Little John, the giant steer

[Lannie]

Half-joking about the burying thing... I spin into a pit of despair when a big problem faces me, in this case, finding our regular butcher (and two others I called) wouldn't accept him because of his size. I always think of the worst case scenario, then get to working on a solution. I guess that way, whatever I think of is better than what my worst-case was, LOL! This time, the solution turned out way better.

I laughed at the "making money" part. We haven't made a cent since we started this little hobby farm. I'm a born and bred city girl who just wanted to have a milk cow, which turned into three, now back to two, and some chickens for eggs... it keeps me busy and out of trouble most of the time, and we do have nice fresh eggs, milk when the cows are fresh (and cheese and butter and all that stuff), and beef when we keep a steer to butcher. Any heifers we trade for hay with our hay guy, and steers go to the sale barn. Sometimes it seems like we might be breaking even, but I've never been brave enough to put pen to paper and find out. We're not doing this for a living (thank God!), so I'll just keep imagining that once in a while, we at least break even. For sure, we eat well, and this way of living is far superior to the way I was raised. We have quite a nice little place here, and usually things click along with no problems. Usually.

 

[504RP]

Half-joking about the burying thing... I spin into a pit of despair when a big problem faces me, in this case, finding our regular butcher (and two others I called) wouldn't accept him because of his size. I always think of the worst case scenario, then get to working on a solution. I guess that way, whatever I think of is better than what my worst-case was, LOL! This time, the solution turned out way better.

I laughed at the "making money" part. We haven't made a cent since we started this little hobby farm. I'm a born and bred city girl who just wanted to have a milk cow, which turned into three, now back to two, and some chickens for eggs... it keeps me busy and out of trouble most of the time, and we do have nice fresh eggs, milk when the cows are fresh (and cheese and butter and all that stuff), and beef when we keep a steer to butcher. Any heifers we trade for hay with our hay guy, and steers go to the sale barn. Sometimes it seems like we might be breaking even, but I've never been brave enough to put pen to paper and find out. We're not doing this for a living (thank God!), so I'll just keep imagining that once in a while, we at least break even. For sure, we eat well, and this way of living is far superior to the way I was raised. We have quite a nice little place here, and usually things click along with no problems. Usually.

We'll have you ate all of Little Johns steaks or have you finished him up by now ?

 

[Nesikep]

We'll have you ate all of Little Johns steaks or have you finished him up by now ?

I figure that was over 1000 lbs of meat..they'd have to be eating 3 lbs a day!

 

[MurraysMutts]

O my goodness!

Inquiring minds NEED to know...

 

[TexasRancher]

I do not eat animals with names....

ahahah, I don't believe that. Even my two little kids age 6,8 ate their named pet rabbits when the time came. These are for meat, they'll have a good long life with us and you can name as long as you know they're for our food. Even your Dad LVR gave you that same speech...dominion over animals-yes?

 

[Lannie]

LOL! We have hardly made a dent in the beef supply! There are two large chest freezers full. We don't eat beef every single day, and there are only the two of us, so it's gonna be a while before we finish him. Actually, I just seared and sliced part of a skirt steak last night for fajitas, and boy oh boy, was it ever good! (Of course, the skirt steak was like two feet long!) Every cut off him is ginormous, which is sometimes not such a good thing, LOL!

I have a bunch of packs of ribs that won't fit in any cooking vessel I own. I think I'm supposed to boil them with garlic first, then broil or barbeque them with sauce, if I remember the way my friend used to do them. His were really good! But first I guess we're gonna have to saw those suckers into shorter pieces so I CAN cook them. With what, I'm not sure... I've been drooling over the thought of those ribs for a year now, and still haven't worked up the courage to try to do something with them, for fear of screwing them up. Any rib tips would be VERY appreciated! The packages are considerable in size. Probably ought to invite some neighbors over, eh?

 

[Son of Butch]

But first I guess we're gonna have to saw those suckers into shorter pieces so I CAN cook them. With what, I'm not sure...

Crock pots are great for low and slow

 

[Lannie]

No, I meant what to cut them with. A hacksaw, I guess. If we can get all the little bits of wood out of the teeth. (I'm joking, I'm sure there's a new blade in the shop somewhere...)

 

[Travlr]

I have PLENTY! I'm not mailing them, though, you gotta come get them.

And yes, I'm VERY happy with how he came back home. I couldn't have asked for a better butchering job. It wasn't cheap, but it was worth every penny.

We visit our son in Deadwood, South Dakota a couple of times a year. (wink) Did he get processed at that excellent place in Piedmont?

 

[MurraysMutts]

No, I meant what to cut them with. A hacksaw, I guess. If we can get all the little bits of wood out of the teeth. (I'm joking, I'm sure there's a new blade in the shop somewhere...)

I had a whole ham cut in quarters or halves, I can't remember.
Local butcher did it for me. (Pre-cov)

Time to buy a smoker and cook some ribs!

 

[faster horses]

I just looked at your filets. Oh my, they look about as marbled as anything I have ever seen.
With the age of your steer and all that marbling, he has to be delicious!! It is said that "marbling is an old cow disease" and this shows some proof of that. Also older age animals have more flavor, as you are finding out. I'm glad he is good, or you would have a lot of disappointment for a long time. Now it is an enjoyable dining experience.

As for the ribs, do get a smoker!!

 

[callmefence]

No, I meant what to cut them with. A hacksaw, I guess. If we can get all the little bits of wood out of the teeth. (I'm joking, I'm sure there's a new blade in the shop somewhere...)

Get you some stainless meat blades for your sawzall ..... Amazon

 

[Lannie]

We visit our son in Deadwood, South Dakota a couple of times a year. (wink) Did he get processed at that excellent place in Piedmont?

Nope, we took him up to Lemmon, north of Faith. Piedmont is practically in Rapid. It's nice to know there's another excellent place, though, if Lemmon can't do one for us for some reason.

I just looked at your filets. Oh my, they look about as marbled as anything I have ever seen.
With the age of your steer and all that marbling, he has to be delicious!! It is said that "marbling is an old cow disease" and this shows some proof of that. Also older age animals have more flavor, as you are finding out. I'm glad he is good, or you would have a lot of disappointment for a long time. Now it is an enjoyable dining experience.

As for the ribs, do get a smoker!!

That's no lie, this is THE most delicious beef I've ever had. I savor every bite. Oh, the juice is to DIE FOR. You should see all the sad furry faces watching us when we have beef for dinner. I used to save bites or bits of fat for them, but now it's really hard for me to part with even a tiny morsel! They're lucky if they get to lick the juice from the plate when I'm done. I'm such a mean mommy!

As for the smoker, could a person make something like that? I don't think a real one is in the budget, although I haven't shopped for one, so I really don't know.

 

[MurraysMutts]

@Lannie
Not only do I share, but sometimes he gets his own!

Long long story, but we had a cow slaughtered a while back. Did NOT like the burger at all.
Wife makes him his own special dinners with it. Been over a year and he's almost out now.
I got a plan for this fall for him tho.

 

[tex452]

Short ribs and roast are
my favorite cuts from a calf.
I'll brown them a little in a baking pan, add beef bullion onions,potatoes,carrots and a little Worcestershire sauce and bake in the oven or crockpot.
It's so good, my wife loves my cooking.

 

[faster horses]

Short ribs and roast are
my favorite cuts from a calf.
I'll brown them a little in a baking pan, add beef bullion onions,potatoes,carrots and a little Worcestershire sauce and bake in the oven or crockpot.
It's so good, my wife loves my cooking.

Have you ever done Mississippi Pot Roast? It is SO good!

 

[tex452]

Have you ever done Mississippi Pot Roast? It is SO good!

What's the recipe?

 

[greybeard]

F

What's the recipe?

First, ya have to move to Mississippi.....

 

[Lannie]

Short ribs and roast are
my favorite cuts from a calf.
I'll brown them a little in a baking pan, add beef bullion onions,potatoes,carrots and a little Worcestershire sauce and bake in the oven or crockpot.
It's so good, my wife loves my cooking.

Oooh, I might try that, baking in the oven. If I bake it low and slow, it should be good. I do have a crock pot, and an oval one to boot, but it doesn't have a good low setting. It's like medium and HOT, so I rarely use it as a slow cooker. And I'd still have to whack the ribs in half to fit them in there anyway, so I'll try baking some in the oven with a big broiler pan or a half sheet pan. They should fit in one of those.