A story has been percolating in the back of my mind for the last few days. If you are a big cattle producer, please skip over it. It's the ramblings of a crazy woman and a little embarrassing. Many people know about our cows and the Great Horny Momma. (She's the cow at the top of this page. Our first. A gift from David's parents.) We raise a very small herd to share with some homeschool friends. In the past, raising them from birth was very important to us....but it cut out any profit that we could make. There was the extra mouth to feed, the 9 months of pregnancy, the stillbirths, prolapsed uterus', deaths of mommas, vet bills, and way too many head of cattle on a small acreage; requiring lots of hay. Since we've moved back from Galveston, we decided no more females, only steers that we purchase from a cousin on the old Krizan farm. We've gone from 13 head to 6. Divided the land into 4 plots to afford rotation and kept them off the front patch during the rainy season. That has allowed us to bail twice for 27 round beautiful grass bails. We're small fry guys.
Well back in November, we processed our last Red Man. He was HM grandson. Because of The Bug, he was processed months later than we wanted. Our average hanging weight is 500#...he was 750#!! It's hard for me. I could very well be vegetarian. (David recently showed me a picture of a fresh calf on the farm he works on...it has eyelashes! Like Christi and Celia lashes!) These animals trust us. David babies them. And we kill them. I could go to HEB and buy a package of hamburger...without a face attached to it. But I haven't in 19 years. The fact that he was so big, so RED, and so missing from the pasture bothered me for days. Troy picked up the meat and I inventoried it for customers. It still hurt.
So...I wrote down who he was feeding. It was for 5 families. I wrote down the members of each household. Big Red Man was going to provide protein for 20 people! A large bull that had lived his whole life in calmness on my daddy's land. I still pull meat out of the freezer and thank God for the life of that big red bull.
David & my Dad went out and purchased two steer from that farm. They will provide beef in 2022. I'm hoping that since they aren't from "family cows" that I won't get as attached.
Oh...we did keep one female on the farm. A black angus mix named Stranger. She is an old friend to my sister. We have every intention of letting her retire to pasture and she will be buried alongside HM and a couple of horses and many dogs. But she will not be bred since we only $ steers.
A few days ago, I saw David come in from work and head out to the pasture to give everyone a snack. He didn't come in forever. When he did...my 60 year old manly husband was like a little kid. This is how he is with all animals. Seems Big Red Man gave Ms Stranger a little love before he headed out! The reddest little bull we've ever seen.
He's checked on it daily...several times. Momma's not cleaning out like she should. Yesterday, in this cold weather mess, he made an outdoor shelter for it to get in. Also moved things around in the barn and set up food and water for the pair.
This morning, he found the calf dead in the barn. It was just too little for this cold. David will go out again, the second day in a row, to get sopping wet...to dig a hole to bury the little guy.
David's strong. Tough. Has worked hard all of his life. He can handle it. I'd get pneumonia. I'm praying this morning for farmers all over the world that work to get food to the table. For ranchers that have so many animals to care for. For droughts and storms, difficult pregnancies, sickness, the backs of the man that climb up and down off that tractor. For a government that is ready to track our every move and control every bite we eat! I worry about the future of our food.
Thanks for listening. Stay warm. Stay dry. Put a pot of soup on the back burner.
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