We are back from the great American cow butchering that takes place several times a year at @shalomacres. Usually a few hands show up to help make short work of cow that the family takes and puts in their pantry either by freezing it or canning it. Some of it may end up in sausage or hard salami that will keep all year round. It's yummy! Trust me! It makes driving to his farm worth it every time.
Participating hands included myself, @shalomacres @randomstuff @papa-pepper and @beatitudes8 along with his son Tim.
We got up at about 6am and made coffee. I have to start the day off right. Chris (@shalomacres) called in the cows from the pasture and we singled out Oreo. She is a three year old cow I believe that has never been able to conceive. Chris thinks this is because that female cows born as twins to a brother are sterile. But because he bought the cow at a sale barn he didn't know that. So today, we are going to eat an Oreo.
With the cow dispatched, we quickly went to work and field dressed the animal and started the work of pulling off the hide. Every one working has had some good experience with butchering animals so the work went pretty fast. The hide is heavy and @papa-pepper wanted it to take home and work on its preservation using a method involving...um...urine from a native American....and lots of teeth marks...Um, ok. I'll let him explain that to you. Best of luck!
Once you have the hide off the animal, the meat recovery begins and we start to quarter. First the shoulders, then the backstraps and brisket. Little by little the meat is quickly packed into coolers destined for another station where someone is waiting to process the meat into its final product.
This photo is @shalomacres and @beatitudes8 taking off the left shoulder.
@beatitudes8 posing for a shot with the left shoulder after it's detached from the carcass.
We started the process around 7am and by 10:30am, we are getting close to being done. The remains including the head and intestines will be burned on a fire to keep any scavengers from getting of the animal. But wait! What is @Papa-Pepper doing with the head?
He keeps mentioning some kind of Mexican dish called Barbara Streisan...or something or other. I'm not sure but he's determined to get the tongue out of the head before it gets burned.
Oh, @Papa-pepper put up a post on making tacos with the tongue. They actually look quite tasty!
@papa-pepper/cow-tongue-tacos-barbacoa-de-lengua
Well there you go! We got the job done and we took a few of the cow bones back to the homestead so Jaimie could make beef stock. We love beef stock and usually keep a good assortment of stock on the shelves of the pantry. This is Jaimie's second batch of stock she's made since I've been home. She will probably make a couple more before its over.
Animal butchering is a winter activity for farms and homesteads. We try to give our animals a long healthy and happy life but their job is to provide and feed our families. They're not pets and there comes a day when you have to harvest and take them as food. It's just life on the homestead.
See you next time!
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