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| This is my steer! There are many like it, but this one is mine! |
Yesterday, Katie and I had the unusual (in this day and age) pleasure of helping to select the beef we’ll be eating for the next several months. A few weeks ago, we placed an order with Innisfree for a “quarter” of beef, which is essentially half of a side. Last week, my brother said that the steer was ready, and so it was time to round up the herd again, sort out The Bull (who is going to see his other lady friends at a different farm), and the steers, one of whom is ready for the butcher.
And for once, things went exactly as they should have. The entire herd was just hanging out in the barn in the morning, so we didn’t have to round anybody up. Most of the mama cows sorted out easily enough, and then The Bull and two of the steers wandered into the corral all on their own, saving us the usual half hour of cajoling and poking with sticks. After they were sorted, we gave them a bunch of hay and water to last them until the trailer ride over the weekend.
This will be the final departure for The Bull too, but for different reasons. He’s gotten substantially too large and a bit too cantankerous for the herd (and for us!), and so we’ll be looking for a new hombre come Spring.