Why I Didn't Post A Photo Today

[madshutterbug]

This morning, up around the early end of usual for a weekend, and after coffee and cereal I went off to purchase livestock feed. Also put petrol in Forrest NissanPickup. On arriving home, the fellow we hire to kill & dress a cow already on site, and I’d just missed the killing. They’d dragged Samuel’s carcass out of the cow paddock, and were beginning to hang for dressing. I fed the rest of the animals and started unloading the feed (unload & feed cows first, then horses, then first feed, after begin to unload goat), when Herself said they needed a saw because their chain saw wouldn’t work.

By the time we got the saws-all there with generator, they were through the hind-quarters and fixing to lay those into the truck. The only blade I had for the saws-all is a bit short, and we wound up cutting the fore-quarters with his hand saw. Still and all, from killing to leaving, with maybe a quarter hour spent just talking at the end, we were done with the biggest part by 10:30. Herself & I then collected the tongue, sited the head, and moved some things over by the House or Studio. I went back out with Squrrl to collect the generator, and then we drove back out to deal with entrails.

That was fun. The bloke called us with the dressed carcass weight, 209 kg - 460 pounds of gonna be beef.. At any rate, we’re estimating Samuel at 591 kg - 1300 pounds walking weight. Since we only hang about 1/3 of the total walking weight, well, we figure there were around 227 kg - 500 pounds of entrails.

Which we did not want to leave where they were, as being too close to some goats or horses and too enticing to Coyote. So we did not leave them there, and worked rather smarter than otherwise to improvise a means to drag the entrails to where we usually leave such. Then we washed off his hide and stowed it into a freezer until the tanning solution arrives.

Herself plans on tanning his hide. Keep this thought in mind, folks, if she ever tells you not to jump fences.

After a brief rest, with a light lunch of hard boiled eggs from our very own DirtyYardbirds and needed fluids, I fielded a phone call from Ms Peggy regarding another hay delivery for the survivors. Stay in the paddock, get hay! And Fuds! Jump fences, get shot, skinned, hide tanned, and et by monkeys!

Which would you choose?


Now I’m doing laundry. Later, well, we’re planning on souvlaki for dinner. Goat. Yes. It’s a good thing I’ve opted for laundry today, because the laundry mat will be closed tomorrow for Mothers Day. I opted for today because tomorrow I plan on taking Herself over to Waldo, where there is someone she wants to see at the flea market who makes parts for our low-end tarp pavilions. We use those for temporary shelter (primarily shade, some rain protection) for the younger goats in their respective temporary pens.

They’re temporary so we can move the pens about, giving the grass a chance to recover. Making the most of the limited area we’ve got, and while our limited area sounds like a lot to folk living in city, it requires the attention we give it to make the Ranch a working place.

Comments

[aineotter.livejournal.com]

Nom. Grass fed beef.

I find a bow saw works for most things. We have that, and a bandsaw, but it can all be done with the bow saw except getting out the spinal cord, which I expect you aren't really interested in doing anyway.

[madshutterbug.livejournal.com]

They do get supplemental; we had 10 cows on 20 acres. Still, their primary source is the grass, and the leaves, and the whatever else they find out there. *G*

We weren't interested in keeping the spinal cord intact, correct. His hand saw is akin to a bow saw; a much longer frame than I've seen for hacksaws, though the same design.

I am working on your Icons request; debating about posting the reply at your place rather than here, as I've already got the Icons meme up. We'll see.

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

I'd choose A, but IANAC. (We have a dedicated saws-all just for dressing deer.)