Meat Highlights

Welcome to our new weekly series where our aim is to educate people on everything to do with meat. Whether that be how the Locker works, different cuts of meat and where on the animal they come from, general meat facts, industry knowledge, and more.

This week, we are focusing on just where your beef comes from and the process it goes through; from the farm to your plate. Some of you may already know this process or even actively take part in it. Today, however, we will be focusing on the basics. So for those who don’t quite know the general facts, this one is for you.

Most cattle start their lives on grass pastures across the country, most of which are born from late winter to early spring. Typically, in the United States, that’s between late March and early June. However, in the southern states they may calve as early as January.

The babies (Calves) and mamas (Cows) will spend the summer and early fall out on the pasture where the calves will, on average, go from birth weight (approx. 60 - 100 lbs) to a weaning weight (approx. 550 - 700 lbs).

Once the calf is weaned from the cow, they go to a feedlot to begin the all-you-can-eat stage of their life where the food is plenty and their friends are always at the sleepover.

Mama Cow will usually head back out to the pasture where they will already be having a little too much fun and getting all sorts of pregnant again because they didn’t learn their lesson on the birds and the bees.

The calves now at the feedlots will be fed a diet typically consisting of hay, distillers grain, and corn. During this time they will pack on weight and gain a whopping 3 - 4 lbs per day, and not a single friend or foe will body shame them for it.

At this point, we like to see the steer calves get plump and fill out around 1450 - 1500 lbs before getting them to the Locker.

Once they get to the locker, the steer is harvested and hung in a cooler for 14 days. The reason we hang Beef, and why it’s so important, is to allow the enzymes adequate time to begin breaking down the cell walls. This creates flavorful, and wonderfully tender, premium meat for you - the customer.

After this 14 day rest, we do what is called “processing” the carcass. Now, in this era when we hear the word “process” we automatically assume things like cereal, candy, soda etc. But in the world of meat, to process something simply means taking the freshly harvested and enzymatically tenderized meat and cutting/trimming/wrapping it into what you see as the customer.

The first step is to cut the large pieces down into sizes that are easily and safely handled by professional meat locker staff. Next, we begin the cutting of individual steaks and roasts. The ground beef portion is put to the boning table where our Locker employees will trim off any remaining bones and fat to get you the highest quality ground beef and stew meat. After the beef is trimmed, the steaks and roasts get packaged immediately.

Trimmings are put through 2 grinders to ensure a perfectly textured ground beef that comes out in your preferred size of 1 lb, 1.5 lb, or 2 lb packages. Once this process of trimming, wrapping and labeling is completed by our staff, everything is put onto trays. These trays are then placed into our quick-freeze freezers at -10 degrees.

And voila’, your delicious beef is ready for all the hamburgers and steak dinners you can handle.

• Calvin & Cassie V.

P.S. Does anyone know of a candle that smells like pot roast? Asking for me.

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