Most people hear the word beef and they automatically think about steaks, especially the big four: filet mignon, NY Strip, rib eyes and even top sirloins all pop onto the grill at a great rate. And of course, beef also means hamburger, be it patties, meatloaf or hamburger helper.
However, the movement to artisan and natural foods leave most ranchers in the dust. Many ranchers trying to meet the demand for source verified, locally produced and of course, all natural beef have been smacked hard when he finds the consumer only wants steaks.
Let’s take a quick view what a rancher sees when he slaughters a steer. He gets about 450 lbs of beef. Only about 100 lbs is actual steaks (if he is lucky). Yeah, ouch for him and for his consumers. So he has to figure out a way to market the rest of the beef.
The easiest way is to grind it into hamburger. And actually, 350 pounds of hamburger doesn’t seem all that much, but it really is. While it will easily fit into a large chest freezer, this amount of hamburger will feed 1050 individuals a 1/3 lb burger, which is a generous size. That is a lot of people. A family of three would get pretty sick of eating this...