austin1972

No, it's not illegal. It wouldn't be legal to sell it but WTF am I going to do with 800 pounds of beef? It's just me. I eat about 4 lbs. of beef a year.

There is nothing more satisfying than happy clients and good friends. If not for those, I'd live in a tent in the woods and forage. I actually typed out a question about how you felt but it sounded sappy so I never posted. That's definitely a big project you and Betts are pulling off. He and his team certainly are earning a feather in their caps.

That looks so good. It's really wrong that I can't afford what I raise. It's cruel. Ramen for me tonight.

Bears play there Nov. 12th. I'll drive 6 hours for a cheeseburger and the game if you're down. We could probably make an SA party out of it. There are plenty of western GL people here.

Everyone wants angus because they have a big frame so you can load them up with beefiness. Brahmin can handle heat and bugs really well as they're a southern breed. The reason I do hereford is for greater marbling and bigger primal muscles. The charolais is for sturdiness and weather resistance. But it's like an 80/10/10 with angus being dominant (I'm not giving the exact mix but that's close!)

That's definitely not well. Looks medium - (minus). Meleft8, I don't know. My problem is the cold so you might be OK. You can ask your Ag extension. They'd know. Most of the cattle I've see from FL are brahman based like Zebus. Those f'ers are crazy. I'm just a project manager that happened to inherit a beef operation. It would be more accurate to say that the IL Ag Extension, the University of IL, Urbana Ag dept, vets, agronomists and entomologists make the calls vs. me. I write the checks and make the plans. Everyone else makes it kick ass.

It's a name for a Japanese breed. I think everyone knew what was being said. I wish I could incorporate the breed but they can't handle my midwest weather. Fun fact - while they are prized for their fattiness, less of it is saturated.

Who cares what you call it? I'd call it drool. It's a great looking Strip. Earlier, I was talking about breed. There's your example. That fine marbling is awesome. Strip is my 3rd favorite cut. Jeff, just get it on some hellish heat to get a char and let it sit in a foil tent on the counter for a bit. Nice treat. Hell, I'd eat that practically raw. Make sure you let it get to room temp before cooking! Anything over medium rare s a wreck of that cut. I'd go medium rare -.

Beat me to it. Yeah, 15 pounds of iron holds a lot of heat. Just throw it in the oven at 500 for a half hour. Use OveGloves and be careful because that MF'er will be hot!

Here's my other Lodge piece. Good for whipping up breakfast fast for a large group.

Jeff, I use a Lodge iron skillet. Yeah, it's heavy but I think that's important for the thermal mass. The cook is so simple it should be criminal and cleanup of the skillet is a little oil and 350 in the oven for an hour (or be lazy like me and just throw some oil in it and toss in the still hot oven with it turned off). Wipe out. Done. I'm a Weber charcoal guy but mine broke so I tried this method. I'm not ever going back. Tool is about $40 - https://www.ruralking.com/lodge-manufacturing-co-15-1-4in-cast-iron-skillet-l14sk3.html Recipe I use - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pan-seared-rib-eye-recipe-2131274 I actually cook it a little less in the oven and let it set, tented with foil for 10 minutes to finish the cook. Nice char on the outside and totally even medium rare all through the inside. I'll admit, I was worried when I tried doing steak this way. I'm pretty good on a Weber kettle but it can't touch the iron skillet method. If you start with a good piece of beef, no steakhouse can beat what you just made. I did it for my Mom, who was scowling the whole time. She fell out of her chair. Grilling is more fun though and for longer cooks like chicken, it's gotta go on the grill. But get Lodge. You'll find that you will start cooking lots of stuff with it because cast iron turns you into a superhero.

I don't eat a lot of meat either, believe it or not. Tonight is diver sea scallops with 2x baked potato and roasted garlic asparagus. I can't wait.

Honestly, they recognize the sound of the Prairie Schooner. They do know I'm in the truck. They know my smell and what I look like. I keep 2 bulls. One older and one young. They fight when breeding season comes in, so it's better to have a bigger guy. It makes the fight end really fast. Then, when the older guy gets exhausted from breeding, the young guy gets his day. The bulls stay with the cows until they calve. Then they get separated. Don't want any daddy/daughter creepiness going on. I can ship anywhere but everything goes through USDA inspection. Most go to here http://www.aurorabeef.com/ They're about 30 miles away. Friends that buy a side go to Lisbon Locker which is closer. I don't like them being on a truck any longer than needed. They stress. I buy at about 500-600 pounds for the finishing operation. That's pretty wound down right now because the spread between feeders and live fed cattle is too big. The pig operation is idle. It's too small for anyone to care about so I can't get feeders (working on that with a line on heritage hogs). We shut the farrowing operation down in the early '90s when $19 hogs broke that market. Nobody wants to deal with 180 hog runs. Most operations are 3K+. I'm not going there. I had a donkey. She protected the little calves from coyotes. Jackie was a sweetheart unless you were a Canidae. It's instinct. She got wrapped up in barbed wire fence and I had to put her down. The corn gluten is a supplement (no molasses - that would be a mess). It's a byproduct but human grade food. Two Brothers spent beer grains have the yeasty stuff. It's free so long as we do the trucking and again, it's obviously food grade since it made craft beers. http://twobrothersbrewing.com/ They do go through a lot of mineral in the winter but that's because they drink so much water when it's cold. The pressure tank pretty much never stops working all winter long.

OK, I'm picking through this thread now. There are a lot of factors that go into tasty beef. I can and will claim that mine are tasty. Chicago chop houses are pretty famous. That's where my beef goes, except for friends that want to buy a side. 1. Breed. This cannot be overstated. I've been working on my breed for almost 2 decades now. It is unique but mostly based on black and red angus. There is hereford and charolais in there too for certain desired traits. But, it's not just the breeding, it's the stock they come from too. My newest bull was $17K. There's a reason he was that pricey. I don't care if you feed them aluminum cans or beluga caviar. If you start with crap, you'll get crap. 2. Food. Grass isn't magic. I feed a very specific diet based on their nutritional and caloric needs. It's all sorts of stuff. I listed them above. Just like following an awesome Alton Brown recipe, it affects the flavor if you get it right or wrong. Their finish food mix is measured to the pound and I feed thousands of pounds per day. One nice thing about grass is it boosts the omega 6 fatty acids whereas grains are just a calorie push. 3. Lifestyle. Again, really huge. Cattle are emotional, sensitive animals. I want my cattle happy and lazy. I drink beer with them. These aren't factory cattle. A stressed animal will make for tough and tasteless meat. Plus, their weight gains suck. That's one of the reasons why factory cattle taste like shit. I won't eat it. I'd suggest you don't either. Go to a good butcher. Yeah, you'll pay a lot but you'll instantly know the difference. My last buy was 3 ribeyes. They were $72. And spectacular. Also, my cattle don't graze some shitty scrub and have to walk for miles per day. That makes tough, terrible meat. Grass fed. Yeah, low calorie and they gotta work for it by walking all over the place. You want the primal muscles to do the smallest amount of work possible while shoving as much nutrition into them as you can. My turn time on cattle is less than 1 year for a 1,400'ish pound animal born on the farm as a 50-60 pound calf. Young and lazy meat is tasty meat. 4. Aging. I don't know who said something about grass and enzymes but that's completely false. Yep, there are enzymes. They're in every one of those animals no matter what they eat just as you start to decompose when you die. So, you can wet age (most are) or dry age. Mine get both. Dry aging results in better beef but a lot of rot loss and dehydration. Lots of dry aged beef are done in salt lockers called hot boxes because it's above freezing. Wet aged is more normal and usually 4-7 days. That's what you get at the store. When I sell a side to my friends, I wet age it but it hangs for 28 days to let the enzymes work longer (more tender). It kinda mimics dry aging but without the losses. That's pretty much what makes tasty beef. Well, you have to cook it right. Medium rare and just salt/pepper. I'm really sold on the iron skillet method. It is smoky but if you have a good hood to eat the smoke, it makes a perfect steak.

Does the boat come with training courses? Super cool.