I'm a filet mignon fanatic and love red meat. These are pricey filets and I haven't ordered from Allen Brothers but has anyone here or do you know of anyone who has?

http://www.allenbrothers.com/wagyu-filets.html

Wow, Ricky.

Why not go to Ruth's Chris and have them cook it for you and throw in a few sides for much less?



http://www.ruthschris.com/

Hey Bruce, wish I lived by one. But I'm going to visit when I'm in Atlanta next month for the hair show!

Um, Ricky, cows give milk. Steers and heifers are raised for meat. Cattle can go either way. I come from a long line of dairy cattleman on my mom's side. But they also raised their own meat.

Oh yeah, I forgot another alternative. Check out any local butchers who cut and dress the meat. They also sell to the public. That might be a good way to go. And I'm not talking about the grocery store... just a butcher with his meat market.

Or, if your set on Allen Brothers Meat, see if you can barter with them.

Oh yeah, sometimes members of the Future Farmers of America or  the 4-H club raise and then sell their beef cattle. Check them out. Your local high school or the Farm Coop or County Extension Farm Agent might know where you can get some fresh beef.

My little brother, that was on David Letterman raised one of our steers one year.

The steer was more of a big and heavy baby. When he got loose he would try to get on the back porch and get in the house because he knew that's where the potato peelings came from. But if you shook and rattled a big dog food bag you could get him back in his pen. He never would run into the cornfield... he always stayed in the yard.

Trease

I like bartering. I made a website for a local ranch that sells grass-finished beef and we get our beef from them for free now and for the next several months.

Sounds like Allen Brothers Meat competes on value, not price.  I'm not familiar with the company, but I'll bet their marketing strategy and materials would be very instructive to study.

Alex

Hesster,
Cows do give milk. Heifers don't. You're probably right about cows being a term for both dairy cattle and beef cattle.

I got that from my dad, but he wasn't a dairy farmer. He used to correct me when I called beef cattle cows. He was lived on a ranch when he was young. And one of his uncles was a real cowboy and would take Dad to the stockyards with him when the uncle was buying and selling cattle.

The uncle had a third grade education and my dad could do the figures in his head lightning fast.

I knew more marbling wasn't good, but I never knew why.

But is it only the heifers and steers that are used for meat, while the bulls and cows are used only for breeding purposes? That might have been what my dad was getting at when he used to correct me.

Good post Hesster.

Trease

Well, only cows give milk because they only produce milk when they've had a calf. Heifers haven't had a calf, so no milk. All mammals are like that. Biologically speaking, there's no use wasting energy making milk when there's no baby to drink it. So you're correct that only cows can give milk. Unless they've been given those funky rBST hormones to force them to lactate without giving birth, of course. So the term cow would apply to both dairy cattle, and beef cattle that were used for breeding, after they had their first calf.

With beef cattle destined for slaughter, it doesn't make sense to breed them, because pregnancy causes a drain on the mother that could be going into producing more beef, thus better price at slaughter. So that's why heifers are for slaughter.

My mom was a farm girl, so that's where I picked up all the info about cows.