Carla D-Great new adventures and an Amazing Life

[Carla D]

He is a cross because he doesn't have true gopher ears, he has elf ears.
...and he is a cutie!

As far as children and farm life- it is what you make it. My children and most of my friends that have children grow up understanding where their food comes from and that is a good thing. These same children love on their animals, care for them, cry when something gets taken by a predator, is injured, or dies from an accident or illness. They have compassion and they learn that. Come slaughter day they are there and are included. They are thankful for food on the table and know they gave them a good life. With our goats we take them to the processor because it is more time efficient for us and we get the cuts we want. It is a great option for them to pay on the hoof, then you transport to processor and they pick up and pay the fee.
This is one of the boxes we got back. We had most of the meat ground.
View attachment 61266

“Pay on the hoof”, is that actual live weight after being on a scale?

 

[Carla D]

I will say that my children 7,5,3 have some idea of what happens. They understand that some animals go to market and some go to butcher. They also understand that we eat some of them. They have a harder time with certain animals that they get attached to also. Others that are a pain, they are glad to see them go.

I would be honest but only provide a few specifics if you share with Abigail. Something along the lines of (we believe in God and that our animals have souls and will be in heaven to so change according to your beliefs) we can’t keep every animal born here and some we are able to sell to others as pets but some will become food. (Insert name/description) is being sold. He/she can’t stay on the farm any longer and we need to say goodbye.

This is really good to know. I don’t think there are enough children that know about the life cycle of animals much less than farm animals and where their protein comes from. Meat, milk, eggs, cheese. My daughter is going to know, but I didn’t want to teach all of it at once. She’s very familiar will stillborn, sick, and dying or dead baby pigs. We have a few each season. I guess she may not be too young about butchering of animals. Thank you to both of you for sharing about your children. That’s a big help.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

“Pay on the hoof”, is that actual live weight after being on a scale?

Yes. It’s live weight.

Some places use hanging weight (skinned, blood drained, innards gone, extremities removed, basically the main muscling and connective tissue.) The facility has to be equipped to do this.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

I love my Lamanchas! Their personality is amazing. Several of my Nigerians...not so much. My Boers and Boer/Kikos weren’t near as social either.

 

[Carla D]

Yes. It’s live weight.

Some places use hanging weight (skinned, blood drained, innards gone, extremities removed, basically the main muscling and connective tissue.) The facility has to be equipped to do this.

Thank you for the explanation. We use hanging weight with the locker here in town.

 

[Carla D]

I sold the six wethers I was willing to sell. Today wasn’t tough. They went to a small farm with several different animals. The guy was such an animal lover that he pet every little critter that was within his reach including our farm cats. He was so gentle. Their little farm has chickens, goats, Great Pyrenees, couple cows, cats and pigs. I feel good about where they went. Despite them being from a different culture I think they will be very well cared for and loved as I would hope they’d be. I’m not fooling myself, they may get eaten eventually but they are going to have a really good life.

The two that we kept were acting very differently after the rest left. They were breathing quite heavy and almost panting. All of our goats big and small were loose outside and playing together for about an hour. They all played really well together. Tanner and Jacks behavior changed slightly. They were rearing up and gently butting with a couple of the little ones. I’m not sure if they were actually playing or warning the little ones. Tanner actually grabbed the ear of a couple of little goats. I’m not sure if this change in behavior was stress related to their playmates leaving the farm or not. Their heavy breathing and panting may have been stress related or exertion related. They don’t usually get that much time and space to run and jump around in. I do know one thing. I wont be letting all ten to run around together until I’m sure Tanner and Jack have adjusted to being a smaller group.

I’m not so sure how we will all feel in the morning when we go to the farm and do chores and cares. It’s going to be really strange only having two big guys in that pen. Everything went really smoothly today. I wrangled the babies back into their pen and my husband and the couple put the big guys in the trailer. Not how I had planned, but this might have been easier on me and the boys because there was no sadness or apprehension at the time of their departure. This couple had the most impressive trailer to haul their livestock home in. It was actually an enclosed utility trailer, nothing huge. But I had a nice back window on the door. And it had been retrofitted with vents not only for circulation but it has a couple in the front corners so they would be getting a good flow of fresh air on their trip. They had it professionally created when they decided to do some hobby farming. It looked easy to clean, it had a ramp for some animals, amazing airflow and it had a skylight on it as well. It was a little trailer to be envious of.

 

[Carla D]

They are at their new home. They look happy there. That looks like a really awesome goat setup.

 

[greybeard]

I would not like buying any kind of meat on a "live-on-the-hoof" basis if it is sold by the lb. It would have to be an extremely low price/lb....close to or below sale barn price, especially, if I still had to pay processor costs. I've never seen a processor that couldn't weigh the carcass.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

I would not like buying any kind of meat on a "live-on-the-hoof" basis if it is sold by the lb. It would have to be an extremely low price/lb....close to or below sale barn price, especially, if I still had to pay processor costs. I've never seen a processor that couldn't weigh the carcass.

We've always done it this way, as do all the folks that we know (well, the ones that we talk to often/have a relationship with).
I've never had anyone balk at the price, if they do they can walk Works great for us. They pic the goat up on butcher day (or the day before) and we get $2-$2.50/lb live weight on the hoof. No hassle.

 

[Mike CHS]

I know of several sheep producers that also do it that way. One of the bigger growers just across the Kentucky line is selling right now 150 ram lambs that they weigh on the way to the trailer and they get $2.00 a pound.