Thanks to some friends, as they actually did the work. Butchering is brand new to JD and I, and we had no clue what to do. This steer was crazy--tore up fence, got out often, charged me and JD, even charged his own reflection in the pond. He had to go. Trouble was, he had no intention of getting into the trailer to take a ride to the butcher. The state laws say he has to arrive alive, so the idea of shooting him here, then delivering him was out.
So, some friends of ours came over (thanks Eddie and Jenny!) and the men shot him, and shot him. He refused to go down. Finally he did. We got him skinned and ready to the point of starting to cut the meat cuts we want tomorrow. It was cold, 31 degrees. We started a little after 9 this morning.
Around 6 we took him to another set of friends (Craig and Kelly's) and put him in their building. The have a nice area where we can finish up tomorrow out of the wind!
He is huge. Much bigger than we thought--somehow he looked smaller in the pasture. Having never done this before, we had no idea what we were getting into. We just knew we didn't want to have him on the farm for another summer and that we didn't want to butcher him after the weather got warm. We are glad to be rid of him, and all involved will have meat for the freezers.
Tomorrow evening the girls are in a science fair in St Joseph MO. We have a volcano, weather research and information on recycling and trash. They will be finishing up the final touches tomorrow after church, so us girls may miss out on part of day 2 of the butchering.
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