Butchering btl calf -- blind w no tail

[MoGal]

I have an angus btl calf which I got at about 3 days old and he was born blind and w/o a tail. It could have been genetics but I thought mosly likely it was a lack of proper vitamins that caused him to be this way...

I was intending to butcher him in a few more months (I figured that he would be discounted at the sale barn and rather than have him thrown in a pen where he didn't know his surroundings, I would keep him instead and have beef in my freezer).

Would you be leery of butchering him for yourself? The reason I ask is that a fella who used to have cattle told me that he wouldn't want him butchered for his own self.

Is it possible he has some disease that would make him inedible?Should I take him to the vet and have him tested for something?

He's doing fine right now, growing and eating well. He's just blind and tailless.

Thanks for your help.

 

[dun]

Unless you're into eating eyeballs or ox-tail soup to the exclusion of everything else, I sure wouldn;t hesitate eating him

dun

 

[rc]

I didn't keep him alive but I did have one born blind this year. I would not hesitate on eating him and the only reason we didn't is because the kids would have had it named and be a life long pet.

 

[Susie David]

Make a date with the meat locker....I'd make veal out of him...different taste than the grown-ups but good.

 

[A6gal]

Most butchers, but not all, have a USDA inspector on-site. If there is anything wrong they will let you know. Make sure your butcher has an inspector.

 

[BC]

If you wouldn't eat him, why do you think anyone else would? I would not hesitate to have him processed when he was big enough. You eat the ones that you can not sell for top dollar.

Another note, I have always wondered why folks around here would take a good steer calf to the locker plant and sell their heifers? The heifers would eat better and sell for less right off the cow.

 

[MoGal]

thank you all for the responses. I am looking forward to having my own beef in the freezer.....

 

[msscamp]

thank you all for the responses. I am looking forward to having my own beef in the freezer.....

Your own beef, whether in the freezer or on the table, is unbeatable! ;-)

 

[El_Putzo]

Had a blind calf born 2 yrs in a row when I was about 7 or 8. We bottle fed them and raised them for ourselves. Even halter broke one and I would ride it while my brother led it around. His name was Taffy, he was delicious if I recall correctly. I think blind calves make good candidates for butcher calves. For one, they don't get much exercise walking since they can't see, plus they don't never get scared and tense, because they can't see anything to be scared of. We've always had better luck saving steers to butcher, if we have a choice. They seem to finish out faster, and with more marbling than heifers.