Skiekitty said:Rita - You can't find bison there? Pretty common here. Pricy, very pricy, but common enough in grocery stores (Safeway carries it at all times). And we have enough ethnic grocerers that you can get goat (halla) if you want. But what I haven't seen in years & years is ostrich. Never tried it.. couldn't afford it. And do see oxen sometimes, but that's more of an exotic and you'd have to go to a butcher & not a grocery store for that. But many butchers or ethnic grocerers carry more unusual meats such as rabbit, elk, venison, pheasant, silkies... but haven't found anyone that carried snake yet. But as far as seeing horse meat as listed as a source of meat for pet food.. there's petfood that just says "meat". Mystery meat, kinda like what's in bologna. For instance, what's "meat meal"? I just picked Old Yeller dog food as I know that's a really crappy dog food. http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/... Obviously they're not using prime meats like what Dave's beef would be...
.

We can get Bison Hamburgers but that is all. No other parts. Chicken and Turkey meats but no other birds. Nothing like Duck or pheasant even. And certainly not ostrich.

Maybe you can get some of these things at a real butcher shop but none of those around here. I do all of my shopping at the Supermarket. So if the Supermarket doesn't carry it then I can't get it.

As to pet foods, yes you are correct as to meat meal or meat by products meal. It really is mystery meat and I didn't think of that. The dog kibbles I buy don't contain any such mystery thing as meat meal. They list the meat, they list the parts of the meat used in the kibbles.

mcash70 said:This will tell you everything about horse meat and how the taboos came about eating it. I ate it it many years when I lived in Quebec, it was pretty good, very lean steak.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H...

Very interesting. Great link and information.

I don't know. Personally I would have no aversion to trying horse meat.

Skiekitty said:Dave - Do you notice a huge difference flavor-wise between your "wild fed" beef & commercial beef?

Certainly our beef has much, much more flavor than the store bought stuff. Those are finished on corn, standing in a filthy feed lot covered in mud, with no grass or anything else to eat but just corn.

Our cows get a hugely varied diet and I am certain that contributes to the much stronger (and better) flavor.

dave said:

Certainly our beef has much, much more flavor than the store bought stuff. Those are finished on corn, standing in a filthy feed lot covered in mud, with no grass or anything else to eat but just corn.

Our cows get a hugely varied diet and I am certain that contributes to the much stronger (and better) flavor.

And not just flavor, but I would have to think nutrition as well... like a garden fed with good compost.

A lot of cultural differences affect what animals are used for meat -- cows are sacred in India, dogs are a common food item in some countries, and so on. As far as things like bison, pheasant and the like, if no one in the area is raising them, then you likely won't see them in the market. In regard to oxen, it's my understanding that an ox is just an older steer (castrated bull calf); most steers are butchered by the time they're 2 years old, I believe.

Many people that grew up here in the UP were raised mainly on venison; my ex was raised on a small dairy farm but they almost never had beef, just deer meat - the cattle were sold or used as replacements for the dairy herd.

I read that horses are less "efficient" meat-producing animals than ruminants like cattle, goats, sheep, deer and camels. They can put on more weight while eating less expensive fodder.

I read that ruminants can get calories even from cellulose.

I guess pigs fall into a category like "efficient non-ruminants".

We had to buy some ground beef to hold us over until this slaughter. My nose was curled all the way up to my forehead to cook and eat it

Did you know that grass fed beef/chicken(at least eggs, not sure about the meat on hens) has omega 3 fatty acids? Commercially grown doesn't.

As far as flavor, it actually tastes like beef- it is not strong at all, but it is not flavorless. Same with chickens- it is absolutely amazing the difference.
Did you know that pork is actually a "red" meat? Pasture pork is! It is not at all white, and has a terrific flavor. There are two pigs in the pasture calling for me

Trish, you're ruining an entire advertising campaign !! ("Pork -- it's the other white meat!")

It's true. The pork meat we produce on our pastured hogs is red. And excellent.

I'm sooooo envious!

dave said:It's true. The pork meat we produce on our pastured hogs is red. And excellent.

I remember when pork was dark, a little fatty and delicious. Now it is indeed white, dry and not so tasty.

Weedwhacker said:Trish, you're ruining an entire advertising campaign !! ("Pork -- it's the other white meat!")

I know! You should have heard me pontificate about that very thing for about an hour when I found out the truth!

Advertising!!!!

mcash70 said:

I remember when pork was dark, a little fatty and delicious. Now it is indeed white, dry and not so tasty.

That is so true!

dave said:It's true. The pork meat we produce on our pastured hogs is red. And excellent.

You know, you're right! I remember when we had piggies and the meat was definitely different looking than what you find in the grocery store. *sigh* You know, was thinking to selling the house in a few years, maybe we'll buy a little itty bitty farm a little further north in the D-metro where we can actually have a piggie. I'd only raise up one as that'd be enough for DH & I. Hampshire Duroc cross. And I think next year I will definitely raise up some Cornish hybrid chickens for dinner. I'll just have to get over the slaughtering part. I can do the plucking/gutting/prepping part. It's the death part. But I'd make sure that the chicken wasn't in any pain.. it'd be super quick & painless with a chopchop. I've noticed with buying chicken in the store that the meat has less flavor, but I thought it was because my taste buds & olfactory sense was screwed up from the flu that I caught in Jan 2013. Sometimes I can't taste ANYTHING but bitter things and that's because the nerves in my sinuses & nose were destroyed by the flu. Sucks. But maybe it's not just me.. maybe it's because the meat just has no flavor.

Dave - How's the marbling? Sorry to be asking a million questions.. just debating on doing a quarter beef or not. Would definitely be willing to do half a hog if I knew what the piggie ate. But that's the other problem.. you just don't know what the piggie gets to eat unless you keep it yourself. And piggies are very clean animals based upon my history with them. At least boars are. But I live in a city lot and, while it's legal to keep a piggie, I just don't have space for one. Not to mention how would I get it to the slaughter house!

Toni, are there any places in your area that do commercial butchering of chickens? We have one here a few miles from me that will butcher birds for a fee so you don't have to do it. Also, if you learn how to pierce the brain of a chicken or other fowl, it's an instant death and they don't suffer at all, if that's a worry for you. I have about 10 roosters that are ready for the freezer right now. Some of my friends are going to come and help me with the butchering, and we will share the meat. You haven't had good chicken unless you have free range grass fed chicken! Our grocery store has buffalo, chevon (goat meat), rabbit, pheasant, and other exotic meats all the time. They also have certified organic, grass feed beef, pork, and free range chicken. I live less then a quarter mile from the second largest pheasant farm in the US. Sandy, I think you're right, an Ox is just a stear that has been taught to pull, unless we're talking about a musk ox.

Oxen:
http://www.prairieoxdrovers.co...

Skiekitty said:Dave - How's the marbling?

On the pigs, the fat and marbling of our own pigs are vastly superior to the meat produced in the factory farms.

Our grass fed cattle, on the other hand, have significantly less marbling than the storebought stuff. It's a tradeoff.

I was thinking if I ever raised a cow, I would feed it grain at the end of life. Have no idea how long I would have to do that to "marble" the meat. Got any idea Dave? Sort of a in between solution. Also, would it be a wasted effort if the cow wasn't penned up? I don't want to pen it.

My understanding is that you need to feed the cow such an unhealthy amount of grain that the fat has nowhere to go and so starts to penetrate into the meat. This is the marbling. That's not the kind of animal growing that I do so I can't give any advice on that.

Oh, speechless.

When we raised piggies for dinner when I was a teenager, we fed them piggie food in addition to lots & lots & lots of people food. Father was friends with the owner of a food distributor and we'd get all the out-of-date foods. So the piggies were fed lots of frozen breads (thawed out, of course), veggies & fruits.. one time we got 4 5gal buckets of vanilla custard that was 1 day out of date, so he couldn't sell it. The piggies LOVED it.. their tails were wagging for weeks I swear. About a month before slaughter time Father started to feed them lots of creamed corn (we'd gotten 10 cases of canned creamed corn that was out of date, but not bulged). Talk about tasty meat..

Tom - The closest slaughter house that processes personal animals is about 60 miles away. Strike that. Everyone & their cousins processes the animals.. but no one kills them! They'll do the chopping up bit, but making the animal from live to dinner part they won't. The only place I've found is in Simla, CO, which is 55 miles away one way. I can do the chopping up part myself. Just have to get over the killing part. And chickens don't have much brains.. at least IME they don't. LOLLL but that's OK, they're tasty, so they don't have to be smart (not like pigs.. man are pigs SMART!!).