Butcher cow - pregnant?

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Ryan

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Situation: Have a cow. Want to "harvest" this cow. She is ~2 months bred.

Question: Do you abort the calf prior to taking to slaughter? Pros and cons of aborting or not? does it matter?


Thanks

Ryan
 
So I shouldnt worry if she's a couple months bred or not
 
Ryan":2fwxj033 said:
So I shouldnt worry if she's a couple months bred or not

Should be fine if she's in good flesh. We butchered one that turned out to be about 5 months pregnant. She didn't calve with the rest and we had pulled the bull so I assumed she was open. I forgot about the bull getting loose... Oh well, she should have calved with the rest if she wanted to stay here.

Ryan, I know guys who deliberately breed heifers 2-3 before they expect to butcher them, old cows too. They settle down and the natural hormones cause them to fatten nicely.
 
I read somewhere that a pregnant cow is the most tender meat there is- the hormones loosen the connective tissues so everything can expand.

Susie
 
Caustic Burno":2y5tmkhw said:
You really don't think those breed cows going through the sale barns are making any addtional stops on the way to being knocked in the head.

I didnt think so.

This actually isnt my cow getting butchered. The owner asked me, and I didnt know for sure as I had never butchered a cow before. Just wanted to make sure for him. Thanks for alls responses.

Ryan
 
For sure lots of pregnant cows and heifers go to slaughter.
We have butchered pregnant cows and the meat is just fine.
 
A high percentage of cows are pregnant at slaughter, this increases by a large margin during droughts. The general consensus amongst the veterinary staff I worked with, was that under 5 months is acceptable, but later there are issues of pegnancy toxaemia and welfare concerns.
 
A high percentage of cows are pregnant at slaughter, this increases by a large margin during droughts. The general consensus amongst the veterinary staff I worked with, was that under 5 months is acceptable, but later there are issues of pegnancy toxaemia and welfare concerns.
 
Check the price that ''fetal blood'' brings from the packers :shock: The usda will list it on the monthly ''drop'' price for byproducts.
 

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