If you need a hint, click here.BTW- They never were named. I'm learning....
Speaking of meat, we released the bulls today. Which means we should begin having calves next year right around September 21st. We were hoping all of our cows would have calved by now, but alas we had bull trouble last year and we are only at 50 percent calved out.
Max and Jerry turned out to both have trouble. Jerry had a genetic flaw that showed up a couple months into his service. His front legs became very crooked and he had a hard time getting around. He was recently replaced free of charge by a bull we named Lou, after the man who picked him out for us. Mark decided not to pick out any more bulls! Max got sick last year from ticks and he never fully recovered and the fever caused him to be sterile. A total waste and unfortunately we had to buy a bull to replace him. A friend and local rancher went to pick us out a bull and came back with 2 because the price was so good. We named these two Ralph and Jacob after the father and son who did the thrifty shopping! Needless to say our one good bull Clay had his work cut out for him last year trying to cover the whole ranch and our cows will be calving into the spring. Oh well.
As for the geriatric cows I bought last year... we got 12 calves from 11 cows. Not bad. We ended up sending 5 back to the auction yard, but 6 of the cows are really nice middle aged cows- with teeth! Definitely keepers.
How is that gross? It is meat, food. Looks awesome. My goats, which I eat, have names. The kids pick them. That way I know what to put on the butcher wrap so when we eat them we know which one is the tastiest. My kids understand the goats shorter but content lives are to provide us with food. People need to get more connected to their food source (not you, obviously, but city folk in general). This also goes to the resources that provide us with the things we like to have in life.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you need a different source for your breed stock.
thanks unanonymous. I kind of see it as meat, food, too, but a lot of people do kind of think it is gross just hanging there in our garage! We have never eaten goat before so I am excited to try it and I was pleasantly surprised at how fast they grew and how much meat there was. Goats do seem like a good food source. As for the bulls, 3 of the 4 bulls are now from a different breeder. But we really think it was just a one time problem with a specific line that is now being discontinued. In the past we have had excellent results with the particular breeder that the bulls came from.
ReplyDeleteI would have guessed goat since I'm pretty sure you're not into eating horse meat. ;)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like Clay was the man and I suspect he didn't mind too much.
Dan
Ha, ha Dan. Clay didn't mind and yesterday when we released the bulls into their herds, Clay went right to romancing while the young bulls bucked and frolicked.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should have named last years bulls after the guy who picked them out? or the expert picking the geriatric cows had a much better ratio! Let us know how that goat tastes. I'll bet it tastes like chicken?
ReplyDeleteRick P.
Why didn't I comment on this post when I read it days ago? Drives me crazy when I do that.
ReplyDeleteI love disgusting pictures. :)