BANGOR – When it comes to eating beef, Mainers may be settling for less than top choice and eating it at home rather than in restaurants.

Early anecdotal evidence seems to suggest a change – at least a temporary one – in how and where people in Maine are buying their beef.

Economic uncertainty, post-Sept. 11 jitters, or a combination of these factors are the likely causes of this change, said beef industry officials at the 14th annual Beef Conference, which drew more than 100 people to Bangor on Saturday.

Wolfe’ s Neck Farm in Freeport sells what it calls all-natural beef, from cattle raised without the use of antibiotics or growth hormones. Because of this, Wolfe’s Neck Farm beef, which is sold to restaurants and supermarkets, commands higher prices.

But lately, orders for this premium beef have decreased, although no specific figures were available, said Dee Potter, an educator with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and one of Saturday’s speakers.

In general, there has been a slight drop in beef consumption, which Kenneth Andries, livestock specialist with Cooperative Extension, attributed in part to fewer people going out to restaurants to get their sirloins or prime ribs since the terrorist attacks.

In spite of the large supply of cattle, feedlot operators also are seeing a decline in income because of the lack of demand for beef, but Andries expects prices to rise by early next year as the cattle supply in feedlots dwindles.

At the Strout Farm in Cornville, which sells to individual customers and butchers, cutting and wrapping beef to their specifications, demand is surprisingly up.

In past years, the farm, near Skowhegan, sold about 10 head of cattle in this manner, taking any unsold cattle to auction, said Ann Strout, whose family owns and operates the beef and dairy farm. This year the family isn’t taking any cattle to auction and is expecting hefty orders this spring as people prepare for barbecue season.

“If the sales continue the way we did this fall and this past spring, we’re looking at maybe marketing 15 [head of cattle] right off our own [farm] without selling any to the auction,” Strout said.

As well as affecting beef consumption, the attacks on Sept. 11 also reminded the beef industry of the vigilance that the federal government has been stressing since Britain’s agricultural economy was decimated by foot-and-mouth disease.

In light of the September attacks, Andries said, the federal government hasn’t asked those in the beef industry to take any special precautions that they shouldn’t already be taking.

“They’ve just been asked to be vigilant,” Andries said during a break in the conference. “It’s the reminders of what they should be doing anyway.”

Andries said precautions include not taking anything for granted and making sure that an animal’s health problems are checked out, such as making sure that the cold a cow or calf has is just that, a cold.