meat differences

[carmen]

For those who raise your own animals to feed your family, besides knowing what you are eating what are the main differences? Do home harvested meats taste better? I am thinking about getting some chickens.

 

[ponderosa]

I've been lucky to have home grown, pasture raised beef my entire life, and home grown pork most of the time. There is simply no comparison in my opinion between good home-raised meat and store-bought meat. Ground beef from the store smells positively awful to me when it cooks. I cannot eat it unless it is very heavily seasoned. My husband didn't even think he liked pork chops or roasts until we purchased one from a local farmer friend shortly after we were married. To me, it's as dramatic as the difference between a ripe home grown July tomato and the mealy, tasteless tomatoes you can buy from the store in the winter. I've never had home grown chicken, but I would bet there's a big difference there as well. I know home grown eggs are much tastier.

 

[mamabear]

I agree with you whole heartily ponderosa. Growing up on a farm and eating your own chicken, beef and pork is simply no comparison to what you get in the grocery store. I no longer live on a farm but do search out the organic and free range meats.

 

[BigSur]

We used to get fresh eggs where I grew up in CT from my uncle and his chickens were very well cared for. Every couple of weeks we would go visit and get the best eggs! I imagine it's the same for meat in general. Mass produced anything will usually taste like well...crap!

 

[Grandpa]

As far as what has been added to commercial meat, I just won't go there. There is even a big difference in local grown meats. Pigs can fatten just fine on garbage but grain fed is so much better. The current popular buzz word for the uninformed is grass fed beef. Wrong!! I've butchered cull milk cows (grain fed) that had better marbling than choice grass fed beef. Commercial grown chicken is also injected with all. Kinds of growth hormones. The flavor is so blah compared to the family little flock. Even Colonel Sanders can't compete with free range chicken.

 

[Pathfinder1]

Hi...


Raising one's own livestock has been a dying art around here for some time. Fortunately, there are now the 'new homesteaders' who are getting into it. Good for them.

 

[RingTwist]

I've never had meat from a real farm, instead of a factory. I considered getting chickens myself, since I love the fresh eggs, but taking care of them just wouldn't fit well into our current lifestyle. I don't know many people who raise chickens for meat instead of eggs.

 

[OutdoorMomma]

We don't raise our own meat animals ourselves, but my uncle and grandfather do. We usually go in with my brother every year and get half a cow and half a pig each. The meat is so much better than what we get at the store. We haven't tried home raised chicken yet, the ones we had were just for eggs, not for eating.

 

[carmen]

I know all about commercial chicken, a bit too well. Years ago a good friend of mine worked at once of these places and I met up with him after work one day. During a lunch get together he stunk to high heaven and he even wore "protective gear" when he worked. The stock pile of things that they give those chickens is just awful. I do want to try my hand at fresh eggs though, I just need to sweet talk my husband.

 

[AK Hunter]

In my personal opinion chickens just stink there is no way to get away from this.
But yes home processed meats taste much better. Just think of a meat packing house how well does it get cleaned, does the half cut-up meat sit on the cutting tables while everyone goes to lunch & you know that the spilled box of chicken doesn't always get thrown away.
When we process our own meat at home we are a little more cautious of what we do with our meat not just how many we can get cut-up by the end of the shift.

 

[Theo]

... The current popular buzz word for the uninformed is grass fed beef. Wrong!! I've butchered cull milk cows (grain fed) that had better marbling than choice grass fed beef. ...

I agree that grass fed beef has less marbling than grain fed but the grass fed beef I buy is just as juicy and, in my opinion, tastier than the "traditional" grain fed beef you get in the supermarket.

 

[Grandpa]

I agree that grass fed beef has less marbling than grain fed but the grass fed beef I buy is just as juicy and, in my opinion, tastier than the "traditional" grain fed beef you get in the supermarket.

What you buy in the market is also growth hormone raised and urea fed. Now try natural fed with a little grain to finish and you'll forget the grass fed as well.

 

[carmen]

I really want to give it a try and the more I read about the process the more it makes me wonder how much meat we are actually bringing home to our family. How much is added stuff that just comes along with big fancy names that we can not pronounce and so on.

 

[Theo]

What you buy in the market is also growth hormone raised and urea fed. Now try natural fed with a little grain to finish and you'll forget the grass fed as well.

Actually, the guy I buy from used to do it that way (grain finishing) but tried a couple of steers just grass feeding to see what all the talk was about. It takes a year longer to finish but is just as good.(I couldn't tell the difference) He only grass feeds now. (He is anti GMO also so now he is totally happy)