Dad called me last night saying we had a problem. A steer broke his
leg and needed butchered. Luckily it was not one of our steers.
People in the area know Dad butchers and processes his own meat. When a
critter has a broken leg and cannot walk into the locker plant on its own they
will not take it. Therefore, call Jerry Juenemann
This farmer was working cattle to castrate them and one did not take too
kindly to the idea of getting his male parts cut off. He tried to jump
the head gate and got his leg caught and fought too hard before they could get
him out and he broke his leg. We went over to look at the critter last
night and as we
were leaving was told that part of the deal was to take the Rocky Mountain Oysters that they had
cut that day. He had a tub half full. We loaded them in the van and
came home to clean them up.
Dad had called Derrick's hired man about it because he helped with the last
steer we got and loved having the meat. He had asked just last week if
Dad knew of any animals that needed butchering. Dad called Jeff and he
and his wife came out and helped us clean the nuts. We ended up with 5
gallon Ziploc bags full.
Today Dad & Jeff went to the farmer's place and killed and bleedout the steer before bring him
home. Once here, I went out to help (watch and run errands) as they
skinned and gutted it. Dad's walk-in cooler was in Colby so he and Mom
went to town to get it and I stayed home and kept spraying the hangingcarcass with cold well
water to help get a lot of the body temperature out and to keep it cool.
Later, Dad & I got it cut into sections and hung (laid on cloth covered
pallets) in the walk-in. He is now chilling out in there for a few days
before we are ready to process him. I think we are splitting him 4
ways-1/4 for each of Dad, Jeff, me, and the farmer's hired man.
Mom wants to can beef chunks and have hamburger ground for this summer's
family gathering the end of July. I want to can both some beef chunks and
browned hamburger as well as put some burger in the freezer.
Yesterday Mom and I both bought pork loins to can because they were only
$1.79 per pound. I had planned to can today but butchering came
first.
When Dad & I quit at 4:30 today my phone showed 97 degrees. No
wonder we both were so hot and sweaty. We cooled ourselves off with the
well water trying not to get heat exhaustion. I was so hot and my house
a/c unit had quit earlier in the day but I did get it running again when I got
in. I was even too hot for a cool shower. I just stripped and lay
in front of the fan on the bed for a couple hours.
Tomorrow we need to get the hooves, hide, tail and innards out of my back yard. We
were too hot to load them up to haul to the pasture. I have them
covered with a tarp but hope wild critters (coyotes) do not come up to the house to eat
tonight. I hope that will be a first thing in the morning project
while it is cool.
I actually do not have a problem with cleaning or frying bull fries. I
like to see how all the guts are stuffed inside the animal. It does not
bother me to help butcher, skin, gut, and cut or process a cow, bull or
steer. Once the cow was pregnant and I was able to see the fully formed
baby calf that was inside. That was really cool for me. I think it
will be cooler over the weekend and we can process the meat or at least cut up
the steer and freeze large chunks of it until we are ready to work it.
Dana needs the cooler back for a big event the following weekend and Dad has a
doctor appointment in Wichita mid week next week.
Hard, hot day but will be so worth having the meat.
Rose
