I am so excited about today. It’s taken a long time to get here but this morning we sent our first steer, that was born on our little farm for processing. I had butterflies in my stomach praying that everything would go smoothly. Our experience so far with loading cows into trailers had been very stressful. Loading up Liza, the dairy cow, to bring her home was three hours of chasing, pulling, and wrestling. That cow has short legs but that didn’t stop her any from jumping over an electrified cattle fence like it was nothing. I definitely didn’t want any repeats of that.
The night before my husband, Gar backed up the trailer to the fence gate and we had an electric fence lane set up leading right to it. We used a pair of old gates to block any gaps between the trailer and the gate opening. A cow can fit through a surprisingly small opening when it wants to. In the morning we lured the steer down the lane with a little grain and then boxed him in with the electric fencing. In just a couple minutes he had stepped into the trailer and we shut the door behind him.
The event wasn’t without injury however. I notice Gar was getting precariously close to the electric wire fence. We were both very focused on the steer and a little anxious. I warned him but he just k put his hand up to say he had things under control. I figured I’d just wait and see how it turned out. Well shortly after he let out a yelp. I looked up just in time to see him three feet off the ground in an air born split. Well now, I try to be a good wife so I turned away and pressed by lips together to stop from smirking while I regained my composure. My husband knows me too well. He crooked his neck and stared at me just daring me to laugh. We both started laughing and I complimented him on his gymnastic abilities. We are both stubborn and have eaten more crow than we care to admit but humor helps us through.
It was over two years ago that we brought our bull and heifer home. In two weeks we will go and pick up the processed beef and fill up our freezer. We are going to try heart, tongue, and liver along with all the usual beef cuts. I asked for the marrow bones to make soup too.
I am so grateful to have beef grown right here on our land. Today was a really good day.
