Back from the processor

[lakeportfarms]

Just got this guy back from the processor a couple of weeks ago and our freezer(s) are full again (we reserved this one for us rather than selling him).

He ended up at 460 lbs. hanging weight (edited to add: at 26 months), and he was finished on fall grass and clover along with apples.  I haven't had the time to check for the weight of the individual cuts and I'd have to subtract a couple of T-bones and hamburgers now    He turned out very well!  The tenderloin side of the T-Bone could be peeled off with just a fork...mmmm!!!  Nice marbling for grass finished and I was pleased with the hanging weight.

He was out of a chondro cow but he was a non-carrier.  We sold a little bull calf from his mother earlier this year and she's due to calve again on Christmas Day.  If she does calve Christmas, that will be two years in a row we've had a Christmas baby (out of different cows).  We've had quite a few calves in the past couple of weeks, mostly all bulls (only two heifers).

Here is "Dash" or "Flash" (I never did get his name straight) and his mother a few weeks before we sent him off.

[midhilldexters]

Enjoy your beef Hans. We ate a roast from a 12 year old cow yesterday, cooked low and slow and it was tender as can be. Had roast beef sandwiches later and we are in heaven.

Carol K

[wvdexters]

You guys are making me hungry....and a bit jealous too!!

We still have a year or so to wait for our first dexter beef. That is if I can do it. Never had any problem with eating our angus steers in the past but this little fellow (Frank) is so darn sweet and just down right pretty. He's even on some of our homemade Christmas cards with a Santa hat photo shopped on his head. LOL

[midhilldexters]

WVDexters, I had the same feelings as you when I did my first one many years ago, it wasn't easy at all, stick with it and know you raised him well and that he had the best possible life, not like beef from the store.

Carol K

[wvdexters]

You are right, I know you are right.   LOL     And by the time he's ready to go we'll have new little ones running around so that will help. It's funny with these guys. The traits that first drew me to the breed are so great!! And it's these very traits and characteristics that make you so attached to each of them. They are down there playing in the snow right now. Having a grand time chasing and playing.

We'll do OK. I just won't be there to help with this one when the time comes. Funny thing is I never had any trouble at all with the others we've bred in the past, just the dexters.

[marion]

I've had my own Dexter beef in the freezer for a dozen years now. I still feel sorry for the steers but know that being responsible for their lives from conception to their final trip and making it the best life possible is the most ethical way to provide beef for the family. Having said that, I just sent my 2 1/2 year old steer to the abbattior. He was gorgeous, glossy black with a beautiful set of horns and such a sweet guy. He had not been in the barn or handled since a week of age. I brought him in the back barn door the day before, and he walked out the front door onto the trailer so calmly and trustingly even without a food enticement... That part never gets easier for me, and I wish the government would allow the mobile units for on-farm kill, so that they would never have to experience a stressful trip..marion

[lakeportfarms]

Thanks for the link Gene...
I'll have a hard time when the day comes to send one of the cows off, Carol. Old Mike's day is coming soon too but he has lost too much condition, I'd rather go out one morning and find he's died on his own, as it's going to be hard to pull the trigger on him.
WVDexters, it is harder not only your first but when you have fewer too, new babies will help! This steer was a jerk, or maybe we just made him that way knowing his fate. I find it easier to have the ones that are sold to someone else, than the one that's going to be on our plate for dinner. And the mobile units are neat, I don't think we have anybody around here that does it, or I'd do that for sure.

[zephyrhillsusan]

I don't know how I missed the Gordon Ramsey link the first time I read this thread, but I just posted it on the Links page on my blog--mainly so I can find it again! I'm definitely going to try it that way, and I want a propane stove more than ever now! Thanks for the link, Gene!