The end of an era - No more steers

I am no longer a pretend part time cattle rancher.

This past spring was the last go around with the butcher - who jokingly complained he wouldn't be able to take a vacation without our business.

But now it is finalized - all of the fence is down and most of it is for sale.

I still believe the experience - even with its unintended impacts on my wife, my sister-in-law and my mother-in law - was a positive one. I wrote about the experience a few times, probably most extensively here at All Over Albany.

Like Rome, this fence was not built in a day. It look a long time. Way too long if you asked my father-in-law. Other than the pipe that was used as fence post, all of the locust fence post was cut and stripped. There was an auger that went on the back of the tractor but there was plenty of post hole digger work (I have actually become pretty good with a post hole digger). And the back filling...my fore arms hurt just thinking about tamping dirt back in the holes around the posts. Father's day was for all day weed whacking, a tradition like no other. But the fence held. We never had a breakout.

The fence was sheep and cattle fence stapled or wire tied to fence posts. Corners were mostly large pipe braced up with more fence posts. About 2 feet above the ground there was a line of electric fence and at the top, there was a single row of barbed wire. The field was about 5 acres. The red line is for the most part what came down this weekend.
 

My brother-in-law had last week off, so I took Thursday and Friday and the fence got taken down. Most of the electric was already down so each section started with the barbed wire which meant cutting a staple at each post and the very carefully coiling up the barbed wire. We got poked a few times, but no one was cut badly. The El Cheapo 3 pack of Harbor Freight welding gloves eventually fell apart, but they served their purpose of protecting hands and forearms. With the barbed wire down, it was time to really start cutting staples to free up the metal fence. There were a lot of freaking staples. It was easy to tell which sections of fence were built first be cause we went a little crazy with the staple gun. The gun has kind of a hair pin trigger and one could easily put 5 staples where one meant to put a single staple. Once the fence was off the posts, it needed to be rolled up. A full roll is 330 feet. The fence got pulled straight with the tractor and then it got rolled up. To get a tight roll on the fence, we started on our knees, slowly inching forward until there was enough fence to hunch over. I think rolling the fence was the worst part. There was also post removal, bringing the broken post to the dump and a final cleaning of the barn.

It was the kind of weekend that proved I was just a farming tourist. No where close to the real farming deal. Those men and women are hardcore.

And a huge thank you to the two wives who were reluctantly dragged into this. They were a tremendous help this weekend.

Add to Anti-Banner

Steers - 2014

A little warning, there are a few pictures in this post you might not want to see. It will be significantly less graphic than the slaughter and packing posts were last year, but this is once again about the slaughtering and butchering of two steer. There are a few some pictures of meat that isn't in steak form. If that isn't something you want to see or read about, press "back" on your browser. I'll try to put a jump in, but I'm not the most technically proficient blogger out there so hopefully this jump works and you don't see anything you don't want to see.

Beef Packing

Had a busy day on Sunday. Got up at 6 AM (which is still night in my opinion) so we could be at the butcher shop by 7:00. Each half of a steer is owned by an individual. That individual makes all the decisions about how to process their beef. Steaks, roast, cube steaks, ground beef...the butcher doesn't care. He just wants to you be happy with what you get. This year I went first. I took some pictures but unfortunately not as many as I should have. When I wasn't making decisions, I was wrapping beef with freezer paper. Once decisions are made, the side of beef is broken down fairly quickly. My half of steer was cut, wrapped and boxed in an hour and 45 minutes. We started cutting and wrapping at 7:00, we were back at the house (a good 20 minute ride) before 2:30.

Here are some photos I took. Forgive me if I mess up a description. I'm getting better, but I'm certainly not an expert. The steers were quartered. Each quarter is hanging from a hook on a rail. There is an impressive track system in the shop. From the outer bay into the shop and then into a large walk in cooler.

Here you have chuck on the band-saw table, short ribs behind the chuck and a leg behind the short ribs.

The butcher's knife skills are nothing short of incredible. Basically no wasted movement. He also often uses gravity often and has a meat hook in his left hand. I don't have a photo of it, but watching him tie knots on a roast is also impressive. I'd love to follow him around and learn some of what he knows. I once watched him prep a deer for the cooler. I still can't believe how fast it was.

A brisket that will become corned beef pastrami.  Would you believe most customers grind the briskets? Skirt steaks too. Several years ago I saw him remove the skirt steak and surprised him by knowing what it was.

Large chuck roasts. Good for stews and pot roast. And if I run out of ground beef, I grind it myself.

Short ribs.

Large bone-in sirloin steaks.

Shanks.

 T-bones and Porterhouse steaks.

 Beef being ground. This is the second pass through the grinder. He does a double grind.

Another shot from a different half of steer.

The ground meat is put in this huge sausage stuffer with a customized tip. If you look just to the right of the meat saw, you can see the hip switch that runs the stuffer.

Using his hip, the butcher stiffs the ground beef into these red and white sleeves. He's fast. He's stuffing the sleeves, one of us would tape the sleeve closed with a little tape gizmo he had, and another would label the tube of ground beef and put it in a box. It didn't take the butcher long to get ahead of us. And when you weigh a sleeve...they are all pretty damn close to 1.4 pounds. Here's my box of ground beef. Probably about 80 pounds in there.

I kept the ox-tail. That's a weird shape to wrap with freezer paper. I'm curious to see how the oxtail comes out of the pressure cooker.

One thing that amazes me every is how white and smooth joints are. I guess it is the same in a chicken. These are just so much bigger.

Among the cuts not pictured: flank steaks, skirt steaks, eye round roasts, sirloin tip roasts, top round roasts and steaks, chuck eyes, London broils, cube steaks and probably a few others I am forgetting at the moment. When we were done, two chest freezers (one of the chest freezers is huge the other is a normal size) and the freezer of a side-by-side refrigerator were completely filled with beef.

There were a few hogs hanging in the walk-in. Maybe some day. I'd need another freezer.

Slaughter

For about two years, these two steers roamed the field at my in-laws.

They were good animals. Only got jumpy once - they did not like the sound a weed-whacker makes. For the most part, they were very calm animals that wandered around and ate grass. Earlier today, both steers were slaughtered.

My nervous joke prior to participating in my first slaughter was that either "I'm going to have a lot of beef, or I'm going to be a vegetarian with a lot of beef to give away." I still eat meat but since starting in this home raised meat project, I waste much less food than I used to waste. I think a large part of that came from seeing the origins of the beef I ate. With that in mind, I am going to post some photos I took earlier this morning.

This is the first time I used a "jump." Hopefully I got it right. If this isn't something you want to see, please don't read the rest of this post. I'll put something else up in a day or two.

Moooo!

We went up to my inlaw's house this weekend to get ready for the arrival of some new steers. We had spent the summer cattle-free.  Moved some stuff around the barn, set up a bunch of gates and did a handful of odds and ends. The larger project was rebuilding a broken hay bale feeder. Ours is essentially some circular pieces of steel held apart by smaller pieces of steel. It keeps the hay bunched up. Versions larger than the one we built are actually for sale. But what is truly unique about this hay bale feeder is that I actually made two thirds of the welds on the frame. I should probably see if it lasts through the month before I start bragging or quit my day job. However, it should be noted that welding is super cool.

 And her she is with a bottom plate ready to go next to the corral.

Later that afternoon, two calves were delivered from a nearby farm. Apparently, these calves were being pastures in Schoharie during Irene. One got swept away by rising waters and turned out to be a pretty good swimmer. Welcome to the farm, guys.

Charcutepalooza Project #5

The Grind

This month's challenge was to pay attention to the grind. I kind of took the easier path and made some bulk breakfast and sweet Italian sausage. It was actually kind of nice to take a break from putting sausage into a casing. But really I mean it was nice to take a break from cleaning the stuffer at midnight since I start these projects after everyone has gone to bed because there is something wrong with me.

I happened to be in the Schenectady/Rotterdam area and I stopped in at Sal's. I hadn't been in awhile. I used to live nearby about 10 years ago. Very old school take a number Italian meat market. I picked up a 5 pound butt with the plan being 3 pounds for breakfast sausage and two pounds for sweet Italian sausage.

Here it is proportioned  in two bowls. On the left, the pork has been seasoned with salt, pepper and fennel. The bowl on the right got seasoned with sage, Herbes de Provence, parley, fresh thyme leave salt and pepper. I followed Mrs. Wheelbarrow's recipe.

Both bowls went into the fridge until after dinner. I ground the sweet Italian first while the breakfast sausage got colder in the freezer. Everything was pretty cold so I skipped the bowl of ice water around the bowl catching the ground sausage. As the weather gets hotter, I don't think I'll be able to keep skipping that step. I knew I should have gotten a fridge with an ice maker...

I cooked up a little piece, liked the seasoning and split the sausage into two bags for the freezer.

The sweet Italian sausage will most like get used in a cavatelli with broccoli and sausage. Fairly quick, decent mid week meal. And for some reason the kids don't fight about broccoli. Next up, breakfast sausage.

I also cooked up a small piece of the breakfast sausage. The Herbes de Provence really came through and added a lot of delicious flavor. My first impression of this sausage was that it was screaming for a runny egg yolk. Almost as if the recipe was designed to be accompanied by a runny egg. I thought it might need a little more salt, but decided I could always add a little when cooking it. The breakfast sausage got split into 4 bags.

But wait....that's not all. There was much more grinding this weekend. The steers that were slaughtered two weeks ago were butchered this weekend. Here's a shot of the pork and beef aging in the meat locker.

To borrow a scene from Crocodile Dundee:

That's not a grinder.

That's a grinder.

It has it's own fuse box. Once the beef goes through the grinder twice, it gets placed into a very large sausage stuffer.

No cranks on this bad boy. Everything is motorized and it can hold 55 pounds of meat. It is operated by a hip-switch. Lean into it, and meat gets pushed out. It has been outfitted with a custom tube for filling plastic storage casings.

The butcher can fill these faster than we can close them and label them.

 Here's my case of ground beef.

In a rut...

Not too much going on lately. Kind of unmotivated lately.  "The MAN" took away my online poker. It was getting really fun too. I was meeting up with my brothers and the three of us were playing at the same table. We hardly ever get to see each other, but we could meet up at a virtual poker table, play cards and harass each other. Going "all in" and losing to your older brother is slightly humbling. On the flip side, taking all your brother's chips is really fun.

I haven't even been following wood oven builds lately. That isn't like me. Maybe it is the stress of beginning Battle 2011: me versus the lawn. Spring is full of optimism and I've got a shot at a decent organic lawn. By mid June, the dream is usually crushed and I have to be satisfied with mostly green in front of the house. I did, however, start following a wood oven related blog. Peter Reinhart's Pizza Quest. It is part of the Forno Bravo site I visit for wood oven dreams.They have some nice web-isodes visiting different pizza places.

This month's Charcutepalooza Challenge is working on the grind. I haven't really started anything for it. I should decide and get going on that soon. The steers are dry aging now. I was not around for the slaughter, we went to Connecticut for a family thing. The butchering will be on May 13 and 14.

But the thing that got me off my duff to write a blog post was Mother's Day cards. I was in a CVS earlier tonight looking for a card. This year's crop of Mother's Day cards is not very good. Mixed in with a bunch of "trying to be funny but not quite getting there" cards were a few  that had a gift card already attached. So, here is the "Happy Mother's Day, Ma. We're eatin' good in the neighborhood" card:

And my favorite-"It's your day. Eat Fresh, Ma."

I wonder if there is a local market for this type of card. Maybe a local salon and card shop could get together. Or local restaurant. Something better.

And just for a smile, Scotty found this a while ago. Every time I see it, I can't help but smile. Thank you to whoever forgot the commas.

Steers - 2011

Tomorrow afternoon, our two steers will be slaughtered. I'm not the best writer or communicator (just ask my wife) so it is difficult to express how I feel about it. I wholeheartedly believe my participation in raising these animals has changed the way I look at food and the way I cook. I would argue the experience has improved both. And even though I have already participated in slaughtering steers, it is still...the anticipation is really strange.

UPDATE: The weather has postponed the slaughter to a date still to be determined.

It's a small world after all

Suitcases are everywhere. The house is in chaos. It can mean only one thing - Family Vacation. We are off to see the big mouse that lives outside Orlando. The kids are very excited. And by kids, I mean Allison (age 6), Casey (age 4), and Grandpa Eddie (age 82). He doesn't really seem to be showing it, but according to my mother he has been giddy ever since the trip entered the planning stages.

Tomorrow afternoon the girls will fly for the first time. It will either go very well or be a nightmare. If it is a nightmare, my apologies to those sitting near us. The weather looks crazy hot, but we should be near a bunch of pools. The place we are staying has a mini water park. No Trader Joe's nearby, but there is a massive Publix. Never been in one. I love walking around a nice supermarket that I have never been in before.

When we get back from Florida, we are off for a family reunion weekend. I won't be around a computer until July 26. Kind of weird. Hope I don't go through withdrawal.

Being a forgetful blogger, the last few things I have done happened without pictures. The best was making home made mayonnaise. I did it because Michael Ruhlman told me to. What can I say, I'm a lemming. All you people getting an egg share with your CSA deliveries should try it. Especially if you have a stick blender. It is very easy. Combine an egg yolk, good pinch of salt, the juice from about a third of a lemon and about a tablespoon of water. Buzz it with the stick blender. With the blender going, slowly pour in about 6 oz of canola oil. That was it. The whole thing - prep, making it, and cleaning up- only takes a few minutes.

I do not like mayonnaise. It is an ingredient. I work with someone that can not only eat a tablespoon of mayonnaise, he enjoys it. It's not right. But home made may in a dressing for a cole slaw made with CSA cabbage - really good.

I had a minor setback with the tool. It is going to work, but the scrap pipe I got is not regular, off the shelf pipe. The design will definitely work, but I doubt it will be ready for mass production. I have other ideas for a more common tool. Maybe I'll build another one, or maybe I'll put the money toward and Angle-Izer and play with arch design. The other tool problem is the JB Weld did not hold the nuts for the thumb screws. I don't think I can fault the JB Weld for that though. The nuts are small and being attached to round pipe - there wasn't enough surface area to develop a good bond. I will either thread the holes in the pipe and put thumb screws on that way, or break down and have a friend hit it with a weld. So Tool 1.0 will work, but will not be easily reproducible.

We also stacked hay for the cows. This Sunday, 300 bales of hay went up into my father-in-law's barn. First, you get to load 300 bales of hay onto trailers and climb around tying it all together. Then you get to stack 300 bales of hay in your barn. It is hot and dusty up there. But you can not beat the quality of the beef.

In other steer news: Steers LOVE corn. The hot days in May caused about 3 pretty good sized barrels of corn to get very moldy. And malty. And fermenty. And stinky. In a flash of brilliance, I came up with the idea of  burying the corn in a large pile of composting manure. Tractor digs a hole in the pile, dump the very stinky corn into the tractor bucket, fill the hole, then cover the hole. A few weeks later, it will all be dirt. The steers dug into the pile and have been eating it. They jump on the pile, kick the pile, push it around with their noses - they want that nasty, stinky, moldy and now shit-covered corn. So far they haven't gotten sick. The pile was going to get moved today. Seemed like a good idea at the time....

See you at the end of the month.

Steers Part 2: Slaughter

I debated on whether or not to take pictures of this experience. I opted against it. Maybe it is a cop out. I haven't decided. Logistically, it was probably just as well not to take pictures. I was busy helping and there was no good way to wash and dry my hands to keep the camera clean.

Around 1 PM Saturday, the two larger steers were brought into one section of of the barn, and the younger, 8 month old steers were brought into another part of the barn. The butcher arrived at about 1:30. There was a little bit of setting up and at about 1:40 (after this, I didn't know what time it was until we were done), one steer was let out and it came into the corral. It was shot slightly above between it's eyes. Once down, the steer's throat was deeply slit and it bled out very quickly.

A tractor pulled the steer to an area set up with hoists. What followed was an extremely impressive display of knife work. Every cut had a purpose. The part of the leg below the knees was removed and cuts were made to begin removing the hide. Large hooks were put through a portion of the leg and connected to the hoists. As the animal was raised, the hide was removed and the body was sawed in half, being careful not to damage the hide (it is worth around $100 - to us it covers the cost of the slaughter and two weeks hanging time in a cooler). Once high enough, the intestines were removed. The hoists were occasionally raised until the head was barely on the ground. The hide was fully removed and boxed. Then the head was cut off.  A cut was made to almost split a side of beef in half, but not quite. A pick up was backed under the meat and this cut was completed. The hoists lowered the rest of the meat into the truck.

After a little clean up, this process was repeated with the a second steer. Once everything was cleaned up, we went to the barn where half of each steer was weighed before being brought into a cooler. The hanging weight of the first steer was 640 pounds. The second steer weighed 644. After we got back to the house, there was some more clean up and then I prepared the tongues and hearts for freezing. I also did my best to properly prepare the hanger steaks from the second steer. They didn't look like they were going to stay attached during the dry aging. The livers went with the meatto the butcher's.

The entire process - time from first shot to cleaning up after prepping some items for the freezer - took three and a half hours. This butcher's efficiency is incredible.

These two steers were raised for four families. In two weeks, my father-in-law, brother-in-law, family friend and I will return to the barn where the meat is aging. We will each make decisions about how our side of beef will be butchered and wrapped. After the cuts are wrapped in freezer paper, they a sealed up with a FoodSaver and then frozen. It is another interesting process. Unfortunately, our butcher is an early riser. He wants to start at 6:00 AM.

Steers

 
A few years ago, the first case of mad cow disease showed up in the US. While I was kind of drunk on New Year's Eve, my father-in-law asked if I wanted to go in on some steers. He had raised some in the past. I, of course, said yes. I was lit and didn't really consider the consequences of that yes.

Then my mother-in-law was upset at the idea of having animals again. My wife was upset at how much time was needed build a fence. My sister-in-law wasn't thrilled with the idea - her husband also said yes the night I did. It was a lot of work building the fence. Took a summer of weekends to build. And there is the random but semi-annual "you've got to be here tomorrow at 4 to get hay" phone call. Spring and fall maintenance on the fence. And just little stuff that comes up. The projects now aren't too bad. A day here and a day there. Usually no more than a few hours at a time and the work gets combined with a weekend visit. This spring, the fence will require a little extra work. A car went into the ditch and took out a few posts (no injuries other than broken fence posts). The electric part of the fence has been acting up too.

The way my father-in-law has everything set up, it is hard to complain. He has a tractor that does a lot of the work. Portable generators and an air compressor that can go into the field for working on the fence. But the best is the conveyor belt that he picked up at an auction. We just have to stack the hay. They used to have to carry the bales up stairs. Three of us got 200 bales into the barn in no time a few weeks ago.

The experience has changed a lot about how I treat food. I waste less and try to use more of what I have. I've learned a lot from the butcher -this guy is right out of a Hemingway novel. There is definitely more for me to learn. I haven't really gotten into offal and I'm trying to find out if I can preserved any natural casings. The quality of the beef is great.The downside is that you end up with cuts you wouldn't normally buy, but that is a learning experience too.

If everything follows the current schedule, the larger two steers are getting slaughtered next Saturday.