Another Day

I was sitting at my computer watching the calves jump around and play with each other. They are so dang cute when they are young. I love watching em. They will kick up their back legs and take off running and bouncing all over the place till mama makes em calm down. That is common when they are young because their energy supply is small.

I got up close to our newest addition and found it to be a bull. Ugh...that's not what I wanted. I wanted a hefer for breeding....looks like this guy will probably go in the freezer or to the sale. Don will have to cut the baby bulls soon. They gain weight much faster if you cut em when they are young. You must do it within about 2 weeks or they get too big to handle. As you can see mama is standing next to calf and she is cold black as is his dad...have no idea how we got this. It will be interesting to see what he brings at the sale or how much he cleans up to at the butcher.

You can also see the ears are long and wide spread....that shows the angus in him. On his head he looks like a baldie...but baldies aren't white. They have white on their foreheads but not on their bodies. Interesting.....

If you've never had beef that was range fed you missed out on something good. I don't know why it tastes different but it does. In addition there are no additives so therefore it is very lean. Now days you buy meat at the grocery store and they add so much water/grease to it you don't get much meat! Wal-Mart is one of the worst at doing that. I used to love their meat...but in the last couple of years it leaves a lot to be desired.
For those of you that don't know or ever wondered a side of beef will completely fill an average upright freezer. For a family of 4 it will last approx. 6 months. When wrapped in paper the shelf life is six months. You can check your news paper and find someone who sells em like that and you end up paying approx .70 cents a pound for processing plus what the farmer wants for your half of the cow. When hamburger is running 2.00 a lb. you are getting more bang for your dollar. I would ask before I buy if it has been treated with hormones, what kind of cow it is (black angus is the best) and was it range fed or locked up. Range fed is healthier.
If you have a little land and there are no restrictions you can go to the local sale and pick up a yearling (very young calf) for about 1.39 a pound. If it weighs 400 lbs (avg.) then you will pay about 550.00 for the calf. however they gain averaged 1-2 lbs a day grazing. When they weigh about 8-900 lbs...are 8 mos. to a year old...you can take em to be processed. They will clean up to approx. 60% of their weight....giving you about 550 lbs of meat. Soooo your original investment of 550.00
                                                         processing    385.00
                                                            total           935.00   Now go in half's with someone and split it....your final cost is 467.00. So you just got approx. (these are all estimates) 400 lbs. of meat for 467.00!! That means your average price per pound is a little over a dollar a pound for "all" cuts. That means, steaks, brisket, roast, burger etc. Compared to Grocery store prices you just made a killing and got a much better quality of product! Got ya thinking didn't I hahahah
If you have any questions regarding this....send me a note or comment and I will be glad to help.