My cow is too cute to eat!

[BabyMac]

We're pretty new to the backyard farming/homesteading thing and all has been well...moved to agricultural zone, quasi-gardening, raising & hatching chickens, harvesting eggs, eating them. Mmm yummy. But we can eat the eggs and still get to play with our pet chickens during/after breakfast.
So my dilemma-We've always wanted to buy a half a cow for freezer storage, and had an opportunity to raise an unwanted drop calf. We picked him up (farmer asked if wanted to take another one too..uhm no let me see if this one doesn't die first), brought him home and I started humming to myself....I want my babymac, babymac...I want my babymac, babymac, babymac ribs. BABY.....BABYBACK RIBS! and bbq sauce (it's the chili's song) Anyhoo, long story short. We've got him on bottle and bucket (finally), steered him, dehorned him, my boys have him using a halter and lead... my daughters bring out blankets and snacks and they all nap together under the sun... and he's just too dang cute to eat. Can't I just put a saddle on him and let the kids ride him or rent him out to plow some fields or something??
Grrr, we are also incubating about 30 eggs because with 9 hens all laying it takes about 2 weeks to get enough eggs for my family to have scrambled eggs and that doesn't count for any cooking/baking needs. Anyhoo, so someday I'm going to have an excess of chickens and hopefully I hatch out more pullets than cockrels, but even then. What to do with the cockrels? 4 months of guesswork to find out your favorite hen is a he, and he is now annoying.
I should also mention that I am a reformed vegetarian I went to a small private school that took a field trip to one of the parents *ahem* processing plants. I was only 11 and kinda traumatized till about 16.

Help?! Anyone eaten their pets lately? SEE! That sounds awful! But somebody needs to eat them, right?

Ugh, signed the crazy lady raising livestock and eating the grass instead.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Just think of it this way: he may be cute now, but when he gets around 900 to 1000 lbs the cute-factor will be well-worn off. Trust me on that. They usually start wearing off the cuteness when they reach around weaning age (i.e, between 4 to 6 or 8 months of age), and even more so if he starts to push your two kids around to the point where he will (NOT may) cause injury. By that time you just can't wait to get rid of him and put him in the freezer!!

 

[elevan]

Just think of it this way: he may be cute now, but when he gets around 900 to 1000 lbs the cute-factor will be well-worn off. Trust me on that. They usually start wearing off the cuteness when they reach around weaning age (i.e, between 4 to 6 or 8 months of age), and even more so if he starts to push your two kids around to the point where he will (NOT may) cause injury. By that time you just can't wait to get rid of him and put him in the freezer!!

x2

We're raising our first steer. He'll go to the processor shortly.

When I first got him he was so cute and sweet. Now he's a menace and I cannot wait for him to go.

 

[redtailgal]

lol. Bless your heart.

You started out right.........a food name.

It's harder with kids. You want this to be a postive experience, or at least not a horrid experience.

First of all, you need to start curtailing the activities your kids have with him. I know it REALLY cute right now, but he is gonna get really big really fast and in just a few short weeks its going to be dangerous to allow your kids on the same side of the fence as him. He WILL view them as playmates, and he WILL want to hop, and bounce and kick..........one kick is all it takes to hurt those beautiful children of yours.

Curtailing the calf/children activites will not only protect your kids, but start the detachment process as well.

Because he is bottle raised, as he gets older he WILL get more and more pushy and demanding. Oftentimes, a bottle raised steer even gets a little aggressive. The cuteness will wear off.

Start NOW, each time you go out by talking to the kids about when Babymac grows up....tell them how grateful that you are that babymac is going to provide food for the family by dying and giving meat. Make each contact with him a reminder of what is to come and think of it in positive terms. (I often tell the calves "Your gonna make a wonderful cheeseburger!" and my goats "Your gonna make some wonderful BBQ!"

The first one is always hard. Be brave and follow it thru, it will get easier.

Those extra cockeral..........start there. Eat them. Make them your first hurdle and it will make it easier to turn lil Mac into a Bigmac.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

I can appreciate your comment. They are cute. They are darn cute! Look at those big brown eyes! But...as others have said, there will come a day, when the cute factor is taken over by the pushy, messy factor and you will at least be able to muster up the gumption to have them slaughtered if you keep it in your mind that this is what they are for.

I had several minutes yesterday, that if I had a gun in my hand all 4 of mine would have been done. All I had was a steel rake and for that they are fortunate! I don't have a quick temper, I am very patient. But yesterday was one of those moments that the cute factor was not there.

I don't think I will ever be "happy" when one is slaughtered. (unless of course it is a problem cow) But I will be appreciative for what they will give us. My guess is, in time, you will be this way too.

Can't wait to see pictures as they grow!

 

[lovinglife]

I agree with all that has been said. My Granddaughter came over a few years ago when we had three calves, she asked what their names were and I taught them to her. Later that year when they had gone to the butcher, she wanted to know where the cows were, I said in the freezer. She just said, oh, ok well....you better get some more! She was 4. Now she is 6 and she knows we eat the cute little bunnies and the big cows and she is fine with it. My daughter was like MOM! You didn't have to tell her that, and I was accused of being the mean heartless granny here at work. That all being said, Katelin knows we raise our own food, that it had a good life and it was fullfilling its purpose on my farm. Our meat is clean, no hormones or antibiotice needed, and we try not to hide the process. I imagine there are some out there that just cannot eat what they raise, but having grown up on a farm it was a daily fact, you adjust.

My cows now, I cannot wait to get them to the butcher!!! They have destroyed the sprinklers and the trees in our pasture, they so need to go, sometime next week I hope!

 

[Kellykidz]

We have Deli in the freezer disappearing quickly. Fillet and Minion are in the pasture. We also have our cows and a heifer that we will be keeping. My kids are older but we worried the girls said they wouldn't eat her. Deli was so DELICIOUS we all are looking forward to eating more home grown beef.

Good Luck!

 

[Cricket]

I still have a hard time! It helps to get a new calf a couple of weeks before butchering and transferring all attention to the new one. (Yep, it feels like you're being shallow!). I also eat something other than beef for the first few weeks, then break myself in on spaghetti sauce, etc. Then about a month out I can actually sink my teeth into a steak!

I helped my stepson and family move across country last summer and we passed by what I guess was a feedlot. Hundreds of young stock with hardly room to move, no shade, 112 degrees, and a water truck passing thru. The smell was just like a slaughterhouse--don't know if they butchered them on site or not. But it makes you feel really good about eating what you raise and the lovely life they have! Good luck and enjoy!

 

[greybeard]

Ya should have bought a pig if you want babyback ribs--that's where they come from--pork.
Just send the wee calf to me--I'll take good care of it.

(on a completely (i promise) unrelated note--what do ya guess it would [strike]dress out[/strike] I mean weigh right now? For curiosity's sake of course)

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Quite on topic here. This is a dinner conversation we had with our 7 year old grand daughter Emma on Saturday night. We were eating BBQ ribs.

She says, "What is ribs, pig?"
I said, "yep."
She says, "Like your pigs?"
I said, "yep."
She says, "Do you still have your pigs?"
I said, "No, didn't you notice?"
She said, "No." "Are these your pigs?"
I said, "yep."
She put it down and said, "I'm a little sad."

That was the end of the BBQ ribs for Em. The farmer and I ate ours however and they were delish!