Sounds like I got a plan then!
Since it's just the 2 of us now, a smaller beef would be great -- might even leave me with a little extra freezer space. And since we do all of our own butchering, a smaller animal would be easier to work with.
And I learned a BIG lesson this year -- halterbroke beef is MUCH easier to work with! Calmly lead the animal right to where you are going to butcher it at -- before, we had to shoot the animal in the pen and then drag it out with the tractor, sometimes marring the hide. Since I tan and use the hide, I much prefer not to damage it.
Thanks so much Dunmovin, You've been a big help and taken a big load off of my mind. It may be another year before she gets bred, but I was starting to sweat having to take that heifer to a bull, or having to bring a bull to her, and I've done a lot of checking and AI is uncommon and very expensive around here. My only other really feasible option was to rent a trailer, load her up, and drive her 4 hours to my dad's place and have her bred to a Red Angus. But that's in another state and would require health certificate, etc. If I can get a "reasonable" meat animal by using the Jersey that I already have, then that's the way to go. Maybe in future years I'll get lucky and find someone who will AI her and it not cost me as much as buying a calf. (the semen's cheap, it's the fee charged by the person doing it that makes it so prohibitive) Thanks again
Ann
> Nothing at all wrong with it. You
> just won't have as heavy a carcass
> or be able to finish it to the
> same degree. It is claimed by
> some, that Jersey beef is better
> marbled then anything else except
> angus, and is very tender. Good
> eating.
> dunmovin farms
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