We finished our chiller a few weeks ago, allowed it to air out, and over the weekend we finally got to test it out. We butchered up our calf that should have been done back in the spring of 2021. The morning started out in the pasture where the cows and sheep were grazing. It was cloudy and cool with some cloud cover and the pasture was quiet. Caleb got his gun ready and waited for the perfect shot. The steer that he was aiming at was calm and at peace as it ate some grass and looked up at Caleb occasionally. At just the right time Caleb fired a perfect shot that dropped the cow instantly. The steer didn’t even see what was coming. We were all in agreement that this was a really humane way to end his life, and because there was no stress on the cow, the meat should be great quality. Keeping animal stress low is so important in the quality of meat that there is actually work being done to try to breed this gene out. My thoughts on this issue is that we should stop playing God in the lab and figure out ways to keep the stress low on the animals. It’s good for the animals and it’s good for us.

We tried to use everything we could from the animal, except we ran into a few problems. Kailey took the hide and is experimenting with tanning it. I took the liver and made liver jerky (the only liver I can stand so far), we used the tail for some delicious soup the next day, and I’m still trying to figure out what to do with the heart. I asked Cory and Caleb to save the intestines for me, so I could use them for making natural meat products, but after a lot of struggle, we gave up because we couldn’t figure it out. It sounds gross, but if done correctly, it can be a great savings. There’s a mucus membrane that separates the waste from the casing that is used to stuff meat.  If you are good and careful this won’t mix. Apparently, we weren’t good or careful and for once I couldn’t find a good video to watch on removing the intestines. It also didn’t help that we had a plague of tiny black bugs that insisted on biting us and driving us a little crazy. Caleb and I are planning to process a lamb this week and we are hoping to figure out the casings on a smaller animal. Any tips would be so appreciated! Thanks!

I asked Caleb and Cory what they thought of our first beef processing endeavor and they both said it was good. We still have a lot to learn and could use a better set up, but we are thankful for what we have, and we will continue to pray that God will provide the rest of our needs to keep going. As we experience growing pains and struggles with the unknown, we continue to seek the best for our animals and customers. All of our lamb appointments are filled, but we have a few lambs to process this winter for customers and had hoped to have something legal in place to do them, but I can say that it will take a miracle to get that point. We know this for sure, God is good and He will provide the wisdom, time, and finances to keep going if it’s His will. With all the processing issues we have experienced, we want to thank all of you for your patience and grace. We don’t know what the future holds, but I can tell you that we love raising good quality food for our family and you. It blesses us to have such amazing customers!