Loading ...I raised Dual Purpose Shorthorn, Simmental, and Red Angus cattle on my ranch in BC….and butchered normally between 5-15 beeves per year for customers. There are several factors I know that have a huge influence on tenderness, marbling, and flavor. One is the age of the beef. The younger the animal the less flavor it has but the more tender the beef. The older the animal the more flavor it has but the less tender the beef. The greatest impact though on how tender the beef is depends on how the beef is handled before, during, and after it is slaughtered. I am no expert but this is what I was taught by the experts and what I followed when I began doing my own butchering.
Before slaughtering I separated and grained the animals I was going to butcher for 3 weeks to put a “finish” on their condition. Next, I never let them “see/suspect what was coming” when they were shot, nor did I shoot an animal that was excited and not relaxed, and I cut the jugular and hung them head down immediately so they would bleed out properly, and did the skinning/gutting etc while they were hanging; then quickly moved them to the insulated cooler room which was set at a temperature of 35 degrees “f” (2 degrees C). Normally it took between 1- 2 weeks to reach the desired “glaze” on the carcass to tell me it was ready to “cut and wrap”. Then I moved each side of beef to the cutting room and the meat saw and tables for cutting and wrapping according to the customers instructions.
This produced the best, tenderest, most flavorful beef and I never had an honest complaint in the 20+ years I sold butchered beef from the ranch. The only complaint I remember was I sold the beef by the quarter or side (hanging weight), and after the trimming/cutting etc the side no longer weighed as much…but I always kept the scraps for them in case they wanted them for their dog etc.
All FWIW but that’s my experience from Silverngold!