sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - Oct 11 2009 : 07:14:57 AM
it was an exciting day. we went and picked up our 11 month belted steers. took them to 80 acres of grass where my son lives.all was well. at 6 pm my daughter in law calls THE BELTED ARE ON THE RUN.we jumped in the car and went to help. by now we were having a freak blizzard. the cows cleared every fence built. the area is urban rural. my angie was in shortie pajamas and ug boots with cell phone. horse panels were used, they went thru a horse panel,a pvc fence and my papa john. caught one and put in horse trailer the other was herded back in with the dexters. 11 that night they all sleep. in am at 5 my son and i were discussing what to do when the one in the field decided to leave again. quick wake papa and off we go. i said shoot it shoot it. it was sunday and snowing. the steer was running down the road and going where ever it wanted. erik my son ran it back in the pasture. we had to shoot the poor thing. there were some serious fencing in the area and nothing would hold him.so next the truck gets stuck up to the axle. we had to get the backhoe and lift the truck out of the muddy irragation hole. we cut his throat hauled it home and cleaned it. here we were greenhorns with a steer to clean. we used come alongs and strung him up. i have done chicken and a few pigs. it is hunting season so all our farm friends were in the snow hunting deer. i used a potatoe peeling knife and a long kitchen knife. by the tiome we got him strung up he was filling the rumen with gas. oh my. it took 5 hours to gut and skin. what a job. i stood in the tractor bucket and was upside down in the cow cavity.haha i managed to eviscerate that thing without puncturing the bad stuff. on the way out the rumin got one little hole. whew what a smell. we wrapped it hung it, then next day we took to the butcher to hang. 478 pounds hanging. probably a lot of bone. since i have some disabilities this was quite a job. through the whole experiance we all stayed happy and silly. i think the ones that had ran for hours keeping track of the cows in the snow were the most tired. i kept saying shoot it shoot it. it will never stay in now. the guys wanted so badly for the steers to live and be on the farm. one is back with its mother the other is hanging and chilling out. come to find out the caves were not weened go figure. a bunch of greenhorns learning as we go. what a fine bonding experiance for the family kids included.my brother in law robin said i had to have indian in me since iwas skinning and gutting with a pairing knife.haha my dad was a hunter and i learned a lot but that was 30 some years ago.it will probably be tender since they are still nursing. poor steers we did feel badly for them. when we took the one back it went right to mom and nursed. these calves have to almost lay down to get under mom to nurse. i read books and come here to learn but boy when you live it is truly a lesson not to forget. they should have been locked in a barn till they adjusted. such is life on the learn as you farm.silk purse farm.
sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - Oct 11 2009 : 07:43:31 AM
i am on now. i got a tear in my eye when you said i am a true farm girl. thanks
Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts
Posted - Oct 11 2009 : 10:51:00 AM
That was my thought too, Sherry! You are a True Blue Farmgirl! It's hard making some of those decisions sometimes, but I think you made the right one and great job in rolling up your sleeves and diving in!
Wow! What a woman! I wish I could have been there. Sounds very exciting for sure. Did you get 478 pounds of actual meat or was that the total hanging weight after butchering him? Are you going to age the meat at all? I guess being that young you might not need to for very long. But after all the running he did you might want to for several days just to make sure.
I am very impressed with you, Sherry. Really "took the bull by the horns" literaly! Way to go farmgirl! I am taking my steer in on the 20th to be butchered. I have a friend who was thinking about butchering him but he did another friend's heifer and she did not get much meat at all. And that was a huge cow. So I talked to the butcher and they will age the meat for up to 2 weeks if I want. He's tatally grass-fed with a little hay. So off he goes next week. I am so excited about this.
Well, now I hope you get to take a break after all that hard work. You deserve it.
sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - Oct 11 2009 : 7:57:28 PM
thanks kris. but a lot of the credit needs to go to all the help we had. my son and his friend dave rose to the occasion and helped butcher. my husband knows cows and can be calm in any situation. even the grandkids got to watch. what a bonding of family and friends and even neighbors. they finally got the one since the neighbor helped them block the steers in the driveway.this was at 11 at night in a blizzard. everyone stayed positive. we surely tried to save both. but he would not cooperate. it was so awesome for all of us. thats what farming can do yaya sherrye
belted steers on the run
Posted - Oct 11 2009 : 07:14:57 AM
