold standard for marbling, surpassing even the highest-graded USDA Prime Angus beef.

Flavor Profile

Angus beef has a bold, beefy flavor, and very tender and juicy. Prime Angus beef needs minimal seasoning, and is ideal for grilling, roasting and pan-searing. 

Comparatively, Wagyu beef has a buttery taste that almost melts in your mouth because of hte high fat content. It’s best suited for quick searing, low-temperature cooking. 

Raising & Feeding

The way Wagyu and Angus cattle are raised contributes significantly to the distinctive qualities of their meat. 

Wagyu farmers use very controlled environments and specialized diets that include grains, rice straw, and byproducts from the region.  

Angus cattle are often raised more traditionally, freely grazing in open pastures. We talk extensively about how we raise our cattle, and we take pride in knowing we are producing top-quality beef without excessive intervention. 

Understanding Wagyu Varieties: Japanese Wagyu vs. Kobe vs. American Wagyu Breeds of Cattle

Japanese Wagyu

• Purebred Wagyu cattle raised in Japan.
• Includes multiple regional varieties (e.g., Kobe, Matsusaka, Ohmi).
• Exceptionally high level of marbling, buttery texture.

Kobe Beef

• A type of Japanese Wagyu (from Tajima strain of Japanese Black cattle).
• Must be raised in Hyogo Prefecture (Kobe region).
• Must meet specific marbling and quality requirements.
• More exclusive and expensive than general Japanese Wagyu.

American Wagyu

• Crossbred Wagyu (usually with Angus) to adapt to Western farming methods.
• Less marbled than pure Japanese Wagyu, but still richer than USDA Prime Angus.
• Offers a balance between the bold beefiness of Angus and the tenderness of Wagyu.

Angus Beef vs Wagyu Price:

Comparatively, Wagyu beef will have the high price because of how its bred and its abundant marbling. 

Conclusion: Which One Should You Choose?

So, what should you choose?

It’s really a matter of personal preference, but we will always stand by a well-raised Angus steak as the best choice for flavor, consistency, and good old-fashioned American beef.

Both Wagyu and Angus have their place in the beef world. Wagyu is an incredible breed that deserves its reputation as a luxury item, but for everyday steak enthusiasts, Angus beef delivers consistent, high quality, flavor, and value.

So next time you’re standing at the butcher counter debating between beef types, think about what kind of steak experience you want. If you’re like our family and appreciate a bold, hearty, and flavorful steak, a Prime Angus ribeye steaks or filet mignon will never disappoint.

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More Beef Tips & Recipes:

• Meat Inspection: The Edible Stamp of Approval
• 7 Steps to Grilling a Steak to Perfection
• How We Raise Our Grass Fed Beef
• Beef Liver for Dogs Recipe: Homemade Birthday Cake or Treats
• Grass-Fed vs Organic Beef vs Grain-Fed: What’s Better?
• Filet Mignon vs. Sirloin Steak: Top Steaks Cut Guide
• Easy 5-Can Ground Beef Vegetable Soup

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions are our own and we only recommend products that we truly believe in.

We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. See our disclosure policy for more details.

The post Angus Beef vs. Wagyu Beef: A Comprehensive Comparison appeared first on Clover Meadows Beef.

Grass-fed beef vs. organic beef? Pasture-rased vs. grain-fed beef? Beef labels are full of terms that are unique to the beef industry.  This brief guide will navigate you through beef label terms so that you know the main differences and can purchase the type of beef you want and make healthy choices for your family.

Organic. Pasture raised. Grass fed. Grass finished. Conventional Beef. Certified. Prime. Beef labels are full of terms that are unique to the beef industry and the types of beef farmers raise. Some of these terms refer to the grade of beef and others refer to how the animals spent their lives. It’s important to know what these terms mean so that you buy the type of meat that you really want.  

Other than the name of the beef cut, the three most common things you see on beef labels are 

• Beef grades (prime, choice, select, etc)
• Regulated terms about how the animals spent their lives (grass-fed cattle, organic meat, hormones, pasture raised, etc)
• Lean point ratio on ground beef (90/10, 80/20) 

This guide will cover those three common areas on a beef label. As we do, please remember that beef labels have changed over the years. The USDA’s definition of the terms and what consumers think the terms mean sometimes differs (more on that later).

Who Decides How Beef is Labeled?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS) branch, which is the Agency in the USDA with the responsibility for ensuring that the the labeling of meat is truthful and misleading.  They work with the USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) – an agency within the USDA – to oversee the Process Verified Program.  Their programs include voluntary meat quality grades (prime, choice, select, etc), and regulations for terms on how the animals were raised (grass fed, hormone free, etc).

Typically, only large beef packers pay for these programs and have these labels because they’re very expensive to participate in. This means you often won’t find terms like prime, choice, grass fed, organic, and pasture raised on beef labels you purchase from a small farm because the certification to add those words to the label comes out of the farmer’s pocket and is very expensive. 

Beef Grades on Beef Labels

The USDA Grades beef to signify that it’s high-quality beef that is safe to eat. The beef grades also tell you the amount of tenderness and amount of marbling to expect in the beef.

ALL beef in the United States is inspected for consumption. However, beef grading is voluntary and paid for by beef packers. It’s very expensive to put beef grades and other regulated terms on beef packages, which is why many small farms don’t have beef grades on their packaging when selling beef directly from the farms.  

On our farm, Clover Meadows Beef, we don’t grade our beef regularly because it’s cost prohibitive. However, historically, our farm has competed in quality grade competitions and we’ve consistently been graded very high.  Our farm’s grass fed beef has been graded choice to prime, and our grain-fed cattle have been graded as high as prime.

There are eight grades of beef. The beef quality grades in order from best to worst are USDA Prime, USDA Choice, USDA Select, USDA Standard, USDA Commercial, USDA Utility, USDA Cutter and USDA Canner.

When buying beef at a steakhouse, you usually only hear about three of these USDA beef grades: Prime, Choice and Select.

Prime Graded Beef 

Prime beef comes from well-fed beef cattle and it has abundant marbling (i.e. fat within the beef). Grain-fed cows have more marbling than grass-finished beef. You usually find Prime Beef at restaurants and hotels. It’s known for being full of flavor, and very tender and juicy. Only about 2 percent of today’s beef is of the highest USDA grade, or prime, which, has the highest level of marbling.

Choice Graded Beef 

Choice beef is very high quality, but has slightly less marbling than Prime.  It is very tender and juicy, and the most widely available grade of beef. The USDA grades about 50 percent of beef as choice. 

Select Graded Beef 

Select Beef is typically leaner than the higher grades.  It has less marbling, and also lacks some of the juiciness and flavor.  The USDA grades about 21 percent of beef with the select grade. When cooking, it’s generally best to marinate before cooking in order to get the maximum tenderness and flavor.

Store branded meat is often Standard and Commercial graded beef.  The final three grades of beef – Utility, Cutter and Canner – are rarely sold at retail and are used to make ground beef and processed products.

Common Terms on Beef Labels

The USDA started grading beef in 1927. However, some factors consumers now consider important do not go into the grade. These factors include the animal’s diet (grass-fed meat vs. grain finished), the cut, and how the animal has been raised (pasture raised vs. feedlot). 

Since all cattle spend the beginning of their lives eating grass in the pasture, what sets cattle apart is how they’re “finished”, or what they eat at the end of their lives. Often times, beef labels or marketing claims try to focus on the finishing process. 

Grass Fed 

It’s becoming increasingly common to hear and see the term “grass fed” on beef labels. This term is hard to monitor because even cows in feedlots have had access to grass at some point in their life, so technically, all cows could be labeled as grass-fed cows. 

It’s very important to know that the definition of the term “grass fed” has undergone big changes.  

In 2016, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service announced in a statement that it was dropping its official definition of “grass fed” because it doesn’t have the authority to define and determine whether grass fed claims are truthful and misleading.

Then, in 2019, the USDA’s FSIS issued new guidance for grass fed beef labels and said beef could be labeled as grass fed if it received grass for 100% of its life, from weaning to harvest. In addition, cattle must have access to pasture and cannot be confined. However, the beef producers can still use a partial “grass fed” label if the consumer is informed about the proportion of the diet coming from grain. For example, the label could say “Made from cattle that are fed 90% grass and 10% corn” 

At Clover Meadows Beef, our grass fed beef live in a 100% pasture-based environment and they eat a grass diet.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSK8kBU5czk&t=1s

Grass Finished Beef

Grass-finished cattle spend their entire life grazing and eating from pastures, but they may also eat forage, hay or silage, according to USDA guidelines. Grass fed meat may or may not be given FDA-approved antibiotics to treat, prevent or control disease and/or growth-promoting hormones.

We’re often asked about the health benefits of grass finished beef, and we’ve written about it in great detail here. In short, you have to be careful of what you find from popular websites that are only interested in clicks. 

That said, studies have shown that nutritionally, grass finished beef has some great health benefits like more vitamin E, beta-carotene, vitamin C antioxidants, omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids compared to grain fed beef. They also produce meat that’s higher in CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), a fat that’s been studied for possible heart benefits, improving immunity and anti-inflammation benefits. But, the interesting thing with CLA is typically found in the fat marbling that people trim off their beef. 

Grain Finished

Cattle that are grain-finished are sometimes refered to as grain-fed, conventional beef or conventional meat. Like grass fed beef, grain finished beef spends the majority of its life grazing and eating from pastures.  During the last 4-6 months of their lives, they have access to grain. How farmers give the cattle grain varies by farm.

At Clover Meadows Beef, all of our grain-fed animals are raised in a 100% pasture environment, and they have the option of eating either grain or grass. Once a day, we take a bag of grain supplement to them and place it in a trough where they have the option of eating grass or the grain supplement. Animal welfare is always top of mind for us, so the grain supplement we choose is based up on cattle’s nutritional needs and the recommendation of our veterinarian and nutritionist. 

On some farms, grain-finished cattle go to feedlots for the last 4-6 months of their lives. In the feedlot, they’re given a balanced, healthy diet of grains, and local feed ingredients like potato hulls and sugar beets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_yHNLK2Oms&t=1s

Natural

If you see the term natural on a beef label, it’s important to know it’s basically meaningless in the food industry. The USDA doesn’t monitor this term either. Any product may be labeled natural if it is minimally processed and free of artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. Minimal processing includes smoking, roasting, freezing, drying, and fermenting.

On our farm, Clover Meadows Beef, we define natural meat as:

• Free from antibiotic residue
• Fed a balanced diet, without the addition of animal fat or animal by-products
• Raised in a pasture environment that’s comfortable and stress-free
• Handled humanely at all times
• Grown using environmentally sound, sustainable farming methods

Organic Beef

The USDA does define “organic” and this term refers to very specific standards when you see organic products. The USDA’s AMS regulates the term “organic”. In order to receive organic certification, farmers and organic producers must meet certain organic standards. This includes submitting documentation to the National Organic Program, and a government agent visits the farm once a year.  

Organic meats come from naturally raised animals that are fed a diet that consists of 100% certified organic grain (corn and soybeans) grown on soil that has been free of artificial pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers for at least three years. Organic beef may or may not be grain-finished. 

At Clover Meadows Beef, we raise our cattle to many organic food standards, but we aren’t certified for that label. 

Pasture Raised

Pasture-Raised cattle spend their lives in the pasture, not confinement.  At our farm, we only have pasture-raised beef. 

Hormones

A hormone is a natural or synthetic product that affects cell activity. You’ll often see products in the grocery store labeled “no added growth hormones.”  We do not use any added growth hormones at Clover Meadows Beef.

Sustainable Farming

Farming that’s is good for the environment and good for the community is Sustainable Farming. It looks long term and uses practices that won’t compromise the future of the land or animals. Sustainable farming focuses on things like soil health, using natural resources responsibly, and monitoring and evaluating every activity so that farming practices are constantly improving.

Lean Point Ratio on Beef Labels

The ratio on most ground beef is the lean point ratio. This ratio identifies the lean-to-fat ratio by stating the percentage lean and fat found in the package, for example 80/20, 85/15 and 90/10. 

The top number of the ratio indicates the leanness and the bottom number is the fat. For example, beef with a label that says 85/15 is 85% lean beef and 15% fat in the package.   

• 80-89% Lean Ground Beef: This is a mid-range ratio with great flavor. It has a slightly firmer texture than beef with 73-80% leanness. It’s best in meatballs, leaner burgers, meatloaf, pizza toppings and chili.  
• 90-92% Lean Ground Beef: This type of ground beef is ideal when you want to make your favorite recipes slightly leaner, such as lasagna, enchiladas, casseroles, chili, tacos and sloppy joes. 

Join us!

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More Beef Recipes to Try:

• One Pan BBQ Beef Short Ribs
• Easy Carne Asada Street Tacos
• Dry Rub with Brown Sugar Steak Seasoning
• Easy Blue Cheese Butter Compound for Steak
• Broiled Lemon Pepper Flank Steak
• Easy Garlic Butter Steak Bites
• Meat Inspection: The Edible Stamp of Approval
• 7 Steps to Grilling a Steak to Perfection
• How We Raise Our Grass Fed Beef
• Easy Beef Brisket Recipe (oven-roasted)
• The Best Farm Books for Kids

(Originally published in 2022. Updated in 2025)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions are our own and we only recommend products that we truly believe in.

We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. See our disclosure policy for more details.

The post Grass-Fed vs Organic Beef vs Grain-Fed: What’s Better? appeared first on Clover Meadows Beef.

We’re sometimes asked, “Do cows have teeth?” and “Can they bite you?” Teeth are extremely important for a cow because they need to be able to chew grass so they can digest it. Cows do have teeth, but they can’t bite like humans can. Here’s why…

Do Cows Have Teeth?

Yes, cows have teeth. Interestingly, it’s by their teeth that you can estimate their age (more on that below).

Cattle first develop 20 temporary teeth, known also as deciduous teeth, milk teeth, or baby teeth. These temporary teeth eventually fall out and are replaced with 32 permanent adult teeth as they mature. Like humans, a cow’s temporary baby teeth are much smaller in size than the permanent teeth. 

Cattle have three major teeth types: lower incisors, premolars, and molars. 

• Lower Incisors are toward the front of the mouth and only on the bottom jaw. The front of the upper jaw is a hard dental pad and there are no front upper teeth. 
• Premolars are next to the incisors on the sides and further towards the rear of the mouth. 
• Molars are at the back of the mouth, next to the premolars. The premolars and molars are together known as cheek teeth. 

Estimating a Cow’s Age by Teeth

Cattle, like many animals, start life with baby or milk teeth. From about two years of age these teeth are replaced with permanent teeth. When estimating cattle age, we look at the number of incisor teeth, the type of teeth (“baby teeth” or permanent teeth), and tooth wear, and overall appearance of the teeth.

Since we’re a cow-calf farm, we usually know exactly when our cattle are born. Part of our cattle management system is to keep birth records (and medical records) for all our cattle so we know their exact age. However, there have been times that we have purchased cattle from other farms and their birth records are not as clear. In these instances, we can estimate their age looking at their teeth. This process is called dentition, which is the arrangement or condition of teeth in the mouth.

How Many Teeth Does a Cow Have?

Mature cattle have a total of 32 teeth and they’re three types of teeth: incisors, premolars, and molars. Only the incisors (bottom front teeth) are used to estimate their age.

Here’s a short video of Matt checking a cow’s teeth. (And don’t worry — this doesn’t hurt the cow at all!)

The Importance of a Cow’s Teeth

Dental health for cattle is very important because their teeth allow them to consume the nutrients to maintain their body condition and weight. Broken, missing or heavily worn teeth make it hard for cattle to graze. This means they can quickly lose body weight compared to other cattle in the herd. 

Can a cow bite you?

Cows can’t bite a person because they don’t have any front upper teeth.

When cattle are eating grass, they press their sharp bottom teeth against the top of their mouth, which is a hard palate. This then cuts the blades of grass so they can chew the grass.

Since there are no top teeth, a cow may “gum” you, but it won’t bite you.

Fun Facts About Cow Teeth

• Mature cattle have 32 teeth, and there are three types: incisors, premolars, and molars. 
• The incisor teeth at the bottom front of the jaw are used to estimate a cow’s age. When estimating cattle by age, the farmer (or vet) looks at the front bottom row of teeth. Specifically, he is looking for the number of teeth, the type of teeth (“baby teeth” or permanent teeth), and the wear and overall appearance of the teeth.
• Cattle start life with baby teeth. They get their first permanent teeth when they’re about 1 ½ – 2 years old.
• Cows can’t bite because they don’t have top front teeth. They may “gum” you, but they can’t bite you.
• Cattle do have molars on the upper and lower jaw, but their incisors are only the lower jaw.
• As a cow gets older, their teeth show more wear. The tops of the teeth will lose their sharpness and continue to grind down.
• Cows are ruminant animals and they regurgitate their food. This means that once grass is partially chewed, they swallow it, regurgitate it, chew it more and then swallow again. They repeat that process about 50 times so that their stomach can fully digest the plant fiber. Ruminant animals have a four-chambered stomach that lets them regurgitate their food so that they can get a maximum amount of nutrients from their food.
• All ruminant animals have a tough dental pad on their top lip instead of top front teeth. Some of the animals that have this tough pad at the top of their mouths are cattle, sheep, goats, antelopes, giraffes, deer, and more.
• George Washington’s Dentist made him dentures out of cow, hippopotamus, and walrus teeth

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More Beef Tips and Recipes:

• What Do Cows Drink? Water? Milk?
• Cattle Ear Tags: Cattle Identification System
• Do Cows Get Cold in Winter?
• What is Cud and Why do Cows Chew It?
• Do Cows Sleep Standing Up? Answering Cow Tipping Questions.
• How Much Do Cows Weigh?
• Beef Kabobs and Marinade
• Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef
• Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast
• Ground Beef and Asparagus Pasta Toss
• Easy Chimichurri Sauce
• What everybody ought to know about beef cuts

(Blog post updated in Feburary 2025. Originally published in 2016)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions are our own and we only recommend products that we truly believe in.

We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. See our disclosure policy for more details.

The post Do Cows Have Teeth? Estimating Cattle Age With Teeth (Video) appeared first on Clover Meadows Beef.

Skipping the grocery store and buying beef directly from a farm can be a great way to save money and get high quality beef. But, buyers need to know and understand terms like beef hanging weight vs packaged weight so that they know exactly how much meat they’re getting. In this guide, we’ll explain all the terms to know, how to calculate how much beef and the price per pound so you know your savings, and questions to ask the farmer and butcher in advance.

Purchasing beef directly from a local farm can be a great way to save money and stock up on quality beef. However, many consumers are unfamiliar with how beef is priced and how much meat they will receive. Terms like “live animal weight”, “on the hoof”, “hanging weight,” “on the rail”, “boxed weight”, and “packaged weight” can be confusing and lead to misunderstandings.

In this guide, we’ll explain the difference in these terms. We’ll also share examples on how these numbers are calculated so you estimate how many pounds of meat you can expect to receive when purchasing a beef share or freezer beef. We’ll also include a list of essential questions to ask your butcher or beef processor before purchasing.

Buying Beef From a Farm:

When you purchase beef directly from a farmer, beef can be priced in a variety of ways. The two most common methods are to sell beef with “all-inclusive” pricing or sell by “hanging weight”. Here’s a little more about each method: 

All-inclusive:  When farmers choose to price their quarter of beef as “all-inclusive”, they will quote the customer a specific price that includes all butchering and delivery fees. As a very rough comparison, this method is somewhat like purchasing individual cuts at a grocery store because you know what you’re getting and the price. With “all-inclusive” pricing, the farmer will tell you how many pounds of beef and what cuts you’ll receive in advance (within a few pounds, because all beef animals are slightly different), and you’ll know the exact price for those cuts.  

Hanging Weight: The industry standard is to sell whole, half, and quarter beef by hanging weight. Although this is the most common method that farmers use, we think it’s extremely confusing for customers. With this method, customers must learn a new lingo (hanging weight vs. boxed weight vs. live weight), and how to calculate quantities so that they know how much beef they’re putting in their freezer. First time buyers who don’t understand the weight measures often find themselves surprised that the weight of the meat they bring home (boxed weight) is much lower than the weight of the carcass when it’s hanging in the meat locker (hanging weight). 

​Understanding Terms:

Because selling beef by hanging weight is the most common method, we will go into detail about terms like beef hanging weight vs packaged weight vs live weight.

• Live weight (or “on the hoof”) is how much a cow weighs when it’s alive. This includes meat, bones, blood, etc.

• Hot carcass weight is the weight of the animal immediately after slaughter, but before it undergoes any further processing like aging, cutting, or trimming. This term can be used interchangeably with hanging weight.

• Hanging weight (or “on the rail” or “hanging carcass weight”) is the weight of the beef after the animal has been slaughtered and dressed. The hide, head, hooves, blood, and most internal organs have been removed. The remaining carcass is hung in a cooler for the dry aging process, typically for 10–21 days. During this time, the carcass looses some moisture, which will result in a weight loss of about 2%. The hanging weight typically represents about 60% of the live weight of the animal. The hanging weight is not the amount of beef the buyer will put in their freezer.

• Packaged weight (or “boxed weight” or “take home weight”) is the actual weight of the meat a buyer will put in their home freezer. The package weight means all the fat and bones are removed based on your cutting instructions (i.e. boneless steaks vs. bone-in steaks), and the beef is cut, ground, wrapped and frozen. The packaged weight is usually 60-65% of the hanging weight. The loss from the hanging weight usually comes from water loss (from dry aging) and bone loss (from butchering). The more boneless cuts the customer requests, the less the packaged weight will be. It’s important to point out that lower weight doesn’t mean less meat, but less bones.

What Beef Hanging Weight vs Packaged Weight Really Means (Real World Example and Calculations)

Now, here’s an example so these terms start to make more sense. 

If a steer has a live weight of 1,200 pounds, its hanging weight will be approximately 720 pounds (60% of 1,200). Since the hanging weight is 720 pounds, that means the packaged weight that you take home and put in the freezer is 432-468 pounds of beef (60-65% of the 720 lb. hanging weight). 

For a 1,200-pound animal with a carcass weight of 720 pounds, it’s not uncommon for the buyer to say, “but I only got about 440 lbs. of meat — where is the rest of the meat?” This is why it’s so important to understand terms like beef hanging weight vs packaged weight. The hanging weight includes the bone and excess fat that will not be packed and wrapped for home consumption. The hanging weight (or hot carcass weight) is not the amount of meat that the buyer will put in the freezer.

Butcher’s Pricing

When purchasing beef by hanging weight, it’s important for buyers to know that they will typically write two checks — one to the farmer and one to the butcher.  This means that buyers need to ask both entities about any fees.  

For example, many butchers charge a variable “dressing” fee, which is based on the size of the cow. That doesn’t include any additional processing costs and wrap fees or taxes your butcher may charge.

Additionally, they may offer different sets of pricing for processing based on if the meat is inspected or not.  When meat is USDA inspected or state inspected, it is more expensive per pound of hanging weight because the butcher must have an inspector present during processing. When meat is “custom cut”, it means it is for a family’s personal consumption and not intended to sell This type of processing is often less expensive because the butcher doesn’t have to have an inspector present during processing. More on beef inspection here.

​Cost Breakdown: What Are You Really Paying?

Let’s assume you are purchasing a whole beef and with the following costs. If you’re purchasing a half beef or quarter cow, please divide these numbers appropriately. 

• Farmer charges $5.00 per pound hanging weight
• Meat processor / butcher fee is $1.00 per pound of hanging weight
• The hanging weight of a whole beef is 720 pounds 

Total Cost Calculation:

• Cost for the beef: 720 lbs. × $5.00 = $3,600 (this is the amount you pay the farmer)
• Processing fee: 720 lbs. × $1.00 = $720 (this is the amount you pay the butcher shop)
• Total cost: $4,320

Now, let’s calculate the cost per pound of take-home beef:

• Packaged weight (65% yield): 720 × 65% = 468 pounds
• Total cost: $4,320
• Cost per pound of take-home meat: $4,320 ÷ 468 = $9.23 per pound of beef.  

At $9.23 per pound of finished beef, you’re getting steaks, roasts, and ground beef—often much cheaper than buying retail cuts individually. For a high-end steak and roast, this is a great deal. For ground beef, you may be saying you could find it cheaper at the grocery store on sale, but it would not be the same quality as farm-fresh beef. 

What Beef Cuts Come with a Whole Beef?

When you buy a whole cow, you get approximately 440 pounds of beef. Of this, approximately 200 pounds is ground beef, and the other 220 pounds will be cut into individual portion cuts like steaks, roasts, ribs, brisket, tenderloin, etc. Here’s an example of the cuts you will receive:

• Steaks like filet, sirloin, ribeye, NY strip, skirt and flank
• Brisket
• Roasts like chuck roast, sirloin roast, arm roast
• Ground beef
• Ribs
• Stew meat
• Kabob meat
• Soup bones
• Organ meats (if desired)
• And the list keeps going on and on!

Cut List Recommendations

When working directly with a butcher, beef can be cut in a variety of ways. We’ve had some past customers have all meat ground into ground beef, including steaks! We don’t recommend this, but it’s up to you when you purchase a whole beef. Here are some basic recomendations. 

• Steaks: Filet mignon, Sirloin Steak, Ribeye Steak, Strip Steak, Skirt Steaks and Flank Steak. We like cutting steaks into 3/4-1-inch thickness.  If you prefer a larger, thick steaks and your beef processor allows it, keep in mind you’ll be getting fewer steaks. For example, if you order a quarter beef, you would usually get approximately 6-7 sirloin steaks if they’re 3/4 -1-inch thick. If you have them cut to 1 ½ -2 inches thick, you may only get 3-4 steaks. It’s the same weight of beef, but how you have it cut makes a big difference on the quantity of steaks. 
• Roasts: Arm Roasts, Chuck Roasts, Round Roasts, Rump Roasts cut into 3-4 pound roasts.
• Ground Beef: Packaged in 1-pound packages
• Short Ribs: You could have this ground into hamburger, but we don’t recommend it. Short ribs are awesome.
• Stew Meat and/or Kabob Meat: These cuts are typically the trimmings from the steaks. 
• Brisket: You could have this ground into ground beef, but please don’t. Brisket is so good and there are lots of ways to cook brisket. 
• Soup Bones: We love soup bones. They make the best bone broth. We highly recommend them. 
• Organ meats: This is up to you, but we recommend it, especially liver. 

How Much Freezer Space is Needed?

The general rule of thumb is 1 cubic foot of freezer space for every 30-35 lbs. of cut and wrapped meat. This means a quarter cow can fit in a small chest type freezer, and whole beef orders will need a large chest type freezer. 

On average, a quarter cow is approximately 110 pounds of meat, and we recommend 5 cubic feet of freezer space. A half cow is approximately 220 pounds of meat, and we recommend an 8 cubic foot freezer. A whole cow is approximately 440 pounds of farm-fresh beef.

What Questions Should You Ask Before Buying Beef?

To ensure you understand your purchase, ask your farmer and butcher these important questions:

Questions for the Farmer

1. What breed of cattle do you raise? (Some beef breeds, like Angus, have better marbling)
2. How is the beef raised? (Grass fed beef vs. grain fed beef will impact flavor and price)
3. What is the expected “take-home weight” or “boxed weight” for a quarter, half, and whole beef? (This will help you estimate your final cost)
4. What is your price per pound of hanging weight vs boxed weight? (This will help you estimate your final cost)
5. Do you require a deposit, and how does payment work? (Many farms require an upfront deposit and/or full payment in advance)
6. When will the beef be ready? (availability depends on the farm’s schedule and beef processing schedule)
7. Where is the beef processed? (Will the beef be processed locally? is the facility USDA inspected?)
8. Where do your cows come from? How do you raise your beef? Are they born and raised on your farm? (This question helps ensure you’re working with a farmer who raises quality beef)

Questions for the Butcher/Processor

1. How long do you age the beef? ( Dry aging 10-21 days enhances the flavor and tenderness of the beef)
2. What cuts can I choose from? (Understand your options for steaks, roasts, ground beef, etc)
3. Can I request bone-in or boneless cuts? (This will affect the packaged weight, and how you cook each cut)
4. What packaging options are available? (Vacuum-sealed vs. butcher paper impacts cost and also freezer life. Vacuum sealed is prefered for longer freezer life)
5. Do you provide organ meats or soup bones? (Some processors offer these at a reduced cost).
6. Can I customize the fat content of my ground beef (Some butchers allow leaner or fattier blends)

Join us!

Do you want more easy beef recipes? Sign-up for beef recipes to your inbox.

Helpful Posts About Buying Farm-Fresh Beef:

• Buying a half or whole cow. How much beef is it?
• Understanding cuts of beef: Guide to quarter beef, whole beef
• How to buy a cow from a farmer
• Questions to ask before buying a side of beef
• 5 tips after buying a cow (and before you bring the beef home)
• What everyone ought to know about beef cuts
• Prime, Choice or Select? Meat grades explained
• What do cattle eat? How grass provides nutrition for cows
• How to thaw beef? 4 best ways to defrost meat safe and fast

KITCHEN PRODUCTS WE LOVE Cooking Beef

• Cast Iron Skillet
• Roasting Pan
• Meat Thermometer

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions are our own and we only recommend products that we truly believe in. We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. See our disclosure policy for more details.

The post Buying Beef: Beef Hanging Weight vs Packaged Weight appeared first on Clover Meadows Beef.

What do cows drink? Is it milk or water? We’ll explore what cows drink at different stages of life, and the importance of water for their health. 

Cows are fascinating aimals that provide beef and milk to people around the world.  As a beef cattle farmer, we receive lots of questions about what our cows drink and eat. Do they drink milk? Do they drink water? And what do they do when it’s winter and ponds are frozen over? How do they get their water? Some people think these are trick questions, but the answers might surprise you!

In this blog post we’ll explore what cows drink at different stages of life, and the importance of water for their health. 

Do Cows Drink Milk?

A common misconception is that adult cows drink milk. However, this is not true — adult cows drink water, not milk. Only baby cows, called calves, drink milk during the early stages of their lives.

Why Do Calves Drink Milk?

When a calf is born, it relies on its mother’s milk for nutrition and growth. The first milk produced by a mother cow is called colostrum, which is rich in antibodies and essential nutrients that help calves develop strong immune systems.

Baby calves drink their mom’s milk for about six-months.  Then, we wean them and they drink water.

Why do they wean them? There are several reasons. First, the mom stops producing milk at about six-months. Second, as the calf grows, he can get more nutrients from the grass verses the milk. The milk is very important in the beginning, but once he is about six-months old (about 500 lbs), it’s better for him to grow and gain muscle from the grass’s nutrients.

On our farm, we practice what’s called “fence-line weaning.” Fence-line weaning is an industry-best practice because it’s lower stress on the cow and calf. The fence-line weaning process looks like this: cows and calves are kept in the same field together for months so that the calves are very familiar with their surroundings, including the field’s water and feed sources. Then, we move the cows to another field that is adjacent to the calves, but separated by a fence. The cows and calves have nose-to-nose contact and can hear and see each other, but the the calf can’t drink its mother’s milk. Generally, within about three-days, the calves are fully weaned and they only want to eat grass from that time forward.

Do Adult Cows Drink Milk?

No, adult cows drink water.

How Much Water Do Cows Drink?

Cows drink a surprising amount of water every day. The exact amount depends on several factors, including their size, diet, and temperature. Here’s a general guideline:

• Beef Cows: Drink 7 to 20 gallons of water per day
• Dairy Cows: Drink 30 to 50 gallons of water per day

This means a single dairy cow can drink enough water to fill a bathtub every day!

How Do Farmers Ensure Cows Have Enough Water?

Water quality and quantity are very important to farmers. Every farm is different, but on our farm, we have three main water sources: fresh spring water, ponds and automatic waterers.

• Natural water sources — like our fresh spring and pond — are fairly self explanatory and are what most people think of when they think of how a cow drinks.
• An automatic waterer (that’s not a typo.There really is an “-er” on the end of “water”) is a unique water system that contains fresh well water. We can adjust the temperature slightly so that the water doesn’t fereze in the winter. Our cattle love the waterers, and we do too. If we didn’t have the automatic waterers, we would have to break the ice in our ponds so that the cattle could access the water.

Here’s a video with Matt showing off one of our automatic waterers.

In addition to getting water, springs and ponds help keep cattle cool on hot days — swimming, anyone?!

Join us!

Do you want more easy beef recipes? Sign-up for beef recipes to your inbox.

More Beef Recipes to Try:

• Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon
• 7 Steps to Grilling Steak to Perfection
• Easy Carne Asada Street Tacos
• Prime Rib Roast with Garlic Herb Butter
• How to choose the best cut of steak (Top 4 cuts)
• What everybody ought to know about beef cuts
• Homemade dry rub (the secret 8:3:1:1 ratio)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions are our own and we only recommend products that we truly believe in. We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. See our disclosure policy for more details.

The post What Do Cows Drink? Water, Milk or Both? (Video) appeared first on Clover Meadows Beef.

The meat counter doesn’t have to be intimidating or confusing! This post will explain everything you need to know about cuts of beef and how to cook each one.

Have you ever been confused shopping for cuts of beef? I have (shhh! don’t tell!). The good news is once I married a cattleman, and I “had” to learn the different beef cuts, I discovered it’s very easy to understand.

This post will explain everything you need to know about cuts of beef and how to cook each one.   So, the next time you stand at the meat counter looking at a strip, filet, sirloin, porterhouse, and T-bone steak, you can be confident in your selection and how you cook it.

It’s important to know that the beginning of this post may sound a little like an anatomy lesson. I apologize in advance! But, please stay with me! The anatomy of the cow is important because it directly correlates to the tenderness of the beef cut. The best rule of thumb to remember is that beef becomes more tender as the distance from horn to hoof increases.

The parts of the cow that has moved a lot and done more of the work are tougher with more defined muscles. Tougher beef cuts, such as those from the shoulder blade, are best slow cooking with liquid added to help break down the tougher muscle fibers.

The muscles that don’t do a lot of work (located in the top center of the animal) are the most tender cuts of beef, and more expensive. It’s from this area that you get your favorite individual steaks like T-bones, strips, ribeye and filet mignon steaks.

What are the basic beef cuts?

When a cow is slaughtered, it is split lengthwise into two halves and are then broken down into eight large sections called primal beef cuts. Then, it’s cut into subprimal cuts, also sometimes called “food service cuts”. At this point, it’s typically shipped to a butcher shop or grocery store for the final cuts. Retail (or portion) cuts are consumer-sized steaks, ribs and roast that you purchase when the butcher cuts the beef.

The eight primal cut names should sound very familiar to you since they are an essential component of how beef cuts are labeled.

Here are the eight primal cuts of beef:

• Chuck
• Rib
• Loin (short loin and sirloin)
• Round
• Flank
• Short Plate
• Brisket
• Shank

Often times, the primal cut name is mentioned in the beef’s labeling. For example, a chuck roast comes from the chuck primal section, and a round roast comes from the round primal section. 

That said, it’s important to know that the naming of beef cuts can vary by store and region. In fact, one study showed that many grocery stores carry more than 60 different beef products. For example, a strip steak can also be called a New York Strip, Kansas City Strip, or hotel steak, just to name a few.

Beef Cuts Explained:

Since you probably don’t want to carry around a beef cuts chart in your pocket, here’s what you need to know about each of the cuts:

Chuck:

The chuck is the large primal that comes from the neck down to the sixth rib, just past the shoulder. It comprises about 100 pounds, or 26% of the total usable meat per half steer.

Since chuck is from the animal’s shoulder and cows use their shoulders a lot, it’s a tougher cut of beef. But, it can also be a very flavorful cut. Most of the meat from the primal is ground for burgers.

Beef Cuts from the Chuck Primal:

• Ground Chuck
• Chuck Roast
• Chuck Rib Roast
• Flat Iron Steaks (a.k.a. Butler Steak)
• Blade Steak
• Shoulder Petite Tender
• Short Ribs
• Flanken Style Ribs (a.k.a. Chunky Short Ribs, English Short Ribs, Korean Kalbi-Style Ribs)

How to Cook Chuck:

Chuck roasts and ribs are best browned and braised in a liquid over low heat. Flat iron steak and blade steak is best grilled to medium rare and cut into thin slices.

Favorite Chuck Recipes:

• Beef Stew
• Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast
• One-Pan BBQ Beef Short Ribs
• Homemade Dry Rub for Beef Roast
• Easy Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sandwiches

Brisket:

The brisket is the steer’s chest, and it’s typically 10 to 16 pounds. Because the chest supports the cow’s body weight, it’s one of the most used muscles. It is lean and tough, with coarse muscle fibers throughout. Brisket also has a substantial amount of fat, which melts and bastes the meat as it cooks.  

Cuts from the Brisket Primal:

• Point Cut (a.k.a. second cut)
• Flat Cut (a.k.a. first cut)

How to cook brisket

Cook brisket low and slow and your taste buds will rejoice. When serving, be sure to slice cooked brisket against the grain so that it’s easier to eat.

Favorite brisket recipes:

• One-skillet braised beef brisket
• Easy oven Beef Brisket

Shank:

The shank is located at the animal’s forearm in front of the brisket. It is one of the toughest cuts. One of the most famous dishes that comes from the shank is Osso Buco, which requires braising to make the meat more tender. Make stews and soups with the shank.

Cuts of Beef from Shank:

• Cross Shank

How to Cook Shank:

Get out your slow cooker or large stock pot. Braising and boiling over a low heat for a very long time is the only way to cook shank.

Favorite Shank Recipes:

• Osso Bucco
• Homemade Beef Broth

Ribs:

The cow’s ribs and backbone make up the ribs. There are 13 pairs of ribs, but only the last section (6-12) are in the primal section of the ribs. The others are in the chuck cut. Ribs have lots of flavor and marbling.

Cuts of Beef from Rib Primal:

• Delmonico steak
• Boneless ribeye roast
• Cowboy steak
• Ribeye steaks
• Beef short ribs
• Prime Rib Roast (a.k.a. Holiday Roast, Rib Roast, or Standing Rib Roast)

How to Cook:

This section is a very tender part of the animal. Dry heat methods like roasting, grilling, pan searing, and broiling are best.  Be sure not to overcook the meat since beef is so tender. We recommend beef be cooked to an internal temperature of medium (130F) or less, or you may dry out the meat.

Favorite Recipes:

• Easy Prime Rib with Garlic Herb Butter

Plate:

The beef plate, or short plate, is the other source of short ribs and it’s found near the abdomen. It is very tough and high in fat, which is why beef short ribs are ideal for braising. This process of cooking with moist heat at a low temperature will dissolve cartilage and turn it into gelatin.

Hanger Steak and Skirt Steak are also from the plate primal cut. They are long, thin pieces of meat that have visible muscle fibers running along the steak’s width. Both cuts do well with marinade.

Beef Cuts from the Plate Primal:

• Hanger steak
• Skirt steak
• Short ribs

Favorite Recipes:

• BBQ Beef Short Ribs
• Cheesecake Factory Hibachi Steak Recipe (Copycat)
• Skirt Steak with Paprika Butter

Loin:

The loin is where the most expensive cuts of beef come from. It is located at the top of the steer directly behind the rib. It is not a heavily used muscle, so it is very tender and flavorful. The loin is only about 16 to 18 inches long. It will yield anywhere from 11 to 14 steaks, depending on thickness.

The loin has two parts: shortloin and sirloin.

The short loin contains the most tender and expensive cuts of beef because they are tender and well marbled. Hello Porterhouse!

Beef Cuts from the Short Loin Primal:

• Strip steaks (a.k.a. New York Strip Steak, Kansas City Strip, and Hotel Steak)
• T-bone steaks
• Porterhouse steaks
• Filet mignon
• Tenderloin
• Chateaubriand (center cut of the tenderloin)

Beef Cuts from the Sirloin (Subprimal of the Loin):

• Sirloin steaks
• Tri tip roast
• Tri tip steaks
• Sirloin tips

Favorite Recipes

• Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon

Round:

The round is a lean and inexpensive cut. It is the second largest primal at the back of the animal. It’s the cow’s rump and hind legs, which do a lot of work walking, so they’re tougher cuts of meat. Round is divided into the top round (rump) and bottom round cuts.

Beef Cuts from the Round Primal:

• Round steak
• Eye of round
• Tip steak
• Tip roast
• Top round steak
• Bottom round roast
• Extra lean ground beef

How to cook:

Slow roasting, braising, slicing thin for sandwiches or using as roasts are the best choices for cuts of meat from the round primal.

Flank:

The flank is located below the loin and is the cow’s abdomen. It has no bones, and is very flavorful but also very tough. It used to be less expensive at the grocery store, but this has started to change because flank steaks are known for being lean. Since consumers want lean meat more than ever before, it’s increased flank steak’s popularity and price.

Beef Cuts from the Flank Primal:

• Flank Steak
• Fajita Strips

How to Cook Flank:

Flank doesn’t have much marbling, so it’s best to quickly grill or broil flank. Think steak fajitas.

Favorite Recipes:

• Cheesecake Factory Hibachi Steak Recipe (Copycat)
• Lemon Pepper Flank Steak

What are the best cuts of beef?

The best, most expensive and tender cuts of beef are always from the center of the steer, which is the loin or rib section. The four most popular cuts from this area are Tenderloin Steaks, Ribeye Steaks, Strip Steaks, and T-bone Steaks. 

If you’re wondering, “why the center of the steer?” Take a moment and look at the diagram above. When an animal is alive, their legs and neck muscles do most of the work. So, the muscles there are firmer and that beef is the toughest. The loin and ribs are at the center of the animal and they don’t do much work, so they’re tender cuts.

Another way to say this that you may hear from your butcher is that “beef gets more tender as the distance from horn and hoof increases.”

What about stew beef and kabob meat?

Take a look at the beef cut chart above. “Stew Meat” and “Kabob Meat” are missing because there isn’t a cut of beef labeled “stew meat” or “kabob meat”.  These terms describe meat cut and packaged together. Typically, stew meat comes from trimmings from the roast and chuck section. Meat for kabobs is trimming from primal cuts like sirloin. If you do a side-by-side comparison of the two, you’ll see that kabob meat is usually larger chunks of meat. Stew meat and kabob meat are both versatile packages of meat that are very economical and easy to cook.

Favorite Kitchen Products

• Meat thermometer
• Skillet

Join us!

Do you want more easy beef recipes? Sign-up for beef recipes to your inbox.

More Beef Tips & Recipes to Try:

• Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef
• Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast
• Ground Beef and Asparagus Pasta Toss
• Easy Chimichurri Sauce
• What everybody ought to know about beef cuts
• Homemade dry rub (the secret 8:3:1:1 ratio)
• Defrosting Meat: 4 Safe & Easy Ways

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions are our own and we only recommend products that we truly believe in

We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. See our disclosure policy for more details.

The post A Cook’s Guide to All Cuts of Beef & How to Cook appeared first on Clover Meadows Beef.

Meat inspection is mandatory in the United States.  Learn who inspects our meat, what they look for, and what happens when meat is approved (or not approved).

Let’s talk about meat inspection. It’s not a very glamorous topic, but it’s very important since everyone wants their food to be safe to eat.

Is meat inspection mandatory in the U.S.?

Yes. Meat inspection is mandatory in the United States. The Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) of 1906 requires that all meat sold commercially be inspected and passed to ensure that it is safe, wholesome, and properly labeled. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is responsible for providing this federal inspection. The USDA FSIS inspects all raw meat and poultry sold in interstate commerce and foreign commerce, including imported products.This includes any product intended for human consumption from any cattle, sheep, swine, goat or chicken. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is responsible for ensuring the safety and wholesomeness of meat, poultry, and egg products and ensures that it is accurately labeled.

In addition, the FSIS enforces the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA), the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA), and the Egg Products Inspection Act. These laws require Federal inspection and regulation of meat, poultry, and egg products prepared for distribution in commerce for use as human food. It also verifies compliance with the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act for livestock. This statute is enforced through the FMIA.

What is the purpose of meat inspection?

Meat and poultry products are an integral part of the food chain, but they can also be associated with food borne diseases. Ensuring quality standards and that products are safe to eat is an important public health defense for disease control.

Who inspects meat in the U.S.?

Federal meat inspection is under government regulation and is the responsibility of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). FSIS employs about 7,800 in plant inspection program personnel. These meat inspectors inspect more than 6,200 establishments.These individuals verify the humane handling of animals, and ensure the meat products is fit for human consumption while at the meat processors. 

​

Federal Inspection vs. State Meat Inspection

Meat that crosses state lines, also known as interstate commerce, must be inspected by a federal meat inspector.  

Some states, like Missouri, have a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and have their own state inspection agency to inspect meat.  The FSIS monitors these state inspection programs. The 1967 Wholesome Meat Act and the 1968 Wholesome Poultry Products Act require state inspection programs to be at least equal to the federal inspection program. If states choose to end their state program or cannot maintain the inspection requirements standard, FSIS must takes the responsibility of the meat inspection program within that state.

At Clover Meadows Beef, we process our beef at a USDA approved facility with a federal inspector since our beef crosses state lines. 

What does USDA inspected meat mean?

When meat is inspected, federal and state inspectors review all aspects of the process. This includes, but is not limited to the following:  

• Only healthy animals are used for meat and they inspect the animals before slaughter. There can be no signs of disease in the live animals. 
• Guarantee that the slaughtering establishments meet required standards for sanitary conditions
• In slaughter plants, the handling of animals must be humane
• USDA Inspectors conduct ante-mortem inspection to be sure the live animal is fit for slaughter. 
• Inspectors conduct postmortem inspection to ensure that the meat from the carcass and internal organs are fit for human food.
• inspect meat at various stages of processing
• temperature monitoring
• control and monitoring of the use of additives
• and much more. 

The meat inspection process is very thorough, and it’s all or nothing. There is no half-way or partially-passed inspection of meat. If meat doesn’t pass inspection, it is removed entirely from the food supply. When it does pass inspection, it is stamped or labeled with the USDA inspection stamp, which means it is fit to eat and can be sold in a retail store.

Meat inspection’s (edible) stamp of approval 

When meat is approved during inspection, the meat inspector will stamp the carcass with a round mark made with purple, edible ink. The dye used in the inspection stamps is made from a food-grade vegetable dye and it is edible. 

In a retail store, butchers often trim off the parts of carcasses with the stamp so consumers never see it. However, when you purchase a quarter, half or whole beef from our family farm, there is a chance you’ll see the stamp because of how our USDA butcher trims the beef. 

In addition to the stamp on the carcass, a USDA stamp must be on every package of meat. The stamp also includes an official establishment number that is assigned to that processing facility by the federal government. The numbers are called “establishment numbers,” and they’re only good for one location. These numbers make it very easy to tell exactly where the beef was processed. 

Beef that passes state inspection often has a symbol of the outline of the shape of the state. 

Grading Beef: Prime, Choice & Select 

Once beef passes inspection, it can also be graded for quality. Grading beef is optional and voluntary.  The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service is the agency responsible for grading meat and poultry. Those who request grading must pay for the service (i.e. the farmer or the beef packer). Grading for quality means evaluation of traits such as tenderness, juiciness, and flavor of meat. 

At Clover Meadows Beef, we occasionally have our beef graded, but not on every single animal because it’s a significant additional expense.

Within the meat grading system, there are eight quality grades. The grades in order from best to worst are Prime, Choice, Select, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter and Canner. 

Typically, consumers are most familiar with the top three grades: Prime, Choice and Select. 

Standard and Commercial grades of beef are typically sold as store brand meat.  The final three grades of beef – Utility, Cutter and Canner – are rarely sold at retail and are used to make ground beef and processed products.

Prime Graded Beef 

Prime Beef comes from well-fed livestock and it has abundant marbling (i.e. fat within the beef). Grain-finished cattle have more marbling than grass-finished beef. You usually find Prime Beef at restaurants and hotels. It’s known for being full of flavor, and very tender and juicy. Only about 2 percent of today’s beef is of the highest USDA grade, or prime, which, has the highest level of marbling.

Choice Graded Beef 

The most widely available grade of beef is Choice graded beef. Choice Beef is very high quality, but has slightly less marbling than Prime. It is very tender and juicy. About 50 percent of beef is graded choice by the USDA.

Select Graded Beef 

Select Beef is typically leaner than the higher grades.  It has less marbling, and also lacks some of the juiciness and flavor of the higher graded meat. The USDA grades about 21 percent of beef with the select grade. 

How are beef grades determined?

When the USDA grades beef, they look at two main qualities: 1) quality grades for tenderness, juiciness and flavor; and 2) yield grades for the amount of usable lean meat.

To determine a beef grade, the USDA grader looks specifically at the amount of marbling in the ribeye muscle between the 12^th and 13^th ribs. Based on that one location of the cow, they can then determine if the beef in the entire cow is Prime, Choice or Select. The reason this works is be marbelization is responsible for giving beef its tenderness and added flavor.

In addition, beef is graded on the maturity (or age) of the animal. As cattle mature, their meat gets tougher and leaner. Since the tenderness of beef is directly affected by cattle’s age, the USDA considers the animal’s age.

In addition to quality of beef, the USDA also looks at the yield grade – or the amount of usable lean meat on the carcass – when grading beef. 

What beef grades do not mean

The USDA does a great job grading beef, and they are always evolving and improving. However, it’s important to note that some factors that many consumers now consider important do not go into the grade. These factors include the animal’s diet (grass fed vs. grain finished), the cut, and how the animal has been raised (pasture raised or not).

A side note that surprises many of our customers is that grass-finished beef will never be Prime Beef. The reason for this is because Grass finished beef are more lean so they don’t meet the USDA’s Prime Beef requirements for tenderness, juiciness and flavor.

One more thing!

Do you want to learn more about beef? Join our weekly e-newsletter where we share farm happenings, recipes and beef availability. Sign-up and get a cheat sheet with 9-must-ask questions before buying beef directly from a farmer. Or, we have an entire ebook about beef that goes through purchasing and preparing beef from a cattle farmers perspective.

Here are a few other links you may like:

• What everybody ought to know about beef cuts
• What Beef Labels Mean
• Buying a Cow. How Much Beef Is It?
• 7 Steps to Grilling a Steak to Perfection
• What Do Cows Eat
• Easy Beef Brisket Recipe (oven-roasted)
• The Best Farm Books for Kids

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The post All About the Meat Inspection Process for Food Safety appeared first on Clover Meadows Beef.

For those unfamiliar with farm life in the United States, hearing the phrase “head of cattle” can be a bit confusing.  If you’ve never had the chance to observe livestock up close, it might sound like a strange phrase, but it’s simpler than it sounds.

What is a head of cattle?

The term head of cattle refers to individual animals — either a cow, bull, steer, or heifer. In other words, a “head” is a singular unit in a group of cattle. One head is one cow, two head is two cows, three head means three cows, and on and on.  If a cattle farmer says they have 100 head of cattle, it means they have 100 live animals.  The reason “head” is used instead of terms like “cow” or “steer” is because those terms have specific meanings in the cattle industry (see below). 

As the beef cattle operations get larger, the number of head will also increase. However, you never say “heads of cattle.” The phrase is always used in the singular form, “head of cattle.”

A cattle head can be any breed of beef cows or milk cows. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking to a farmer with dairy cattle or a beef rancher with a cow-calf operation, one animal equals a single head of cattle. 

Head of Cattle vs. Cattle Herd

Now that you know the definition of head of cattle, let’s explain what a “herd” is.  For beef producers and dairy producers, a herd of cattle is a group of cattle. Depending on the size of the farm, a herd can range from a small number of animals to thousands.

In addition, “herd” can refer to the characteristic of certain animals. Cattle are herd animals. They like to stay together as a group for safety and social reasons.

On our farm we often manage our entire herd by grouping certain animals together based on a certain characteristic(s).  For example, in one of our fields, we have a herd of pregnant cows that are ready to give birth, and in another field, we have a small herd of steers and heifers raised for beef production.

​Cow vs. Heifer vs. Steer vs. Bull

If your new to cattle production, you may think that the term “cow” is a generic term, but it’s not. Here’s a quick overview of terms for cattle.

• Bovine: An animal in the cattle group, which includes bison and buffaloes

• Cow: A cow is a mature female bovine that has had at least one calf. Female cattle have udders. Using everyday lingo, the cows are the “moms”
• Heifer: A heifer is a young female cow that has not had her first calf yet. Once a pregnant heifer has her first calf, she automatically becomes a cow. In other words, heifers are like “first-time moms.” She will give birth to either a bull calf (male) or young heifer (female).
• Bred Heifer: A female heifer that is pregnant with her first calf.
• Bull: A mature male bovine that is at least 2 years old, is fertile, and is used for breeding is considered a mature bull. Young bulls will have genitals intact with a scrotum and testicles. One bull can breed about 25 cows. Bulls exhibit more aggressive behavior and dominant overall (compared to steers). The bulls are the “dads.”
• Steer: A steer is a male animal that belongs to the cattle family and is a castrated male bovine. His testicles have been removed, and he is incapable of reproducing. Castration is done at a young age, before sexual maturity when the bull is a young calf. Prior to castration, young male steers can be called bull calves.

Beef Cattle vs. Dairy Cattle. What is a cow-calf farm? 

In the United States, the beef industry is primarily made up small, family farms with cow-calf operations. This means a farmer owns a female cow herd that stays on the farm for their entire lives. Each cow in the herd has a calf every year.  The calf drinks its mother’s milk for about the first 6 months of life. At 6 months, the calf is about 500 lbs. and its body can effectively convert grass to nutrients. It will grow and gain muscle from the grass’s nutrients.   At approximately 16 months of age, the calf is large enough to be sold for income. When raising beef cattle for meat production, it takes about 2-3 years for cattle to go from farm to fork. 

What makes beef cattle unique is their ability to convert grass into muscle. They have a stockier build, rounded bodies, and short necks.  They are sometimes compared to a weight lifter because of their appearance and because their energy goes toward building muscle and storing fat.  This results in great quality meat — you want lean beef with marbling for texture and flavor

When most people think of a cow, they think of Holstein cows with black and white spots. The Holstein is one of six common dairy cow breeds in the U.S. that farmers use for dairy production. Dairy cows use their energy into producing large quantities of milk, not meat. They can make an average of 7 to 10 gallons of milk per day. Farmers milk cows two to three times a day in a milking parlor. Once a dairy cow is milked, it takes about two-days for the milk to travel from the farm to the store.  During this time, it goes through many steps to ensure its high-quality milk. In fact, milk is one of the most regulated foods you can buy at the store. 

How many head of cattle per acre?

There are many factors that go into how many acres you need for cattle.  In Missouri, a good pasture with lots of high-quality grass may support one cow per two acres during a good growing year. A pasture with sparser grass (like you find in northwestern states like Montana and Wyoming) may only support one cow on 50 acres or more. In addition to grass, other conditions to consider for the number of cattle are how much precipitation does the area usually recieve and is it experiencing drought conditions? Are the cattle receiving grain or are they grass finished? Are the cows pregnant? These are just a few things to consider. 

One more thing!

​Do you want to learn more about beef? Join our weekly e-newsletter where we share farm happenings, recipes and beef availability. Sign-up and get a cheat sheet with 9-must-ask questions before buying beef directly from a farmer. Or, we have an entire ebook about beef that goes through purchasing and preparing beef from a cattle farmers perspective.

Here are a few other links you may like:

• Do Cows Have Teeth?
• Do Cows Sleep Staninding Up?
• Where are Baby Calves Born?
• How Much Does a Cow Weigh?
• Difference Between Grass Finished vs. Grain Finished Beef
• 32 Fun Facts About Cows All Kids and Adults Should Know
• Beef Cow vs. Dairy Cow: The Difference Between Cattle
• What Do Cattle Eat? How Grass Provides Nutrition for Cows

​

The post Head of Cattle vs. Herd: What Beef Livestock Terms Mean appeared first on Clover Meadows Beef.

There are so many labels with beef – grass finished, grain finished, organic, natural, pasture raised – just to name a few. But what do these different labels really mean? Let’s talk fact vs. fiction so you can make educated food choices for you and your family.

What’s the difference between grass finished beef vs. grain finished beef? This is one of the top three questions we hear on a regular basis from consumers. On our farm, we raise both grass finished beef and grain-fed cows, so we have a first-hand perspective on both farming practices and both types of beef.

Our goal in this post is only to educate based on facts, not elevate one type of beef or another. Our bottom line is that both types of beef production are important to meet consumer demand, and all types of beef provides 10 essential nutrients that the human body needs. 

All cattle spend a majority of their lives eating grass on pastures. The main difference between grass finished vs. grain finished beef comes down to the finishing phase, or how they spend their latter days.

What is grass finished beef

Grass-finished beef cattle spend their entire lives on a grass diet. Grass finished cattle eat grass from the pasture, or they may also eat forage, hay or silage at the feedyard. In addition, grass-fed beef cattle may or may not be given FDA-approved antibiotics to treat, prevent or control disease and/or growth-promoting hormones.

What is grain finished beef?

Grain finished beef spend the majority of their lives eating grass. What makes them different from grass finished beef is that during the last 6-8 months of their lives, grain-finished beef cattle are free to eat a balanced diet of local feed ingredients. The exact grain and type of feed will differ by each local farm. However, grain fed cows are typically fed a balanced, veterinarian-approved diet with grains such as potato hulls, corn, sugar beets, barley, sorghum or hay.

The terms grain finished beef, grain fed beef and conventional beef are essentially all the same. They refer to cattle that have been raised with the beginning of their life on grass, and then given grain at the end of their lives. Grain-finished meat is the type of beef is typically be found at the grocery store. 

What do grass finished beef and grain finished beef have in common?

Grass finished beef and grain finished beef have many things in common. Let’s start at the beginning – how the animals are born and raised.

The majority of cattle farms in North America (including ours) are “cow-calf farms.” On a cow-calf farm, the farmer owns a herd of cows (sidenote: cows are always females and bulls are always males), and each cow has a a baby calf every year. 

When a calf is first born, it stays with its mom for about six-months and drinks its mother’s milk. At this time, the calf is weaned from its mother and it starts to eat grass. When the calf is about 8-12 months old, beef producers must make some important decisions, with two main options: 

• Option 1: The cattle farmer can “finish” the animal on his farm and have it butchered at a local facility for beef. If the farmer chooses to finish the beef on his farm, he’ll also decide if it’s going to be grain-fed beef, grass-finished beef or organic beef. We’ll get into these types of beef later, but for now, know that the farmer is deciding whether or not the calf stays on his farm or if he sells the calf. 
• Option 2: A cattle farmer can sell the animal (typically between 8-12 months of age). and the animal will eventually go to a feedlot where large beef packing houses package beef. When the animal is transferred to a feedlot, it is typically fed a grain-based diet that’s higher in grain (like corn), but it also contains hay and other grasses. This is for the last 6-8 months of their lives. This type of beef that is fed supplemental grain has many names such as grain-fed beef, grain finished beef or conventional beef.

Nutrition:

​There are many nutritional differences and similarities when comparing grass-fed cows to grain-fed cattle. 

Similarities:   

Both grass finished cattle and grain finished cattle are an excellent source of 10 essential nutrients and lean quality protein.

Studies show that eating lean beef, as part of a balanced healthy diet, supports healthy blood pressure and blood lipids.

According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a 3-oz. serving of lean beef, has about 150 calories on average. Beef is a good or excellent source of protein and 10 essential nutrients like zinc, iron and B vitamins.

Lean cuts have less than 10 grams of total fat, 4.5 grams or less of saturated fat and less than 95 mg of cholesterol per 100 grams (3½ oz). These cuts generally have “Round” or “Loin” in their names, such as Sirloin Steak and Tenderloin Steak.

Differences: 

Since we aren’t nutritionists, we are going to lean on information from the American Meat Science Association and the Beef Council.  

Studies have shown that nutritionally, grass finished beef has some great health benefits like more vitamin E, beta-carotene, vitamin C antioxidants, omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids compared to grain fed beef. They also produce meat that’s higher in CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), a fat that’s been studied for possible heart benefits, improving immunity and anti-inflammation benefits. But, the interesting thing with CLA is typically found in the fat marbling that people trim off their beef. 

However, according to scientific experts, the jury is still out on if it’s really that much healthier. According to the American Meat Science Association

 “Many people think that grass fed beef is healthier for you since if contains a different type of fat when compared to conventional grain fed beef. Grass fed beef contains lower levels of saturated fat and slightly higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids. While this is true neither source of beef has a sufficient number of omega-3s when compared to something such as salmon, which contains 35 times more omega-3 than beef.

While grass fed, beef does have lower levels of saturated fat, the difference isn’t significant. Texas A&M recently did a study of men to see if grass fed beef would lower cholesterol levels. Their results actually show that men who consume conventional corn-fed beef improved cholesterol levels while the men that consume grass fed beef saw little to no change in their cholesterol levels.”

Do grass-finished cattle taste different from grain-finished animals?

Yes, the taste of the beef is slightly different between grass-fed cattle and grain-finished cattle. This is mainly due to the different level of fat and marbling.  Grain finished beef has more marbling than grass finished beef. Researchers in the United States have done studies to see if people like grain finished beef or grass finished beef better. Grain finished beef significantly outperforms grass fed beef in palatability panel scores.

​

Organic

Beef that is certified as organic comes from cattle that have never received any antibiotics or growth-promoting hormones.  These cattle may spend time at the feedyard and may eat grain, as long as it is organically grown.  If you want beef that’s both organic and grass finished, look for both of these terms on the label.

Naturally Raised

Naturally raised beef comes from cattle that have never received antibiotics or growth hormones. This beef may spend time at a feedyard and can be either grain-finished or grass-finished.

One More Thing

Do you want to learn more about beef? Join our weekly e-newsletter where we share farm happenings, recipes and beef availability. Sign-up and get a cheat sheet with 9-must-ask questions before buying beef directly from a farmer. Or, we have an entire ebook about beef that goes through purchasing and preparing beef from a cattle farmers perspective.

Here are a few other links you may like:

• Farm Life: How We Feed Cows
• What’s the Difference Between a Steer vs Bull? Cow vs Heifer?
• 27 Amazing Facts About Cows That Will Impress Your Friends
• Do Cows Have Teeth?
• Buying a Cow. How Much Beef Is It?

The post Difference between grass finished vs. grain finished beef appeared first on Clover Meadows Beef.

This step-by-step guide walks you through how to buy a cow from a farmer. From finding a local family farm to asking the right questions to determine the types of cuts, total price, best value, and how much meat you will get. Plus, you will know the steps to take when you get home with hundreds of pounds of meat. 

With beef prices on the rise, many people contact our farm asking if it’s worth it to buy a cow. Whether you’re looking at a quarter cow, half cow, or whole cow. The short answer is yes! When you buy a cow, you get premium quality beef at a fraction of the price. 

Before you buy a cow, there are lots of questions you need to ask. We’ve been selling beef from our farm for over a decade, so we have lots of experience with Q&A! In this step-by-step guide, we’ll explain how to buy a cow from a farmer. Here are a few things we’ll cover: 

• How do you find a farmer to purchase from?  
• What questions should you ask before you buy a cow?
• How do you make sure you’re getting the best value on beef?
• What type of beef should you get? grass-fed beef? grass-finished beef? grain-finished beef? organic beef? 
• What cuts of beef should be on the cut sheet?
• How many pounds of meat will you actually get?
• What’s the total price?

How do you find a farmer to purchase a cow from? Where do you start?

Believe it or not, buying a cow is just like any other big purchase. It will take a little research to find the farm you want to purchase from, but in the long run, you’ll be glad you did your homework.   

First, talk to family and friends and see if any of them have purchased a cow from a local farmer. If yes, did they have a good experience? 

Second, visit your local farmer’s market. You’ll likely find several beef farmers there. If possible, purchase a few individually packaged steaks, roasts or packages of ground beef from them and see if you like the quality of their beef.  If yes, you may have found the farm you want to purchase from.  

Another great resource is your local Extension office or USDA office. You can ask them for a recommendation of a local farmer that sells beef directly.  If you’ve never heard of these offices before, do an online search for the closest one to you. You’ll quickly see that these offices often partner with local universities and they offer lots of free information on a variety of topics — like buying a cow, planting a garden, running small business, and so much more. 

And of course, there’s always internet searches. Some sites aggregate local farmers, like EatWild or Local Harvest. These sites can be great, but keep in mind that farmers have to pay to be part of these sites. Therefore, the lists are not all-inclusive. 

What questions should you ask before you buy a cow?

We know this is a long article, so we’re diving right in and listing the questions you should ask when buying beef. We go into more detail on each of these questions below.

• What’s the typical “take-home weight” for a quarter, half and whole beef?
• How much will I pay per pound of beef? 
• What am I responsible for if I purchase beef from you? Additional fees? Delivery? 
• How will the beef be packaged? 
• Where do your cows come from? Are they born and raised on your farm? 
• Where is the beef processed? 

How do you get the best value on beef? Will you really save money?

We’re often asked, will you really save money if you buy a side of beef? The answer is always “yes.” Buying beef in bulk is the most affordable way to have high quality, farm-fresh beef on your table. However, the amount you save will vary based on where you typically buy beef.  If you only shop for beef at high-end grocery stores, you’ll save more annually than if you typically purchase beef at discount stores. 

Another factor to consider in this question are unexpected payments and fees with beef processing. Some farms (like ours) have all-inclusive pricing that includes the cost of the animal and butchering so that you know exactly how much you will pay.

On other farms, there can be multiple payment times and fees. For example, on many farms, it’s common to make an initial deposit, and then the remaining balance and final payment are due when the farmer takes the animal to the local butcher. Then, you would pay the local butcher an additional slaughter fee, disposal fee, and sometimes a delivery fee. 

In order to determine your total annual savings, you have to take all of these costs into consideration. These are questions you should ask the farmer, and also the local butcher.

Can my family really eat a whole cow? How much beef does a typical family eat in a year?

The answer to this question varies by the number of family members and their individual appetites. Large families can easily eat one cow a year. On average, our customers with a family of four eat about a half cow every year. Here’s an easy formula that will help you figure out how much beef your family eats in a year:

My family usually eats ______ meals a week with 1 pound of beef
x
52 weeks a year
=
My family eats ________ pounds of beef per year.

​

​​Types of Cuts and Cut List

When you purchase beef from a farm, there are a range of cuts of you can choose from. If this is your first time working with local butchers and completing a cut sheet, it will help to know a little about a cow’s anatomy before you complete the beef processor’s cut list. In short, you cannot have an entire cow cut into steaks. Sorry, but it’s just not doable based on the animal’s anatomy.  This part may seem a little over-the-top, but stick with us and it’ll be a breeze to fill out the cut list. 

The USDA divides a cow into eight regions. These are known as the primal cuts, or the main cuts. Here are the eight primal cuts:

• Chuck
• Rib
• Loin
• Round
• Flank
• Short Plate
• Brisket
• Shank

Numerous cuts of meat can come from each of these sections. For example, at the grocery store you’ll see “round” sold as ground beef, round steak, eye of round, tip steak, tip roast, top round, and bottom round roasts. But, each of these round cuts come from numerous animals.  When you’re talking to the butcher, you’ll need to choose a few ways to have the round cut. You can’t do all of them that you see at a grocery store since there is a limited amount of meat on each animal. 

Recommended Beef Cuts 

• Steaks: Filet mignon, Sirloin Steak, Ribeye Steak, Strip Steak, Skirt Steaks and Flank Steak. We like cutting steaks into 3/4-1-inch thickness.  If you prefer a larger, thick steaks and your beef processor allows it, keep in mind you’ll be getting fewer steaks. For example, if you order a quarter beef, you would usually get approximately 6-7 sirloin steaks if they’re 3/4 -1-inch thick. If you have them cut to 1 ½ -2 inches thick, you may only get 3-4 steaks. It’s the same weight of beef, but how you have it cut makes a big difference on the quantity of steaks. 
• Roasts: Arm Roasts, Chuck Roasts, Round Roasts, Rump Roasts cut into 3-4 pound roasts.
• Ground Beef: Packaged in 1-pound packages
• Short Ribs: You could have this ground into hamburger, but we don’t recommend it. Short ribs are awesome.
• Stew Meat and/or Kabob Meat: These cuts are typically the trimmings from the steaks. 
• Brisket: You could have this ground into ground beef, but please don’t. Brisket is so good and there are lots of ways to cook brisket. 
• Soup Bones: We love soup bones. They make the best bone broth. We highly recommend them. 
• Organ meats: This is up to you, but we recommend it, especially liver. 

What about T-Bone Steaks?

A comment we sometimes hear is that people want more unique cuts, like T-Bone, Porterhouse Steak, Delmonico Steak, Club Steak, etc.

There are two main reasons you don’t see cuts like this on a cut sheet:  

First, some cuts have different names based upon the region. For example, a Kansas City Strip and a New York Strip are the same steak. 

Second, other cuts are a combination of cuts. For example, a T-bone steak is a strip steak on one side and a tenderloin on the other. If you decide to cut the bone out, you would no longer have a T-bone. Instead, you would have two distinct cuts — a tenderloin (or filet) and a strip steak. And if it’s an extremely large T-bone, it would be called a Porterhouse Steak, not a T-bone. According to the USDA, if the tenderloin section that is at least 1.25 inches across at the widest section, it’s a porterhouse steak. 

Should the beef be inspected?

All meat for public consumption in the United States must be inspected by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).  In some states, like Missouri, you can also have an inspector from a state inspection agency inspect meat, but state-inspected cannot cross state lines for sale.

USDA inspectors are very thorough, and the U.S. has the highest food safety records of any country. 

The USDA inspectors check the live animal to make sure they’re healthy from head to hoof and treated humanely. They also inspect the slaughtering process, the animal’s organs, the temperature of the meat, and make sure the carcass stays as clean as possible during the entire process. 

If beef doesn’t pass inspection, it is removed entirely from the food supply. When beef does pass inspection, it is stamped or labeled with the USDA inspection stamp, and that means it is fit to eat.

What type of beef? Grass Finished? Grain Finished? Organic? Something else?

Terms like grass finished, grain finished and organic have become buzz words lately. There are a lot of myths out there about cattle farms, and we want to help you separate fact vs. fiction. The cliff-notes version of each of these is below. If you want more details, check out our detailed post on each of these topics: What is Grass Fed Beef? What is Grain Fed Beef? and What do Beef Labels Really Mean?

Grain-Finished Beef:

• Spend the majority of their lives eating grass or forage 
• Spend 4-6 months at a feedyard eating a balanced diet of grains, local feed ingredients, like potato hulls or sugar beets, and hay or forage 
• May or may not be given U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved antibiotics to treat, prevent or control disease and/or growth hormones 
• Most beef is from cattle that are raised this way and the packages likely don’t have a specific label claim 

Grass-Finished or Grass-Fed Beef:

• Spend their whole lives eating grass or forage 
• May also eat grass, forage, hay or silage at a feedyard 
• May or may not be given FDA-approved antibiotics to treat, prevent or control disease and/or growth-promoting hormones 

Certified Organic: 

• Never receive any antibiotics or growth-promoting hormones 
• May be either grain- or grass-finished, as long as the USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) certifies the feed is 100% organically grown 
• May spend time at a feedyard 

Naturally Raised: (sometimes referred to as “never-ever”) 

• Never receive any antibiotics or growth-promoting hormones 
• May be either grain- or grass-finished 
• May spend time at a feedyard

In addition to understanding these terms, it’s important to know that these labels require farmers to have additional government inspections, file more paperwork, and pay hefty fees. It’s a very expensive and long process, and many farmers choose not to go through the process, even though their beef meets the government’s qualifications for some of these labels. 

It’s because of this fact, that we recommend you ask your local farmer “what would the label say if their beef was purchased from a local grocery store.”  How they answer this question will tell you a lot about how they raise their cattle and if they use sustainable agriculture practices.   

What’s the difference between live weight, hanging weight and boxed weight? 

On our family farm, our pricing is all-inclusive. We tell you what you’ll get for a specific price, and that’s what we deliver. We avoid terms like hanging weight because we think it’s extremely confusing to those that are familiar with cattle.

However, if you’re not in the St. Louis area and can’t buy from our farm, you will likely be told an amount based on the weight of the animal or from one of the processing stages. Here are the terms you need to know so that you can calculate your actual cost:

• Live weight (or “on the hoof”): how much a cow weighs when it’s alive and walking around. 
• Hanging weight (or “on the rail”): after the animal is slaughtered and all the unusable parts are removed (like head, skin and hooves), Hanging weight includes bones and meat. Typically, the hanging weight is about 60% of the live weight. 
• Boxed weight (or packaged weight): the weight of all the packages of individual cuts of meat that you will put in your freezer  This is typically about  60 percent of hanging weight. 

An important thing to keep in mind if you’re trying to figure out how much beef you’ll actually get is that some of the weight is lost during each step of the process.  

So, if you’re trying to do math with a farmer that talks in hang weight – if they say it’s $3.75 per pound hanging weight, then expect to pay $6.25 per pound ($3.75 / 0.60)  PLUS the butchering fee. Butchering fees vary based on region and the local economy. If you are doing a half beef share and splitting the beef with another family, you will split the butchering fee.

How should the beef be packaged?

Most farmers will give you an option between paper, shrink wrapped, or vacuum sealing packaging. We recommend vacuum sealing because it will keep the beef fresh for longer. 

Here’s what a vacuum sealed Rib Eye Steak looks like from our farm.

How much freezer space is needed for a cow?

The general rule of thumb is 1 cubic foot of freezer space for every 30-35 lbs of cut and wrapped meat. This means a quarter cow can fit in a small chest type freezer, and whole beef orders will need a large chest type freezer. 

On average, a quarter cow is approximately 110 pounds of meat, and we recommend 5 cubic feet of freezer space. A half cow is approximately 220 pounds of meat, and we recommend an 8 cubic foot freezer. A whole cow is approximately 440 pounds of farm-fresh beef.

If you don’t have a stand-alone freezer yet, you can usually get a good deal at a warehouse store like Sam’s or Costco. We have both chest and upright freezers at our house and we like both of them, but it it much easier to organize beef in an upright freezer. 

How long will the beef last?

The shelf life of frozen beef is approximately 1-year if frozen and vacuum sealed. The amount of time will be shorter if it is packaged in paper or shrink wrapped.

What do you do once you get the beef home? 

It’s exciting to buy a whole cow, but what do you do once you make the purchase? A whole cow is a lot of beef and you need to be prepared for your beef before you put it in your freezer. A few tips are below, and we go into more detail here.

1. Organize the beef in your freezer. We like to organize our beef by cut using plastic bins.  
2. Get a freezer alarm. Your freezer needs to stay at 0-degrees Farenheit to maintain the quality of your beef. Unfortunately, incidents like power outages, equipment failure, and improperly shut doors can lead to a freezer full of thawed and unsafe meat.  A Freezer Alarm will notify you if your freezer is at the incorrect temperature so that you can respond appropriately, before the meat goes bad. Our freezer alarm comes with a smartphone app and WiFi connectivity, which allows us to constantly monitor the temperature of our freezer from anywhere at any time.  It also sends alerts to our smartphones if the temperature reaches a dangerous level. 
3. Date your beef. If you purchase beef regularly, it helps to write the date on the beef so you know what beef needs to be eaten first. Organize the beef in your freezer so that you eat the oldest beef first, and avoid food waste. 
4. Freezer Inventory sheet. A freezer inventory sheet is a helpful log that keeps tabs of what’s in your freezer. You can make a paper log on Excel or download one online, or we like to use a magnetic white board on the front of our freezer that we update as needed. 

One More Thing

Do you want to learn more about beef? Below are a few popular beef posts and recipes you may like. In addition, we have an entire ebook about beef that goes through purchasing and preparing beef from a farmers perspective.

• 5 Tips After You Buy a Whole Cow
• Defrosting Meat: 4 Safe & Easy Ways
• Beef Liver Cubes: How to Hide Liver in Food
• Understanding Cuts of Beef: What Comes with a Quarter Beef, Half Beef
• Slow Cooker Pepper Steak
• Prime Rib Roast with Garlic Herb Butter

 We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. See our disclosure policy for more details. 

The post Buy a Grass Fed Beef Cow From a Farmer (Step-by-Step Guide) appeared first on Clover Meadows Beef.