Slaughter day, tomorrow . . .

[Kathie in Thorp]

. . . for a British White steer, a BA steer, and a Jersey steer. BW and BA are 18-19 mos.; Jersey a few months older. All pre-sold, on the rail. Am really anxious/curious to see how the BW dresses out vs. the BA steer, as the BWs are near and dear to my heart. The buyers of the Jersey were looking for smaller halves -- he won't be as big, but should be a good taster.

Will let you know the hanging weights when I have them.

I took pics of those boys today, but still haven't finished the 101 pic tutorial.

 

[Alan]

Should be plenty of meat, you keeping any for yourself?

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Alan, we kept half of 907 hanging wt. big nasty disposition BW cow that we slaughtered a month ago. The cutter said she was very nicely marbled . . . should NOT have sent the roasts/burger/cube steaks cutting instructions with her! We had reserved 1/2 of the BW steer for us . . . but then we did the cow, and we had people waiting in line for butcher steers.

Alan, also see my post about that Boaz Red Angus bull / semen.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Well, could the idjit-brain Jersey steer pick a more perfect day than today to cram his head through a heavy panel in the barn that he couldn't get his head out of ?? Nope. Thank you, butcher gawds!

 

[Gale Seddon]

So does this mean he got a reprieve?

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

So does this mean he got a reprieve?

No . . . . . He was "scheduled" for today. Could not believe it! We fed those 3 steers light this morning -- I guess #6 wasn't happy with that, and he crammed his head through the tiniest hole he could possibly have found, to try to reach hay bales past him, just before the slaughter guy got here. He met his maker in the panel, head down, a$$ in the air. Spare me, Lord, from this in the future! :lol:

 

[Gale Seddon]

Ooooooh, so you have someone come to your farm to slaughter? Supposed to be the best way, animals calmer, etc.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Ooooooh, so you have someone come to your farm to slaughter? Supposed to be the best way, animals calmer, etc.

Yes, Gale, they come out to the property, do "the deed" there, and haul the clean carcasses off to the cutter in a refer truck. And they clean up their mess when they're done.

 

[Anonymous]

How long was he stuck? Hope hes not a dark cutter

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

How long was he stuck? Hope hes not a dark cutter

About an hour or so Hook -- and he was pretty quiet about his predicament. Put a little pile of hay in front of him, and he was perfectably happy nearly standing on his head! He started as a goofy calf, and he ended goofy.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Hanging weights 11/28/11:
BA Steer (18 mos): 759
Br. White Steer (17 mos.) 705
Jersey Steer (20 mos.?) 549

Our kill guy was very impressed with the BW steer carcass. But all looked good. We'll see what our customers think . . .

 

[Dylan Biggs]

Kathie, you are lucky to have the mobile kill option. Regulations here allow on farm kill for personal home consumption only. Who inspects the animal before and after the kill.

I hope they all eat well, people can talk all they like about eating quality but the rubber meets the road when you slaughter and market your own beef. Good for you. Best of luck! :)

Keep us posted, I am especially interested in the Jersey beef, my guess is it will eat well.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Kathie, you are lucky to have the mobile kill option. Regulations here allow on farm kill for personal home consumption only. Who inspects the animal before and after the kill.

I hope they all eat well, people can talk all they like about eating quality but the rubber meets the road when you slaughter and market your own beef. Good for you. Best of luck! :)

Keep us posted, I am especially interested in the Jersey beef, my guess is it will eat well.

Dylan, our customers purchase this beef before it's killed, although they pay us hanging weight -- they reserve it in the spring. And it's custom cut per their specifications/at their cost. We don't haul anything off to a grocery store, and don't market it after slaughter. We actually bought half of a 2 yr. Jersey bull last winter, when our June-butchered Angus was getting low, and it was very good meat. Here, that's legal. If we went and collected the packages from our custom cutter and put them on Craiglist, that wouldn't be legal unless it was all state-inspected.

 

[Nesikep]

I've got one steer to sell next year, and it's sold on the hoof for a preset price regardless of weight (with the weight he's going to be I'm the loser... I figure 1500 lb at 18 mo) but it costs me about the same to feed a heavy gaining steer compared to a light gainer, and I'm getting double what I'd get at the auction for him as a weaner, so I won't complain

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Well, it's been kind of a wild ride here for the last couple of weeks. I was in hosp. X 3 over 10 days, just after slaughter day. On the mend now.

Dylan, the Jersey meat people are happy. They've picked up and cooked it. Next year, for a couple of lighter-weight beef, I think we'll do Shorthorn milker-type steers; and we have 4 BA-X on board, also.

The BA steer customers are happy. Still need to hook up with my British White steer buyers -- I actually want to buy a couple of steaks back from them -- I think I'd put that BW steer up against any BA, Hrf, or other breed or cross -- his carcass looked so darn good!

They were all different structure, etc. , but we pretty much grazed and finished the same way. So I don't know if they all taste the "same," but our buyers are happy, so we are, too.

K

 

[Gale Seddon]

Kathie in Thorp, I knew you'd been sick, we've missed you, and I hope you are all well now and feeling better! Have some beef, it'll boost your red blood cell count, right?

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Kathie in Thorp, I knew you'd been sick, we've missed you, and I hope you are all well now and feeling better! Have some beef, it'll boost your red blood cell count, right?

Gale, I'm on the mend. Had a nasty, many-year habit that needed to be busted, but doing that isn't as bad as I thought it might be. Yeah, BEEF is good! I'm back at work, but was not full-bore last week. The next one should be better. My RB count is usually incredibly high, no matter how stressed I am. The Red Cross blood drive people love me.

Thanks for your well wishes! Trying a new recipe tonight: French Canadian Meat Pie. Burger, a bit of ground pork, mashed spuds and a few other things, whooped up and baked in a double pie crust. It's almost done . . . .

 

[Gale Seddon]

Glad to hear it.

The French Canadian Meat Pie sounds wonderful. Kind of like Shepherd's Pie with a crust? Take a picture and show us, please!!!

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Glad to hear it.

The French Canadian Meat Pie sounds wonderful. Kind of like Shepherd's Pie with a crust? Take a picture and show us, please!!!

Gale, here's a link to the recipe, which includes a pic. I didn't use celery (was none in the fridge) but added some chopped up carrot. It was good!

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/French-Canadian-Meat-Pie

 

[Waldershrek]

How do they charge for those mobile slaughter units? per animal, per pound, per hour? Is it more or less expensive than a standard processor?