A few weeks ago, the butcher came to the farm (he has a rolling, refrigerated abattoir) to help Pepper, one of our registered Brangus mamas, fulfill her final task on earth. She had been having trouble giving birth to new babies, so she was destined for the freezer. I hated to see her go, but Mr. Hicks is very gentle, and Pepper was content with her yummy hay when the deed was done, so . . .
Today, Danny and I went to pick up the frozen packages. We brought home 572 pounds of roasts and ground beef. We weren't sure about her tenderness, so we didn't get anything cut into steaks this time. The 3 girls bought 3/4 and we will keep the rest. We are so blessed in this day of factory farms, agrichemicals, and who-knows-what kind of animal diseases to be able to raise our own beef and know what it was fed, who it has associated with, and how it was slaughtered.
On the way home, we stopped at a large farmers' market and picked up several cases of fresh produce: corn, tomatoes, peaches, zucchini, watermelons and cantaloupe. How grateful we are to be able to learn from the ant and provide our food in the summer and gather when the time is appropriate for harvest. We'll have some good fresh produce for a while and put some up for later.
We had two babies born this spring to help replenish the herd. Mocha, one of the heifers, had her first little bull, and Latte', the little mixed breed we didn't hold much hope for, had a sweet little brown and white heifer. Latte' has become a very trustworthy and gentle mama, to our pleasant surprise.
We sold Chip the BIG bull to a friend, and we will be getting a bull from him when it gets big enough. So there will be some new bloodlines on the farm. Thank you, Lord, for the way Your plan works -- You faithfully provide "food convenient" for us, day by day. Thank you, faithful Father.
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2 comments:
You've had Chip quite a long time, haven't you, Bonnie? It'll be interesting to see how the new bull does!
Such interesting tales have been told about your herd of cows over the years *grin*
Blessings,
Tammy ~@~
Yes, Chip has been the ole patriarch for over 5 years. We got him and Pepper at the same time, a couple of years after that bad teenage cow, Cocoa. But Chip has too many daughters in the herd for him to be a good head bull anymore. He is happy where he is, and we can visit if we want to.
Cocoa, who used to be the source of a whole lot of aggravation, has settled down to being a good herd mama. She isn't friendly by any means, but she is productive and stable.
Hey, Tammy, thanks for caring about the adventures of Dayspring Farm!
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