Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Mike CHS]

Hey Mike, sure could use a Mel fix...got any new pictures of the boy

Most I have are a month old or so but I'll take some new ones. Here is one you may not have seen before (a very young Mel)


MMel)

el

 

[Mike CHS]

I was getting ready to email Amazon to report three lost deliveries of packages then I remembered that delivery people will put mail and packages in a car or truck rather than leave anything on a door step. Since almost nobody locks vehicles around here it's common enough but since we are almost always home, I forgot about it. We do lock our house doors but most people here don't.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Awwwwww, there he is...how cute is that younger picture of him!!!!
Thank you for the Mel fix, I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms, lol

 

[Bruce]

And your packages were in a vehicle?

 

[farmerjan]

The cows are still here. I can get them in the trailer but my trailer doesn't have a divider so I need to be able to get rid of them both at the same time since when I try to trailer them, they are both going in.

I never say no to Teresa except when it comes to horses or mules as I don't want them out there.

Take one to the stockyard sale barn, then the other to the butcher. You can get them to separate them at the stockyard and reload the one you want to keep. Our stockyard does that often if we can't get them sorted at home or have a nut case that we load with someone sensible and then they just get a ride back home.
Is it a USDA plant? get them both done up and just sell the meat. Might take a little time but if someone were to taste it, I bet you could get it sold. PITA to sell by the piece, but better than taking a hit at the yard.
Speaking of that, went to a bred cow sale tonight, prices were a little better than the ones my son picked up last week, and no calves on the ground yet, but the guys were saying that we need to ship our 450-600 wt steers ASAP. Prices are up and they think they are going to drop off by March...... Hmmmm.... not what I was expecting to hear.... Said it was okay to hold off on the heifers, they ought to hold or go up a few cents......
So that means the 30+ steers out to that other pasture that some got mixed in with the neighbors when the bulls got to fighting and tore up fence.... we have a bunch of their cattle and they have some of ours.....need to be sorted out and brought home.

 

[Mike CHS]

And your packages were in a vehicle?

When the weather is rainy they do put them in one of the vehicles. Even the USPS does that plus we often put a dozen eggs in the mail box and raise the flag. If it's decent out they put them on the step by the front door but it has been raining almost non stop. Mel hears them when they turn into our driveway 1500' away at the road so we are usually out waiting for them if we are home.

 

[Mike CHS]

Thanks Jan. I'll talk to the sale barn and see if they are set up for that and they are usually easy to work with. We can't legally sell the meat here since we don't have a dedicated food storage area plus although we have three freezers, we won't have enough available storage for probably close to 8 or 900 lbs of beef. One of our freezers is full of sheep meat and the other is all veggies. We got the cows at a price that lets us make out decent even if the market is down.

 

[farmerjan]

@Mike CHS there is no reason that they can't let the 2 off the trailer, they have several pens that they will sort cattle in and they can easily run one in and the other they can just turn back and run back on the trailer. It is done all the time. Just ask. I am sure they would because it means that you are still going to sell one with them, and that is a commission in their pocket too. It isn't rocket science. Now if yuou were trying to take advantage of it, and it was one of their busiest days/times I can see them not wanting to do it. But, it won't take them 10 minutes to sort the one off and run him back. Plus, they have to go through a chute so they can tag them separately, because they do not match due to color and size and build from what I saw in the pictures you posted last. Not saying there is anything wrong, they are 2 different types of animal. At that size seldom are any sold together because they are either destined for a feed lot to put more finish on, or they will be sold to an individual who might be looking for a beef. Whichever, they would be channeled down a chute for a backtag" to be put on them, and run on the scale individually. So at any of these points the one you are keeping can be turned back. Might be interesting to see what each weighs.
This time of year they shouldn't be so terribly busy to be swamped.... don't see why they wouldn't do it.

If they each weigh 1000, you would get about 300 +/- lbs of actual meat back from each. Just a thought for you to consider. If it is vacuum packed, it would keep in the freezer for several years in very good shape. Contrary to what all the experts tell you, I have kept beef for several years and it has been just fine to eat. So you might want to see if the butcher only found someone wanting a half, you would still have plenty of room. In fact, you should be able to handle both if the freezer is empty at this time.

 

[Baymule]

We bought a half a beef 3 years ago and I still have some of it. It is a good as the first day. With the pork, chicken and lamb we have, we don't eat as much beef as we used to. A full freezer is a great problem to have.

 

[Bruce]

Contrary to what all the experts tell you, I have kept beef for several years and it has been just fine to eat.

Does it matter if it is a self defrosting freezer or not? My understanding is freezer burn happens during the warm up to defrost cycle.