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Saturday, October 3, 2009

Fair Warning- Butchered Cow

My life has changed dramatically since 2005. I can honestly tell you that I wasted lots in every area of my life, most importantly I wasted time. We became 'real preppers' when my husband had his accident, as we had to rethink everything. How would we make money, how would we survive etc...I am ashamed to admit this but in my previous life I am sure many called me a goody goody preppie girl! Ironically a prepper gal would be my future fate, what I was before- was a snob. Fast forward a few years and I have been allowed to live life and learn as much as I can.

Our neighbor has only known us as we are today. He is a big rodeo guy and ropes cattle in his own corrals night and day. A few months ago while roping, he broke this cow's front leg. He was going to put her down but called my husband instead. We called a friend who is a vet who told us yes we could wait, treat her injury and then butcher her when we fattened her up.

Here she is before:I have no clue what breed she is or anything like that. We paid the man who leased the cows to our neighbor for roping $40.00 for her(which was more than he would have made by putting her down). We paid him as it just did not seem right to take something for free. Well when we mentioned to our neighbor we were ready to butcher the cow the man who leased the cows came and did 90% of the work as he knew we had never done this before(He told us we paid him the forty dollars, he figured he better do something for it!)

My son is on the back left and my neighbor in the orange and the man who originally owned the cow on the right. What a tremendous life lesson my sons learned today. One how to butcher something so large and two, more importantly, that honor and respect and genuinely good people exists. The people we live with in our neighborhood(all rural) have been nothing but upstanding good folks. I am sure we could have figured out this all alone, but I would have had to be in the team of butchers, which kind of grosses me out. I would have done what ever was required for our family and the farm, but I am grateful that I did not have to do anything(well I will be cooking and canning the meat)

Pulling the hide off. We are going to try and preserve it for a rug for the master bedroom as we have no carpets in most of the house, and the floors get a bit cold in the winter!

My sons had some goof moments- here they are pretending to hold up the innards...my third son is in the orange t-shirt and my second son is pushing his back.

Here the beef is ready to be hauled to the meat locker to then be finished butchering. There is a local man who will prep all the meat at a very low price and we have tallied our costs at about 48 cents a pound. As a prepper how can one beat that? We know everything that this cow ate- pretty amazing!

Prepping is about learning skills that will enable us to handle any and all situations thrust upon us. Prepping is also granting acceptance to situations that we cannot control and therefore should accept. I would have never believed that I would be raising so much for my family. I would never believe that I would have an animal this large butchered so close to my home, yet I did.

What have you done on this path of prepping? Has it been a learning curve for you? Will you or others around you be better for it? Just some thoughts and questions on this rainy day in New Mexico.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Super post! And what great lesson's your sons learned.

ErinAndBrad said...

How wonderful! Fresh meat! You are lucky friend to have people to teach this to you - I am envious! Glad you are back on - ws getting worried and have been meaning to call but got wrapped up on about a million other things!

kymber said...

So glad to see you back Jennifer and with such an awesome post and great pics! Having grown up in a small fishing/hunting village - i did participate many times in stripping many a fish and a few deer, moose and the easiest - rabbit - many times!!! But having left home at 15 and never having done any of that since - i probably wouldn't know where to start! But when other preppers share stories and pics it sorta' comes back to me! But with Jamie planning on going hunting next spring when we are back at the BOL - guess i will have to re-learn quickly. The great thing is though - like you - we have some pretty fantastic neighbours who will help us. You just can't have anything as good as good neighbours eh?

Honest to goodness though - your kids are gonna some of the best-raised, well-rounded, able-to-do-anything young men when they grow up...did Fourth participate at all?

a few other questions: who killed the cow? what method of was used? was it hard?

Again - i am so glad that you are back girl...and i can't wait to see pics of all of the meals that you will prepare with all of that healthy, delicious beef....my mouth is watering already...please make sure to share pics of the meals k?

LuciferWar said...

Dog meat is much cheaper. And the dogs can be had at the humane society for nearly nothing! Pit Bull is too tough though. Daschsun hounds are tender enough. Also Collie dogs are a fine meal.

http://www.dogwelfare.markpritchard.com/


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nMmeViJEKQo/SYla3ifvCNI/AAAAAAAAFYA/C8g-S9pWFec/s320/DSCN6962.jpg

Anonymous said...

Jennifer,
Glad to see you back. Steaks on the hoff, now that's what I'm talking about.

Joel, you are so full of it that you're laughable and an embarrassment to the people that know you. Go back to playing with the kiddies and leave the grown-ups alone.

YeOldFurt

Anonymous said...

This is my first time to this blog, despite the fact that we Own property near Deming. Very Good post and mostly great comments except for what seems to a usual occurance of an idiot.

Old fart

Humble wife said...

Hey all!Yes I agree that the children are learning so so much! The cow was killed with a 22-250 one shot. She was dead before she hit the ground. My daughter and I opted out of this as we are the cooks and we have prepared every kind of meat we have ever had. All of us have killed and prepared the poultry, but the cow was in a new league for us.

Joel's comment may seem in poor taste but I have watched documentaries on the killing of cat to eat in Asia. We are accustomed to the foods we know. Now the times seem to be pointing towards seriously precarious days and who knows what will be eaten in hunger?

I laugh when I see that the Japanese have made pets out of prairie dogs...as they are the most pesky annoying critters to a western person. Food and diet is conditional on regions, beliefs,finances, and even what is available. Never forget Donner Pass and what Pioneers did because they were NOT prepared.

Welcome anonymous! It is nice to have a local - are you a prepper? Are you interested in sharing your tips? If so please email me at penofjen(at)yahoo(dot) com or penofjen(at)gmail(dot)com

Thanks all!!
Jennifer

Anonymous said...

We don't live close at all, we are currently in the Peoples socialist Republic of Wisconsin. BUT we should be out of here by Mid December and will be looking around for acreage to buy. We have a small lot in the Deming Rachettes that we inheireted from the wifes dad. We have only been there once and it was a bit of a shock for us midwesterners.

Anyway yes we are preppers, have been for a while. Lokking for ward to living in a more constitutional respectful place.

Old Fart

Humble wife said...

Anonymous- Old Fart...I grew up in northwest Ohio...yes it is a bit of a shock to midwesterners, but I promise you will find beauty too. My farm blog is doublenickelfarm.blogspot.com. I share lots of pics etc and I believe that you will come to love NM. Forget all you know about green though, as green in NM is not the same. Not bad, just not the same!!
Jennifer

Anonymous said...

Awesome post! Love the pics. You do such a wonderful job illustrating life on your farm for others to learn by.-Shelly

LuciferWar said...

I appreciate your honesty sir.

Humble wife said...

Thanks Joel...oh and feel free to call me Jennifer. I have no problem with any thoughts or discussions that may lead a person to prepare and survive any situation.

Jennifer

LuciferWar said...

Thank you Jennifer, but I was not calling YOU sir. I was talking to Ye Old Fert. I know you are easy going and very mindful. I do not eat dogs. Of COURSE I don't eat dogs. The message I was sending did not get through. But that is to be expected. I appreciate YOUR hospitality though. Have a nice evening mam.
Sincerely,
Joel

New Mexico Preppers Network Est. Jan 17, 2009 All contributed articles owned and protected by their respective authors and protected by their copyright. New Mexico Preppers Network is a trademark protected by American Preppers Network Inc. All rights reserved. No content or articles may be reproduced without explicit written permission.