The Return of Rusty
Rusty and Curly Sue were the first livestock we got here. They arrived as sick looking newly weaned calves and grew into healthy looking beasts. At 19 months it was time to call the homekill man and rehome one of them into the big white box.
So the day was set and in due cause the truck rolled up the drive, within a few minutes Rusty was no longer in the land of the living. It was so quick that if you blinked you would miss it.
The two guys who came to do the deed were very efficient and pleasant. We got last years lambs and an old ewe done at the same time and the whole thing only took about and hour and a half, before they were all packed on the truck and trundling off down the drive. We were left with the unpleasant bits to bury so a big hole was in order and Bevan came home early that day and took care of that.
Now poor Curly Sue was not too happy about all this, and climbed through every electric tape in a bit of an unhappy state now that she found herself by herself. We had tried to get some more cows here in time, but they had been held up buy the carrier, and then the homekill guys came a week early. I spent the next 3 hours fixing all the tapes and setting every thing to reduce the damage she did.
That weekend we had organised to go and pick up two of the three cows we had coming. After a bit of drama on the rough driveway we managed to get the two smallest down here in a horsefloat. So now we have Cricket who is straight off her mother and a very healthy looking beef calf and Daisy, who we will be quieting down to be a future milk cow for us. She is a very sweet 10 month peidmontese/jersey cross so she should give us good calves and good milk and cream in the future. Now Curly Sue was happier as she has company.
So about 10 days later we got the call from the butcher to come and pick up the meat. Doing the calculations it cost us $2.68 per kilogram for all the beef that we got, and even the cheapest is over $5.00 in the stores, so it was well worth it from a finacial point of view.
So now between the pigs and the sheep and the cow all our freezers are full. In fact we have so much choice that we are not sure what to eat. Bevan is away all week so we will wait until he comes home on friday and then have some of the beef for the first time – not long to go now.