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And some good news in my life....
Big Sky Redneck
Member Posts: 19,752 ✭✭✭
My other thread is all doom and gloom, here is some good news.
I don't have a way to weigh him but he is visibly gaining weight and is a lot more responsive. He gets bottle fed 2 ounces of milk replacer 3-4 times a day, he eats some hay but I'm not seeing much evidence that he has tried his milk pellets and grain, he is drinking some water but not much. Little bugger can chug two ounces of milk in a couple minutes. I gave him an antibiotic shot in the rump two days ago and a dose of topical dewormer and fly/lice repellant. Need to be carefull though, he's turning into a puppy, I'm hoping as he gets older he get's an artitude because that will make his day easier to deal with, he will be turner into rib eyes, NY Strips, hamburger and roasts!
https://youtu.be/EhtD-urIkZ0
I don't have a way to weigh him but he is visibly gaining weight and is a lot more responsive. He gets bottle fed 2 ounces of milk replacer 3-4 times a day, he eats some hay but I'm not seeing much evidence that he has tried his milk pellets and grain, he is drinking some water but not much. Little bugger can chug two ounces of milk in a couple minutes. I gave him an antibiotic shot in the rump two days ago and a dose of topical dewormer and fly/lice repellant. Need to be carefull though, he's turning into a puppy, I'm hoping as he gets older he get's an artitude because that will make his day easier to deal with, he will be turner into rib eyes, NY Strips, hamburger and roasts!
https://youtu.be/EhtD-urIkZ0
Comments
Now I am relieved!![:D]
Dang Big Sky, at first I thought you were talking about your son!!
Now I am relieved!![:D]
He can't say Daddy, but he does utter out Moooom sometimes!
My two legged boys don't much care for me but as long as I keep food and water coming my four legged boys are glad to have me! [:D]
No way I could raise a young animal then "butcher" it
It happens every day all over the world, it's called life. To me it is no different than shooting a deer or rabbit, I would say shooting an elk but I haven't had much luck with that lately [B)]
No way I could raise a young animal then "butcher" it
The first trick is don't name it. My mother always had a problem with that.
No way I could raise a young animal then "butcher" it
+1
just can't , i dont care who else does it
Now there is a plan B in place, if for some reason we just cannot kill this guy we will haul him back to the sale and sell him then buy another for immediate slaughter but I don't want to do that because I know what this guy is eating and will eat, he will be fed in such a manner as to produce awsome steaks. Grass fed untill about 90 days out then all the grain he can eat.
Ya gotta learn to seperate pets from food, treat it as raising tomatoes in your garden or plucking an apple from a tree. Besides, all the bovine I've been around in my life has all grown up to be mean, cranky, antisocial buttheads and that makes it easy. To hsve an adult cow/bull/steer grow up as a pet some serious human affectionate intervention has taken place!
No way I could raise a young animal then "butcher" it
I've never raised cows. But chickens or goats aren't a problem. Get critters with the intention of food and keep that on your mind. Unlike some others have said I don't generally have a problem naming food animals. This ones breakfast. This ones lunch and this ones supper. [:D]
I really hope the 2ozes 3 or 4 times a day is missing some numbers. A calf should be feed twice a day 12 hours apart. They need 16 to 32 ounces a day at three weeks of age. Don't starve the little guy to death.
Nobody knows how old he is, he is older than 3 weeks though!! Plus he's eating hay on top of the bottle feeding.
Now here is what makes me scratch my head. My uncle who raises calves for a living was sent pictures of him amd I have his recomendations. I also have a rancher here who checked him out, have his recomendations, then I have the lady whomdold me the milk formula and her recomendations, then I have the guy at the feed barn and his recomendations, then the rancher I met at Murchdochs when I was buying the dewormer and medicine and I have his recomendations, I also have recomendations from the sale barn employees.
Now take all this information with a lot of it conficting, add it to what I already knew from being raised on my uncles farm when Grandp was still here and the countless dairy farms I frew up working on and bottle feeding calves right out of the milk tank plus the teo feeders Inraised and had butcherd when I lived in PA, add all this up along with everything I've been told on here and you can see why I'm doing what I'm doing!
Trust me, this little fella aint starving and he's packing on some weight in the time I've had him here, 6 days! He went from inly standing for a couple minutes, feeding while laying down and a bag of bones to where he runs around his pen, chases and nuzzles us like he's a puppy, to doing the normal pulling and headbutting while feeding him the bottle and getting round. I must be doing something right.
He will be banded in a few days after his next shot, now some say it needs to be done within a week or two and others do it any time, my uncle has banded yearlings while others think the knife is the only way. What way is the right way? Well it depends on who you talk to!
My god, post something nice and get put on the defensive and accused of starving him!
We always named them, and would talk about how good Leonard or Henry tasted while eating dinner.
Just another day in the life on a hobby farm.
Pigs were a little different because they seemed to have much more distinct personalities.
Brad Steele
So are you going to invite us all to the barbecue?
Going to be next fall depending on how heavy he is!
quote:Originally posted by JamesRK
quote:Originally posted by beneteau
No way I could raise a young animal then "butcher" it
The first trick is don't name it. My mother always had a problem with that.
Yeah but, you didn't name the tomatoes and apples.[:)]
Or name it Burger, Steak, BBQ Etc.
quote:Originally posted by JamesRK
quote:Originally posted by beneteau
No way I could raise a young animal then "butcher" it
The first trick is don't name it. My mother always had a problem with that.
Some friends of my kids name theirs, but they do not have daily contact with the animal, an uncle that does not live nearby raises it (probably just keeps the tenderloins for his trouble...) They may see it when it is purchased or a picture, but when they walk in and ask what is for supper and Mom says Bessie, they are not freaked out... Pretty sure mine would....
Don't worry about naming that damn calf!
Call him "fluffy" if you want. It's a damn calf. Feed him up and get him ready for market.
I don't slaughter our steers, I just ship them out to the processor...get them back in a box (or boxes). You should do the same.
I get no attachment to these animals. Yeah, they're cute as youngsters, but they become cattle. Names be damned.
You get hard after a while. Doesn't matter anymore. What matters is money. When you look back on how hard you've busted your * on these animals sometimes, it's easy to say goodbye. I've never felt bad for one of them, not even one.
I've probably put some of the best steaks in the intermountain west on people's tables with these steers. Got one in my freezer even. Never hurt my feelings...and he even had a name, "Junior Mint". Still tastes good!
Get over it, man. This is adult stuff. These aren't pets...they're stock. If the wife and kids get hooked up, then keep them away. These animals go to market...and that's the way it is.
The wife used to get all enamored with the calves, but then it came time to round them up and work them (vaccinations, vets, steer, etc.)...she got it. They're just stock. Now they just have a tag name. "275 escaped", "320 is rowdy"...they're just animals, breed stock and market stock.
Raise that steer up right, he'll be fine. Take him to the processor and walk away knowing you put some meat in your freezer cheaper than any $13.99/lb crappy dairy cow steaks you could buy in the grocery store!
That steer/bull, might seem like a "puppy", but don't ever let him go there! He's just stock.
[;)]
You don't have to preach to me about being hard when it comes to killing food, I'm about as hard as they come! [:D][:D]
I call him Barney, because it's a silly name and I've called several of them Barney over the years. I've also either killed or been involved in the killing of all sorts of wild and barnyard critters for food. The only critters I have trouble killing are cats, I like cats better than dogs, I'll kill one if it needs killing but there will be sadness. Killing a deer, rabbit, moo cow, pig, chicken or anything else there is no sadness. To me killing an animal for food is no different than plucking an apple from a tree. Some animals are food and I like food [:p]