The Time Has Come
Today was the day. The day we all knew was coming, and the day we had our eyes set on. A day of thankfulness and sacrifice. A day of hard work and learning. A day of accomplishment and a feeling of self sufficiency.
Last January or so, we brought home Lucy and Christmas from a friend. Remember Lucy’s story? Well, today is Christmas’.
A Christmas Tale
We got Christmas from a fellow farm sister friend. She had rescued Christmas and his mom, Lucy, from less-than-favorable conditions. The mother/son duo was rehabbed by my selfless friend and was told Christmas had bad joints, and would eventually need put down. By this point, my friend could not find it in her heart to process Christmas, and knew that soon or later, she’d have to. So she turned to us and asked if we’d like to have Christmas and Lucy, along with a pair of alpaca sisters (who we have and adore dearly!), with one “catch”-we had to have Christmas processed. And we’d give her half the beef as trade for the livestock. She said that she was too attached to Christmas to be the one to process him, even though she knew it was going to have to happen.
Christmas Comes Home
Jason and I chatted and quickly determined that this would be an amazing experience for our farmstead and what a great opportunity, again, for us to grow our own food! Our other dear farm friend, Ed, was eager to help and has cattle experience, so we swiftly loaded up his trailer to receive our new provisions and family members.
Once the cattle and alpaca were unloaded into our pastures, I could tell the cows were still weary of people, as their previous lives led them into constant states of trouble with humans (prior to Brit and I).
Getting to Know Our Food
Of the two cows, Christmas was the friendlier one. He was born on Christmas Day and was right at 2 years old. He would come barreling across the field to greet us, to stop just inches from us. I should mention, here, that he was a “Mini Zebu”. But nothing is really “mini” about him. He is considered mini by breed standard, because a full size cow is, what? half a ton-to 2,000 pounds, maybe? And Christmas was about 700. So maybe small to a cattle rancher. But HUGE to us. So, just imagine a 700 pound playful dog with horns running at you. It’s a bit scary! And at this point, Jason and I affirmed we were goat people. Christmas was also the first to eat from the bucket and follow me around. He always took the lead for his more shy and distant mother. And Lucy always looked to see how Christmas would respond, first, before Lucy decided what to do. You could tell that through all these difficult times they faced in their past, that they always had each other.
Soon Christmas became a bit more friendlier but never pet -like. Which I was welcome to embrace this sort of distant acquaintance relationship, because I knew that we were finishing him for beef, and I form deep relationships with our animals, and he just wouldn’t fully connect with me. So it was meant to be. I was grateful for this, because it would be a bit easier for me, when his day would come. We would respect him. Provide for him. Care for him. Invest in him. And then process him for our family; and for our friend Brit.
Timing in the Process
For those of you who don’t know, the best time to process an animal for food, is in the late summer/fall. This is because the animal has had time to eat off of the land in its peak nutritional season. If we were to butcher in spring, the animal spent the entire previous winter season, not having access to everything a pasture has to offer, and still physically recovering from the stressors of a hard winter. So this summer was the time. Right before school started, we’d give the kids (and us!) the biggest farmstead experience we’ve had to date.
Last week Christmas turned 30 months old. How do we confirm this? Because he has his four, lower middle adult teeth in, and he was born on Christmas Day. Cattle do not receive their adult teeth until two years old. So we did some easy math, and came to that age. A mini Zebu cow takes longer than the average cow to mature to butcher age. And that age for Christmas, is 2 years old. So he was old enough. We had been finishing him with pasture and premium grains. And summer was coming to an end, so we placed a call to Tim.
The Farm Butcher
Tim is a farm butcher. And his craft and trade is dying out. Paul comes out to farms and dispatches (kills) the animal on the farm. He then skins and processes the entire animal from beginning to end, entirely on the farm, himself. He also encourages people to watch and help, if they’re wanting to learn these skills for themselves. Which we are! Yes!
I say his trade is dying, because most livestock farmers raise the animals to processing age-then have a semi trailer load them up off the farm, and take them to stock yards, where they await to be processed there. During these transport times and wait times, the animal is stressed, confused, and not in the best conditions while they await their fate. These feelings and conditions release hormones, that are then released into the meat, therefore impacting the taste. Not to mention how many times that animal and meat then gets handled by numerous hands and goes through numerous processing facilities and factories. And this is how you get the meat from the grocery store or supermarket.
On the Farm
To elect to process the entire animal on the farm by our own hands, we (most importantly to us) have insured how we finished the animal (what we fed it while we were raising it for meat) and how it was cared for. We also limit the numbers of hands on our food. As well as, limit the exposure to processing facilities to a small, locally owned butcher.
The Solemn Dispatch
So back to Paul. They arrived Tuesday morning at 7am to beat the heat. And we asked the kids who wanted to watch. Kaiden, our oldest, declined and was happy to watch the littles. Haha! So that worked out! And Marlowe and Ansel eagerly wanted to watch and participate. So we happily obliged and assured them if they were uncomfortable at any time, we could walk them back to the house.
The physical dispatch of any animal on our farm is the absolute hardest part of the entire process for me. But not just for me. My husband assures me that this is probably the case for most hunters and homesteaders. I ask Paul (with 33 years of experience under his belt) and he assures me it’s the hardest part, too. Marlowe and I turn our back as Tim takes his rifle and swiftly and promptly kills Christmas. Just a quick shot in the air, followed by silence. That was it. Marlowe and I turn around and Marlowe cries, seeing Christmas laying there, his spirit no longer with us. I hold her and cry for a second. It feels good to cry every time we dispatch an animal. I cry because it’s painful. But just because it’s painful and hurts my heart, doesn’t mean that it’s still not necessary and worth it it all in the grand scheme of things. I then pray over the animal. I thank the Lord for the provision and opportunity. For the time the animal and I got together. And I express my gratitude for the animal’s life. Then, after that, I can acknowledge that the animals spirit is no longer with us and I can separate myself from my feelings and move into work mode. Marlowe had the same reaction. After she mourned, she was excited to get started and didn’t want to go in. And Ansel, well, you’ll see in the pictures that he was enthralled with the experience from beginning to end.
Lessons in Anatomy
Throughout the processing time, I was amazed about how similar the anatomy is from one animal to the next. I’m starting to pick up on patterns in the anatomy. And that’s my absolute favorite part of the whole process of raising our own meat.
The anatomy and science! I have a degree in holistic health science and a license in massage therapy. And I’m just shy of having a bachelors degree in psychology. And one of the the common studies and teachings of all these degrees, is human anatomy! And I am good at it! I can name every bone in the body. I understand the organ structures. How muscles work. The tendon and ligament insertion points. I know it all! And you know what? Animals are really similar. They have bone and muscle. Organs. Connective tissue and fat. Nerves and a brain. And every time I get to process an animal myself, fires off my love for learning to the highest degree! I get to see, touch, and explore all this anatomy! And from a chicken or Turkey to a goat or cow, there are huge similarities! Organs look the same. They’re placed in the same areas of the body cavity. They are held into the body cavity the same way; with connective tissue. Their muscles look the same. The fat. They all have intestines that need pulled out. And all animals have an esophagus and windpipe, as well.
Getting to Work
As my brain is clicking through all these thoughts, Tim and his assistant slice a quick hole behind each Achilles’ tendon on each back leg and slide hooks through them, so they can hoist our cow into the air on his truck with his custom wrench/Pully livestock processing lift thing. Paul then takes out his impressive knife collection (I’m sort of envious) and begins skinning the hide from Christmas. We want to keep the hide so we can tan it ourselves. This process takes the longest time with any animal. From plucking a chicken, to skinning a deer; removing the “outside” is most time consuming. I’m still impressed that he skins the entire animal in one beautiful piece, in about 45 minutes.
He then lays Christmas back down and slices under his chin, all the way down the the groin. He removes a huge amount of fat from between his legs, and I ask Tim what that was, and even though he was castrated, it’s “testicle fat”. Wow! He then shows me the fat above his tail and tells me that is how you know a cow is ready to process, by the fat rolls over his tail and says we did a good job. Yay! And back into the air he goes.
Using the Entire Animal
The tail is cut off and we are told that is a $60/pound cut of meat and we should turn it into oxtail soup. Ok, we are! We will! Cool! He cuts out the tongue and says if we smoke it, it’ll taste just like roast beef! Neat! We will! (Our friends later in the day come to share in the grilled heart, and one of them says that tongue is amazing in tacos too! We’ll try that also!) Next, the head goes. And I’m keeping that! You know I love my skeletons and skulls! What a neat artifact I get when it’s done decomposing! We also take a moment to look at the entry and exit points of the bullet. Coagulated blood is gathered around the exit wound. That is normal and something I never knew. Interesting. Then, it’s time! The moment I am longing for! Time to open him up! Let’s see that anatomy! Paul let’s me hold the heart. Wow! It looks the same as a chicken’s! But, like, twenty times the size! It’s about the size of my head! We take it to grill that evening for our company that is coming over. The heart is prized in most animals as a treasured piece of meat to consume! Then out comes the cow’s four stomachs that are wrapped in a massively impressive layer of fat. I watch with wonder as these giant intestines, stomach, and fat get pulled out and into a 50 gallon trash can (which it fills up!). That leaves the heart, kidneys, and liver. You guessed it, if you’ve ever processed an animal before, all held into the body cavity, still, with connective tissue. Paul hands me the liver. Wholly cow! Literally! It looks like the chicken livers I pull out, but a million times larger! It takes both hands to hold, and I’d guess it’s 15 pounds! So amazing! I later split half the liver off to give to another friend to enjoy. The kings are next, which are larger than any kings I’ve ever seen, and they are discarded. The kidneys surprise me, because they are lobed and lumpy and that surprised me. I can’t remember what other kidneys look like. I imagine the same. We talk about kidney pie and that I’ll pass, this time, on attempting to prepare that.
After everything is removed, we are left with an amazing amount of beef, hanging high in the air above our land, in all its glory. He then takes the cow and splits it into its two halves down the center. He turns one side out, so I can see the ribs and the spine. He pulls the spinal column out, which is a long, smooth, slick, thin, pristine white tube that slides right out of the structure holding in place. So cool!
Experience
After it was all said and done, from beginning to end, the entire process takes two hours. I chuckle to myself, thinking it’s still takes me about two hours to process four chickens. But, that’s what 33 years of experience will get you. I’m still green and learning. And that’s ok. Because God loves every single stage of our process in life. Just like as parents, we love every process and stage of our children’s lives, no matter what stage they’re in. So I will be kind to myself and love myself and be gracious in my understanding of the learning process.
After everything is done, he then takes our cow to the locally owned butcher where they then hang our beef to age for two weeks. After that, they will cut the beef into the choice cuts that we selected ourselves.
A Life Honored
For 30 months Christmas got to walk this earth. Breath this air. Watch the sun rise and set. He had a rough start to life. But he lived his remaining life in peace. He never had to leave his mother’s side. I was able to learn cattle from him and he taught me so much. Christmas was beautiful and he was appreciated. I am so grateful for the time I spent with him, the meat he provided us, and the hide that we will transform into art.
A Bit More on the Mini Zebu Bre
Mini Zebu are an ancient cow breed that are revered for their dairy and meat (depending on location) in areas of India and Africa. Their hides are oilier than their American full-sized cattle counterparts. This is to protect themselves from heavily fly-infested locations from which they originate. The mini cow market is on the rise for smaller farms and homesteads, allowing these facilities to raise their own beef, without needing as much room as a traditional sized cow. There is still a level of risk and danger in raising mini cow breeds, but there is less risk than full sized breeds. Mini Zebus take longer to mature than a standard sized cow; both sexually and for processing. And they are less hard on the land.
The Beef
Christmas finished at 500 pounds of hanging beef with his cuts being border-line premium. The beef is marbled beautifully and we will continue to use every bit of the beef we harvested from our beloved cow. I am grateful for this learning experience and even more grateful for the opportunities to raise our own food from beginning to end. There is a greater sense of respect for the animal, a greater sense of self reliability, and a greater sense of gratification when raising your own food.
Support Local
We are grateful for the opportunity have cattle. And we never know what the Lord will see our farm through. I would definitely recommend Paul Toole for your private farm butchering needs. Please show your support in keeping these traditions alive by buying your meat from a farmer or a local butcher in your area. Be blessed!