Beef Part 2 - What We Learned

aka. What NOT to do next time...

Or what TO do next time...

I think we are only doing one cow at a time,

one every 6 months.
(Buy 2 now, butcher 1 in a year and
buy a replacement, and then butcher the
other in 6 months, get a replacement,
rinse and repeat every 6 months after that...)
Two was a LOT of meat and kind of confusing.

We will split the cow into quarters.

We keep one and the other 3 are for sale.

Rod wants to get a chest
freezer and put it on our
flat bed trailer with a generator.

Jeff (the butcher) had everything

separated by cut of meat.

Our first mistake was randomly dumping

it all into coolers together instead

of keeping it separate.

When we get the freezer, he is going
to create dividers to section it into 4
sections.  Then at the butchers we can divvy it

up like dealing a deck of cards.

1 for you and 1 for you and 1 for you...

until that cut is done.

Then on to the next cut.

(We were trying to hurry since it was
late on a Friday evening, but that's kind
of Jeff's fault, he didn't let us know
it was ready until Friday afternoon,
we weren't expecting it until next week,
so we had to scramble,
making us later than we wanted, getting there.)

Having it already in a freezer will
take care of a bunch of headaches.
The biggest one, keeping it frozen!
And also storing it frozen for the folks
who can't make it right away to pick up.
(since they also didn't get much notice...)

Once we get the meat home,
all we have to do is weigh the meat in
each section and figure the price.
SO MUCH EASIER!

The other mistake we made was not

charging nearly enough.

Depending on the current meat prices,

the next cow needs to be priced out at

between $8 and $10 per pound.

Beef

Whew!

Jeff (the butcher) called Friday afternoon

and let us know the meat was ready to 

be picked up.

There went our plans to take Kyle to

Fiesta Azteca (his fave restaurant)

for his birthday.

Instead we had to dash over to Brock's

and gather up every cooler we could find,

load them up into our horse trailer,

and then drive down to Vero.

We didn't get there until nearly 8 pm.

(The original plan was to drag his

refrigerated trailer down there, but

when Rod called and said the meat was

ready, Brock mentioned he wasn't sure

the lights worked.

ARGH!  We just talked to him about

the trailer LAST NIGHT and he didn't

say anything about the lights!!!!)

Life is all about Plan B.

At least mine is.

Since we were trying to hurry

(what with it being 30 minutes to sundown,

and Friday evening...)

we just dumped each tray of meat randomly

into the coolers we had.

Then we stopped at Steak N Shake for

a quick burger and headed home.

Happy Birthday Kyle! 

(LOL)

We are taking him to Fiesta Monday night.

Anyhow.

When we got to the house, we took the 

trailer over to Brock's to put the meat

into his giant walk-in freezer room.

Our dogs were still our in their pen

and barking their heads off.

(Shadow HATES the dark.)

I left the guys to unload the meat

(since I'm basically in the way anyway)

and I walked back to our place to take

care of the dogs.

Turns out the freezer room was locked

and Kyle couldn't remember the lock combination.

(It hasn't been locked in a LONG time)

So they took the meat over to the barn

and loaded it all into the cooler trailer instead.

They walked home, leaving the truck and horse trailer

over there.

Off to bed!  LONG day!

Saturday morning dawned, Rod fed the animals

and then we all headed next door to get the meat.

We unloaded it all into our garage

(with the A/C on in the house, the door open,

and a giant, LOUD, fan in the doorway).

The first thing we did was divide the meat up

by the different cuts.  We put labels on the lids

of the smaller coolers and separated it all out.

The guys separated and I kept count of each package.

Once we had that all done,

we started weighing the meat.

Jeff told us we had 1310 pounds hanging weight.

So we divided 1310 by 17 (the number of shares

we were working with) (assuming each share 

was 75# - some people wanted 150#,

some only wanted 75# and 1 guy wanted 50.)

and figured each "share" should get the following:

4 roasts

5 steaks

8 burgers (1.5# each)

1 pkg stew meat

1 pkg short ribs

1 pkg soup bones

Then we weighed it.

And lost our minds.

Turns out 1310# hanging weight is the

STARTING weight BEFORE they hang

it and allow it to age (and dry) (and shrink)

for 21 days.

So we actually ended up with a LOT less meat

than what we thought.

We sold 850# of meat.

We had a total of about 725#.

(I don't have an exact total because

we immediately pulled the 4 flank, 4 skirt,

2 hearts, and 4 livers out for us...

so those didn't ever make it to the scales.)

ACK!!!!!!!

You don't want to know all the mental 

gymnastics my poor brain tried to go through.

I'm not a math person.

It wasn't pretty.

I eventually made the executive decision

that we would stick with the "share" idea,

so those who ordered 150# would get 2 shares.

Those that wanted 75# would get 1 share.

The man who only wanted 50# showed up

first, LONG before I was confident I knew

what I was doing, so we fixed him a share and 

then fleshed it out to make 50# out of our shares.

(He had already made out his check...)

From that point on, we just pulled the meat

necessary to make a share,

put it all in a plastic trash bag,

weighed it and charged the agreed upon

$6/pound and wrote up a ticket.

NOBODY got the amount of meat 

they were hoping for.

(including us...)

but nobody was unhappy.

The final person picked up their meat

about 4:30(ish) which gave us a little

time to shower, relax, and run to the 

grocery store.

I needed to buy some meat.

(hahahahahahahaha - just kidding...)

We had invited Kyle's friends, Carly and Brandon

over for dinner, I needed some sides.

Yes, normally I would whip something up,

but my brain was FRIED!

They came by about 7:00 and Kyle

grilled up two giant "bone in sirloin steaks".

Oh My Stinking Heck!

I have paid upwards of $25.00 for a steak 

at a restaurant.

I have NEVER eaten a steak this good!

It was butter knife tender.

Flavorful.

AMAZING!

We learned lots of things,

(tomorrow's post)

we will do lots of things differently

(hopefully BETTER)

and we will DEFINITELY charge more.

But I'm excited to do this again!!!!!!

Story 3 - Most Memorable Birthday

"Describe one of your most memorable birthdays"

Hmmmmmmm

My Buffaloe family doesn't really DO birthdays.

Or Mothers / Fathers day.

Or Valentines day.

We just aren't that kind of family.

We usually do dinner or something.

But we don't make a big deal.

(And I take FULL responsibility for that...

I've NEVER been a big fan of that stuff.)

But there WAS one birthday that was

memorable and special and cool.

It was a bunch of years ago.

1994 to be exact.

I happened to be visiting my Stoddard family

in Tucson.

Everybody was there.

And it was my birthday.

And Rozann hosted a surprise 

Harry Potter themed birthday party for me!

Complete with balloons hanging from the ceiling

so it looked like the banquet hall at Hogwarts.

Hats.

Glasses.

The whole deal.

It was a BLAST.

And I'm pretty sure it was my only surprise

birthday party!

(And yes, I had red hair.  It was a phase.)

VooDoo

I have been learning about natural treatments

for various things we experience now and again.

This USED to be how the conversation went:

Kyle - my ankles are sore today.

Me - you should take some turmeric.

Kyle - whatever.

Kyle - my knees have been hurting lately.

Me - you should take some turmeric. And maybe

even some MSM.

Kyle - whatever.

Me - I bought you a bottle of turmeric. Take 2

every day.  It will help.

Kyle - whatever.

Kyle - my arms are killing me from all that 

fencing I did yesterday!

Me - have you been taking your turmeric?

You should put some Mag Gel on them.

It will make them feel better.

Kyle - whatever.

Kyle - I noticed my ankles don't seem to hurt

as much these days.

Me - have you been taking your turmeric?

Kyle - I try to take it every night.

Me - SEE?  (I'm so awful...)

Kyle - my ankles are really hurting lately.

Me - have you been taking your turmeric?

Kyle - I ran out.

Me - why didn't you say something???

Kyle - I ran out of turmeric.  I need to buy some.

Me - WOOT! Let's go shopping!

Me (yesterday) - my arthritis in my finger is 

really flaring today with all this rain.

Kyle - I told you to take some Curcumin.

Me - Curcumin is for pain.  This isn't pain, its

just a little twinge.

Kyle - have you been taking your turmeric?

Me - every morning!

Kyle - well did you put Mag Gel on it?

Me - No, it fell down behind my couch and

I can't reach it.

Kyle - (went and fished it out, all dusty and gross)

Here!

MY WORK HERE IS DONE!

PS - I put mag gel on it and by the time I drove

to work, my joint was all better!

Story 2 - How is life different today from when you were a child?

How is life different today

from when YOU were a child?

Wow.

Besides the obvious...

When I was a child, my biggest concern

was where to "hide" while reading a book.

Should it be in the cubby under the stairs?

Or in the "nest" I made in my closet?

Or on the top bunk?

Or Or Or Or...

And today there is so much that 

requires my attention and decision making.

But other than that...

I still need to know where to sit / hide

while reading my book.

LOL

I remember our black and white TV.
I remember when Dad invented the very first

"mute" button for the TV.

It had a chord - a button in a nifty

wooden handle.

He hated commercials.

And it was fun acting out what we 

thought they SHOULD be saying.

Now we just fast forward through them.

I had to call home and reverse the charges.

I couldn't say "Collect" because it 

went something like this...

Me - I would like to place a collect call please.

Operator - Your name please

Me - Collette

Operator - Yes ma'am, I know it's collect but I

need to know your name

Me - Collette.

Operator - Yes ma'am, but I need your name.

Me - BETH.

Hahahahahahahahahaha

Incidentally, Beth is STILL what I call my

"barista" name.  When you are at a restaurant

or whatever where they want your name, I just use Beth.

Easier to say, spell, whatever.

I've gotten Charlotte, Claudette, etc

so I just went with Beth.

We had cars with lap belts.

I suppose.

Nobody ever used them.

We had a telephone with a LOOOOONG

(stretched out, no curlies left) chord.

We NEVER locked our doors.

We had to be home RIGHT AFTER the dance.

11:00.

Sharp.

And if you wanted to extend it, you had to

use a PAY PHONE to call and get permission!

(The phone at the Peter's had a LONG line...)

(Is it Peters?  Who the heck is the burger place

on the north hill???????

Oh my gosh!  I have Alzheimer's!)

(grin)

I learned to spell Alzheimer's at an insurance conference.
You put it to the tune of Mickey Mouse.

Try it!

Dad whistled.

Stoddard girls from all over the neighborhood

came running.

Now you text your kids.

Sometimes they text back.

Dinner was served at 6.

After Dad read the newspaper.

Beans needed to be weeded.

(And there were Daddy Long Legs out there!!!)

(ICK)

(There are still spiders in the bean patch)

What is it with spiders and beans???

Some things never change.

I Shoulda Been A Cowboy....

Today started out normal.

I slept ina little.

So did Rod, if you consider 7am sleeping in.

Rod does.

LOL

I got up a little after 8.

The plan was to make a quick smoothie

and a bagel and cream cheese 

(Gasp! Not on plan, I know...

I have been horrible this week...)

and then grocery shopping for me,

work on the yard water pump for Rod,

take my car to the shop and change the oil

for Kyle.

HA!

  

Our phones started blowing up.

The neighbors cows are out in

the preserve again.

Brock is in Costa Rica for the week.

Which leaves us in charge.

(Unofficially, but everybody knows to call us)

So..........

Kyle jumped on the 4 wheeler to scope

out the situation

while Rod and I saddled up.

We decided to do a good old fashioned

cattle round up.

Luckily the cows had knocked down a 

section of fence, wandered around for

awhile (probably all night) and then

headed to the property next door where

the fence USED to be down.

(before Rod and Kyle fixed it)

The property is pretty heavily overgrown with

trees and brush and a large pond/lake in

the center. The barbed wire has been cut

on the side next to the preserve

(vandals) so they go in there to hang out

and then head home eventually.

Hopefully. 

Sometimes.

Rod on CJ and me on Andy headed in

to find the cows, but couldn't get 

behind them. Too heavily wooded.

I took Andy back out to the main trail in the 

preserve, Kyle pushed them from the ground, and then

Rod picked them up and drove them to me.

I got them turned towards their home gate,

Kyle ran over and chased them in

(Luckily Jogger the Angus bull was with them

since he loves Kyle and will follow him anywhere.)

The stupid Wagu babies headed out into the preserve but

thankfully thought better of it before we lost them.

We got them all back in and drove them up to a

part of the pasture without holes and got

them all secured.

Pretty good for our first try on horseback.

(Usually the guys chase them down on foot.)

Checking In / Sir's Horns

I'm alive.

That is all.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

No really.

LOL

Yesterday was Jim's birthday.

This is his final year as a 20 something.

He is really enjoying his new job

as a service writer.

He gets to talk to lots of people

and help them decide what / if to fix

on their cars.

He's been working parts / service since

he was about 6 years old and he's good at it.

(And it's also nice to have a steady pay check...)

We all went out to dinner to celebrate.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Otherwise, it's just been a busy week.

We got all moved into our new office.

It's a lot further, but not much longer 

time to drive.

It's a nice facility.

But it's strange to be sitting with people on both 

sides of me.

And people walking behind me.

Headphones are an absolute MUST.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I finished up a good class over the weekend.

All the students (except 1) passed the final exam

and two of them are already licensed.

So that's always good.

I also taught an evening review class at

my old school - happens to be a couple

of blocks from my new office.

8 students and one of them passed

their state exam the next morning!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We are still waiting on the beef.

The butcher hangs the meat for 28 days 

to age it and then butchers out, wraps

and freezes it and we drive over to get it.

We picked up the steer's head last week.

Rod wants to hang the skull with horns

out in the barn.

The butcher told us to toss it in the lake

and let the fish clean it for us.

So we did.

(In Brock's pond next door.)

And two days later it floated back to the top!

Which lead to quite the adventure.

We tried attaching a concrete block and 

re-sinking it, but that didn't work.

We are in a drought and the pond isn't deep enough.

It involved Kyle, a kayak, and a dog.

(who it turns out is afraid of the water

and tried to drown everybody...)

So the guys dragged the head out of the pond,

loaded it into our little red wagon 

and brought it back over to our place.

They put it way out in a back pasture

(it STINKS)

and covered it with the water trough

and a couple of heavy tires and some

concrete blocks.

Sprinkled a bunch of lime around it 

and left it there.

But the dogs kept getting into it.

So the other day they went out and dug a

deeeeep hole and put it in there with

about 30 pounds of lime.

They will dig it up again in a couple of months

and hopefully it will be clean.

(The ants had already gotten a good start.)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So... that's about all the exciting stuff.

Otherwise, it's just our normal

busy, happy lives.

The horses got their "pedicures" yesterday.

It was nice to visit with my farrier.

I've missed his visits for about a year.

Rod has been coordinating it and having

him come when I'm out of town.