lorihadams
Always doing laundry
Darlin' I think you need a football helmet!!! 
Bee~ Journal of then...
- Thread starter Beekissed
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Aidenbaby
Lovin' The Homestead
Hornets are a type of wasp.
Bee, where are you? I'm startin' to get a bit worried.
Bee, where are you? I'm startin' to get a bit worried.
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Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Hey, guys! I'm here, Aiden! 
Farm, I'm using the white stick method.....I have a large white fiberglass stick that works wonders. If I have it, she has been "taught" to avoid it. She already responds to "NO!" when it comes to feeding, just after two lessons with the "white stick"!
My head hurts today and I have a headache, but none the worse for wear.
Lovechooks, I just love having you here....a never ending source of entertainment~sorting out our cultures!
A hornet is a big, bad, black and white bee of the wasp variety and, yes, they get very mad if you spray them... or even stand innocently in the near vicinity... or wear yellow or red.... or live within a mile of them!
Today I bought another calf....... This one is a keeper to be butchered this fall. She will be a pleasure to kill, this one. 
Glossy black, healthy and ornery, a bigger brat than Shade! Anyone remember Captain Call's horse on Lonesome Dove? We named her after that animal but shortened it to "Hitch".
She is extremely wild and even kicks! No innocent baby at all. She was still nursing her mama, so she is currently bawling for her.
She will sure give Shade a run for her money! They are the same size, but Shade is much prettier with her dainty little head and red coloring. Funny thing.....that heifer has 6 TEATS! All the same size. I'm wondering if, as she develops, two of them will just not grow along with her.
All three cows will soon be taking a short vacation to another farm, where Blossom will be serviced by the sire of Shade. Another month with the calves and, if they are eating grass well, she should be ready to be sold. I know I was going to let the calves nurse until fall, but they are big and healthy and should do well on just graze. Blossom needs more room with more grass.
At that point, I'll keep the calves on rotation with the Betties and see how the grass holds out.
Farm, I went swimming again today....it was heavenly! Same weather. I floated down the stream while gazing into the blue heavens and the cotton fluff clouds drifted by. I have so many things to get done and I knew I should have been doing them.....but I couldn't pass up the chance to swim with my boy. Those times are getting shorter and fewer.
Hope you all had a blessed day!
Farm, I'm using the white stick method.....I have a large white fiberglass stick that works wonders. If I have it, she has been "taught" to avoid it. She already responds to "NO!" when it comes to feeding, just after two lessons with the "white stick"!
My head hurts today and I have a headache, but none the worse for wear.
Lovechooks, I just love having you here....a never ending source of entertainment~sorting out our cultures!
A hornet is a big, bad, black and white bee of the wasp variety and, yes, they get very mad if you spray them... or even stand innocently in the near vicinity... or wear yellow or red.... or live within a mile of them! Today I bought another calf.......
This one is a keeper to be butchered this fall. She will be a pleasure to kill, this one. Glossy black, healthy and ornery, a bigger brat than Shade! Anyone remember Captain Call's horse on Lonesome Dove? We named her after that animal but shortened it to "Hitch". She is extremely wild and even kicks! No innocent baby at all. She was still nursing her mama, so she is currently bawling for her.
She will sure give Shade a run for her money!
They are the same size, but Shade is much prettier with her dainty little head and red coloring. Funny thing.....that heifer has 6 TEATS! All the same size. I'm wondering if, as she develops, two of them will just not grow along with her.All three cows will soon be taking a short vacation to another farm, where Blossom will be serviced by the sire of Shade. Another month with the calves and, if they are eating grass well, she should be ready to be sold. I know I was going to let the calves nurse until fall, but they are big and healthy and should do well on just graze. Blossom needs more room with more grass.
At that point, I'll keep the calves on rotation with the Betties and see how the grass holds out.
Farm, I went swimming again today....it was heavenly! Same weather. I floated down the stream while gazing into the blue heavens and the cotton fluff clouds drifted by. I have so many things to get done and I knew I should have been doing them.....but I couldn't pass up the chance to swim with my boy. Those times are getting shorter and fewer.
Hope you all had a blessed day!
keljonma
Epicurean Goddess
Sounds like you had a wonderful time with your son, bee!
Lovechooks
Lovin' The Homestead
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I'm not sure I really want to know, no I do. I am interested so don't get too gory on me but the cows you kill, how does one kill a cow? Then what do you kill them for? Food? What's the process like do you have a massive freezer for it? Cut it up? What about the furry bits? I am interested in what gets used on the cow and for what.
justusnak
Almost Self-Reliant
Most people send thier cows off to be butchered. We send just about everything we have butchered off in a trailor, and go pick it up in little white frozen packages.Lovechooks said:
There are still a few mobile butchers around....someone who will come to your place and slaughter, and butcher, for a fee. But, then you have the mess of disposal, and usually have to do the wrapping as they cut it. I just dont have the time for that right now....so off mine go! Hamburger, roasts, steaks, stew meat...anything you can buy in the grocery, thats beef, you get from your cow. Some people like to have the tongue, livers, and heart saved for cooking. Im not sure i would tho. :/Bee, congrats on the new "demon calf"
When they are ornery, it makes it a LOT easier to put them in the freezer. I am hopeing we can get another pasture fenced off next year, so we can rotate a calf. Enjoy those steaks!
Farmfresh
City Biddy
Lovechooks - I live in the city so I buy my large meat animals "on the hoof" from local farmers and then take them to the butcher shop, like Justus does, and pick them up in the white paper packages. I have two big freezers - one for meat and one for veggies. I also usually give meat to my grown children when we kill an animal.
Justusnak - I keep almost everything when I have an animal butchered. If I don't want to eat it the dogs will. On a cow only the head, offal and hide goes to waste and I think my butcher sells the hides. A pig I even use the head for a weird German concoction called Scrapple that my grandma used to make. The last sheep we had butchered, I kept the hides and tanned them (my first time). Now that fleece is a seat cover in my truck!
Bee - A lot of the beef cattle have extra teats. (Something I learned from my cousin) They usually cut off the "extras" when the calf is still young, but that is only necessary if you are keeping them to breed. Dairy animals are selected for milking ability and so the bag and teats are important in selection. Not so much with the beef breeds.
Glad you are feeling some better. Those old cows are truly hard headed - even worse than we are! The stick method sounds like it will work well.
May I add a little extra idea as well ... whenever the stick is "applied" make a special noise. A noise that you can easily make with your mouth, and one that is unusual to anything you normally do. Make the noise EVERY TIME you use the stick. When I am working horses I make a sound that sounds like one mare squalling at another. It is weird and loud. I make the noise when I very unhappy and applying the "rod of correction" - be it spur or crop. I have had instances when a horse was doing a dangerous thing (kicking, striking, biting) and I was without a "rod of correction" - since the noise was always applied in conjunction I can get an almost instant response with the noise alone. Sometimes it can get you out of a scrape. (For example getting caught between two warring horses!)
As far as the swimming - you have those priorities JUST RIGHT! There will ALWAYS be work to do.
Hope the headache goes away soon.
Justusnak - I keep almost everything when I have an animal butchered. If I don't want to eat it the dogs will. On a cow only the head, offal and hide goes to waste and I think my butcher sells the hides. A pig I even use the head for a weird German concoction called Scrapple that my grandma used to make. The last sheep we had butchered, I kept the hides and tanned them (my first time). Now that fleece is a seat cover in my truck!
Bee - A lot of the beef cattle have extra teats. (Something I learned from my cousin) They usually cut off the "extras" when the calf is still young, but that is only necessary if you are keeping them to breed. Dairy animals are selected for milking ability and so the bag and teats are important in selection. Not so much with the beef breeds.
Glad you are feeling some better. Those old cows are truly hard headed - even worse than we are!
The stick method sounds like it will work well. May I add a little extra idea as well ... whenever the stick is "applied" make a special noise. A noise that you can easily make with your mouth, and one that is unusual to anything you normally do. Make the noise EVERY TIME you use the stick. When I am working horses I make a sound that sounds like one mare squalling at another. It is weird and loud. I make the noise when I very unhappy and applying the "rod of correction" - be it spur or crop. I have had instances when a horse was doing a dangerous thing (kicking, striking, biting) and I was without a "rod of correction" - since the noise was always applied in conjunction I can get an almost instant response with the noise alone. Sometimes it can get you out of a scrape. (For example getting caught between two warring horses!)
As far as the swimming - you have those priorities JUST RIGHT! There will ALWAYS be work to do.
Hope the headache goes away soon.
Lovechooks
Lovin' The Homestead
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So do you drive the cow to the butcher and lead him to the door and the butcher kills them? I am thinking they would be pretty heavy to get off a truck otherwise?Farmfresh said:
I think chooks would eat all the offal too, mine certainly would they eat anything!
About how much does it cost to have them do this and also how much for the cow? I'm going to have to convert it all to Australian dollars but just wondering.
Farmfresh
City Biddy
Let me give an example of the last three animals I bought for butcher. First I bought two nice BIG lambs. My daughter and I drove to the farm, picked out the lambs (close to 100 lbs each) and payed the man $300.00 for both. He loaded them in my truck (with a pen fastened in the bed) and I drove them to my friends house to await their "appointment" two days away. I provided two bales of hay - of which they only ate a small portion and a sack of shavings for their board and her trouble. On appointment day we loaded them up and transported them to the butcher shop's holding pen. You sign in and they go into your assigned pen. Then you leave. About a week later (Less at some places)- they call and you go pay for the butchering and pick up your meat. I can't find the receipt right now but I think we payed about $50 for each sheep. So now I have invested some time and $400.00 for a little over 100 pounds of prime lamb and two pelts. May sound high but around here lamb chops sell for between $6 and $9.00 per pound! And the ones I bought were healthy happy and grass fed!
Sometimes I buy 1/2 an animal... like our last pig. A farmer that I have found in my area raised heritage breed hogs. The last one we paid $75 for processing (which includes making sausage and curing hams and bacon) and $118 for the pig. The farmer delivered the pig to the butcher and the meat (all wrapped in plastic from a USDA approved butcher shop) to my DOOR!
Usually I buy the cow for what ever the "market value" live weight is - with the animal's actual weight determined at the butcher shop. So far all of the cattle I have purchased were trailered to the butcher for me. The butcher charges $15 to slaughter, $15 to remove the offal and $0.39 per pound hanging weight (after skin and offal are removed) to hang cut and package. This year I want to buy a grass fed feeder cow (600 - 800) and have it processed as baby beef, so I will probably have my sister trailer it for me.
My chickens would eat the offal too. That is what I do with any bunny or fish innards I have. I don't have a place to store and chop that many pounds of offal. Plus it is STINKY!
Hope this all helps with the learning curve!
Sometimes I buy 1/2 an animal... like our last pig. A farmer that I have found in my area raised heritage breed hogs. The last one we paid $75 for processing (which includes making sausage and curing hams and bacon) and $118 for the pig. The farmer delivered the pig to the butcher and the meat (all wrapped in plastic from a USDA approved butcher shop) to my DOOR!
Usually I buy the cow for what ever the "market value" live weight is - with the animal's actual weight determined at the butcher shop. So far all of the cattle I have purchased were trailered to the butcher for me. The butcher charges $15 to slaughter, $15 to remove the offal and $0.39 per pound hanging weight (after skin and offal are removed) to hang cut and package. This year I want to buy a grass fed feeder cow (600 - 800) and have it processed as baby beef, so I will probably have my sister trailer it for me.
My chickens would eat the offal too. That is what I do with any bunny or fish innards I have. I don't have a place to store and chop that many pounds of offal. Plus it is STINKY!
Hope this all helps with the learning curve!
Dace
Revolution in Progress
Bee it sounds like Blossom is learning pretty quick with that stick, and Farm's idea of incorporating a sound for her to associate with the stick is a good one.
I am not sure I followed you though...you are going to breed Blossom and then get rid of her?
Farm what is your going rate for a cow? I have read of cow-pooling (hip new term ya know!) where people go in on the cost of raising the cow at a third party's farm and then have it butchered....I always thought that I read is was several $$ per pound to process a cow.
I am not sure I followed you though...you are going to breed Blossom and then get rid of her?
Farm what is your going rate for a cow? I have read of cow-pooling (hip new term ya know!) where people go in on the cost of raising the cow at a third party's farm and then have it butchered....I always thought that I read is was several $$ per pound to process a cow.
