New Experineces

I didn't do a whole lot on Saturday this weekend.. Just kinda hung out all day.. nothing pressing.. But I do do something new on Sunday.

May neighbor had a cow go down with a leg or hip injury a little while ago. They tried to take her to the butcher to have her processed but because she couldn't walk no one would take her. SO the delima was what to do with her next.

Thy didn't want to just shoot her and make coyote food out of her but they realy weren't sure what to do. Then my neighbors asked I wanted to help them butcher the cow.

uumm.. sure I will help.. I won't kill the animal but I will help butcher it so that it can go in the freezer. I did bring up one concern.. The cow had been down almost 4 weeks, and I wasn't sure if the meat would be any good. Coudl she be septic? Well I didn't want any of the meat if she were. SO I brought that up to my neighbors and they called the vet to ask because I had raised a REALLY good point. The vet told us what to look for and if she didn't have any of the signs he listed then it would be fine to put her in the freezer.

Well all clear.. so the guys went out and took care of hte "yucky" part of it and then brought back the carcass..
HOLY MOLY!!!
that is a ALOT of meat. It took about 6 hours of cutting to get her all portioned out and ready for the freezer. I know we did not cut the meat the right way but we did try to stay true to the chart. Only finding a good chart on how to butcher for specific cuts is really hard to do.. so we had a basic one with some guidelines on each of the sections. But I am certain that we made roasts out of what should have been bruger or steaks, and made steaks out of what should have been roasts.. But hey we got it all done.. so that is all that matters at this point.


I have never seen so much meat in one place.. EVER..
I was amazed.. It totally renewed my want to raise a cow of our own to butcher. Only I don't want to do the cutting.. or the wrapping..

Because of my hand I couldn't cut a lot but I sure could wrap it and label it. baskets and baskets of beef..


Last night after it was all over V did find a book and ordered it. It tells you how to do all of it and even salt cure and smoke meats too.. So it I am ever in the position I was yesterday I will have a book that tells me how to do it the right way.. :)

So yeah.. learning new things all of the time.