Beefy Things

We're getting to the beef processing time of year. Its when we select and weigh the beeves that are finished and ready for the next phase.

Cultural side note...apparently "beeve" is the accepted term for a grass finished steer or heifer here in the US, according to The Stockman Grass Farmer publication. (I'm happy about that because a dear friend and customer wanted to call them beeves before we realized it was ok.) In New Zealand we refered to this class of livestock as "cattle beasts" or "the beasties." We're getting better at calling them beeves, and it does have sort of an of-the-land ring to it.

Anyway, after weighing, the customer is invoiced and then about a week later the processing begins. Don't worry, I won't show photos of that, mainly because I get faint at the sight of blood and so any photos would be of the sky as I'm lying on the ground recovering.

Every year at calving I wonder how these personable little creatures...

 can possibly grow up to be somewhat personality-neutral, beef producing converters of sunlight and chlorophyll...

 But they do as they head into their second summer.  After those winter coats are shed, the muscle definition (read steaks, roasts and burgers) really shows up. The endearing calf curiosity that had them racing around in groups during the previous summer is replaced by the cycle of head-down-and-eat-then-chew-cud-then-stand up-and-begin-all-over-again.

These are cattle with a purpose for their lives. They aren't named or fawned over but we sure do admire their ability to provide. It's a privilege to work in tandem with the natural cycles of life. And when someone asks, to be able to say, "Beef, it's what's for dinner®."

Here's what happens on weighing day...

The cattle come into the yards where we have the scales set up.

Guess which of these tools I use when working with the beeves (hint: it doesn't have any white on it.)

Here's the weigh platform. It's very accurate. Personally, when testing scales by standing on them I prefer them to weigh light.

The read-out. Bless the person who perfected electronic, battery operated scales.

#18, weighing in at 1238 pounds.

Oops. Forgot to shut the gate.