Hi all,
I wasn't sure where to put it, but something that interests me are different breeds of cattle. I'm not sure how to properly translate it, so I'll just break it down; what breeds of walking steak and bacon do you have, what do you feed them and what are your favorites?
To be honest, I do LOVE steak.. but's a bit to expensive for my liking.. and being on a pile of pork isn't really helping either.
We have quite a selection of beef here, some more expensive than others.. A small selection (not in a particular order);
1. Improved red (milk cow bred to have a second life as steak, nice structure, good taste and cheap. Fed with all kinds of cattle food like soy, mais, grass, power food etc). Is quite lean which makes it a bit harder to cook right and tender.
2. Heckrind (a new bred, which is crossed with other breds to try and get the prehistoric cattle back), good taste.. eats herbs, grass and other wild foods (usually grown in nature parks)
3. Angus (black/red), good taste and marbeling, quite expensive compared to other meats.. usually a bit more chewy due to the outdoor life, gives nice steaks..
4. Belgian white/blue, very large bred with very good food to weight ratio (=cheaper meat theoretically, but the reality is the other way around), very neutral and relatively tender meat.
5. Blonde d'Aqetaine, large bred, little flavor.. great for marinated steaks
6. Limousin, large bred.. again little flavor.. good for marinated meat
7. South Devon, large bread with a good flavor, more expensive meat but still affordable.
Pork..
Well, that's more my thing.......
1. Piétrain, a relatively small pig with very lean meat. Outstanding flavor, but a very bad food to weight ratio = expensive meat.
2. Mangalica Wollschwein, a furry pig with very fatty meat. Beats all other breds of pigs when fed with wild mushrooms, nuts (oak, chestnut, beech) and vegetables (beets, cabbage, carrots).
3. Iberico, very good meat but the piglets are WAY to expensive for the amount of food they convert to meat. Should be fed with oak, chestnut.. but usually are given cheap pig food enriched with molasses.
4. Husumer, great meat but expensive piglets.. should be fed with wild foods like mushrooms and nuts, great for ham (not that much meat though)
5. Red Gasconne, great meat.. comparable to a small iberico (more fur but the meat is quite similar to taste).. works great with wild foods aswell.
We also have a lot of different land races like the york, Berkshire and danish.. but they are just big pigs with a high food to weight ratio.. Flavor is quite poor (boring taste..)
If you get the chance to let your pigs walk freely, get starter cultures for wild mushrooms and put them in your wetter areas.. they will prosper and the pigs will love to search for them. Also invest in some D grade peeled chestnuts (cheapest) and collect oaknuts where you can. Those are great treats and will make wonderful meat.
And when your babies are grown.. smoke over apple or cherry : -)
I wasn't sure where to put it, but something that interests me are different breeds of cattle. I'm not sure how to properly translate it, so I'll just break it down; what breeds of walking steak and bacon do you have, what do you feed them and what are your favorites?
To be honest, I do LOVE steak.. but's a bit to expensive for my liking.. and being on a pile of pork isn't really helping either.
We have quite a selection of beef here, some more expensive than others.. A small selection (not in a particular order);
1. Improved red (milk cow bred to have a second life as steak, nice structure, good taste and cheap. Fed with all kinds of cattle food like soy, mais, grass, power food etc). Is quite lean which makes it a bit harder to cook right and tender.
2. Heckrind (a new bred, which is crossed with other breds to try and get the prehistoric cattle back), good taste.. eats herbs, grass and other wild foods (usually grown in nature parks)
3. Angus (black/red), good taste and marbeling, quite expensive compared to other meats.. usually a bit more chewy due to the outdoor life, gives nice steaks..
4. Belgian white/blue, very large bred with very good food to weight ratio (=cheaper meat theoretically, but the reality is the other way around), very neutral and relatively tender meat.
5. Blonde d'Aqetaine, large bred, little flavor.. great for marinated steaks
6. Limousin, large bred.. again little flavor.. good for marinated meat
7. South Devon, large bread with a good flavor, more expensive meat but still affordable.
Pork..
Well, that's more my thing.......
1. Piétrain, a relatively small pig with very lean meat. Outstanding flavor, but a very bad food to weight ratio = expensive meat.
2. Mangalica Wollschwein, a furry pig with very fatty meat. Beats all other breds of pigs when fed with wild mushrooms, nuts (oak, chestnut, beech) and vegetables (beets, cabbage, carrots).
3. Iberico, very good meat but the piglets are WAY to expensive for the amount of food they convert to meat. Should be fed with oak, chestnut.. but usually are given cheap pig food enriched with molasses.
4. Husumer, great meat but expensive piglets.. should be fed with wild foods like mushrooms and nuts, great for ham (not that much meat though)
5. Red Gasconne, great meat.. comparable to a small iberico (more fur but the meat is quite similar to taste).. works great with wild foods aswell.
We also have a lot of different land races like the york, Berkshire and danish.. but they are just big pigs with a high food to weight ratio.. Flavor is quite poor (boring taste..)
If you get the chance to let your pigs walk freely, get starter cultures for wild mushrooms and put them in your wetter areas.. they will prosper and the pigs will love to search for them. Also invest in some D grade peeled chestnuts (cheapest) and collect oaknuts where you can. Those are great treats and will make wonderful meat.
And when your babies are grown.. smoke over apple or cherry : -)
