We spent the day Saturday preparing 2 beef for the freezer and canning. Again, like the description of our chicken butchering day, this will be graphic and seemingly inhumane. If you eat beef, this process cannot be avoided.
First, I want to share 2 comical pictures that were taken while we were shuffling the girls around. This one is not one we butchered, but is going to the auction. Oh, how stubborn they can be!! How many farmers does it take to move a heifer?
The first thing in the beef processing is killing (of course!) and it is done in a very humane way. We lured her to a safe area where she is killed - the men hate this part of butchering. Dave asked that no pictures of that be included on here. It is just too sad.
Ben was the "expert". He walked us through each step and allowed the boys to participate in whatever they were able to. He is a good teacher! The heifer was laid on her back and the skinning process begun. Please remember that these steps are much easier in a butcher shop setting, where all the equipment and tools are ready to go. When we do this at home, it certainly is not as convenient. It works, though, and Ben is itching to have it more professional. Maybe one day.....
Did you know they have a joint at this location on their legs (where Ben is cutting)? Can't figure out why.
Sawzall is used to cut bone.
Hung and ready for gutting.
Stomachs..........(they have 4)
Intestines.........(Dave trying to hold them in bucket). Did you know that the "old-timers" used to clean the intestines and use them for sausage casings?
Liver.......
Heart.............If we had a heart and a set of lungs these sizes, we would be able to do things effortlessly.......the only thing is that we would need very large muscles and arteries, also!
This is the inside of one of the stomachs. Do you notice the lining of the stomach and the "fingers" attached? They are what absorbs the nutrients from the hay/grain/grass. Bovine will eat LOTS of long stemmed hay at once and will fill their stomachs. Then they will go lay down somewhere, regurgitate that hay and chew it again till it looks similiar to what you see below. That is what we call "chewing their cud". Maybe sometime I will explain the 4 stomachs.
The naked heifer is then cut in half....
The halves are cut in quarters to make it easier to handle.
The little boys were given the bones (and pieces) that needed to be trimmed for hamburger. Ben would do the "professional" cuts - such as sirloin steaks and roast, delmonico steaks and roast, bottom round and top round steaks and roast, etc.. When he is at the butcher shop, they use a saw similiar to a table saw, but here he had to use the sawzall. Don't worry - it was a brand new blade!
Some steaks and roasts ready to be bagged for freezer.....
Cubes that are going to be ground into hamburger.....
Cubes to be put into canning jars........
Fill quart jars to rim with cubes of meat, add 1/2 - 1 tsp. salt, add lids and process in pressure canner at 10# for 1 1/2 hrs. (90 min,). Do NOT add liquid to jars. The meat makes liquid. It is great to have on hand to add to stews, etc..
I forgot to take pictures of the trimmed bones that we use to make scrapple (yes, we make scrapple from beef, it is good!). Hopefully we will be making that in the next day or 2. I will do a separate post on how to make scrapple.
We had a fun time together again preparing for the future. We started about 10:30 and finished up about 8:30. Dave & I did chores in the afternoon while the boys continued working on meat. Humbly grateful for family and for the provisions that the Lord sees fit to give us.
Until next time..............
Well, we had one option....pick up the hay by hand.....and that is exactly what we did. After some of us raked the rows into piles, others came along and picked them up and threw them on the wagon.
Dave is determined to change that! Boot camp, here I come! While they hiked the rest of the way, I got to visit with another woman who only made it that far, also. She was a dairy farmer's wife, so it was fun to be able to relate to each other. When at the top, you can see for miles and miles.
