Beefy's Last Day

We've known this was coming for the past two years.  We got beefy as a little bull calf to raise for meat.  We've butchered chickens and this butchering we didn't have to do ourselves.  You'd think that would make it easier. 

The day began with my twins dispensing one last hug and taking one last picture.  The girls knew they didn't want to be anywhere near so the twins went to a friend's house and the older girls dashed for Moxie.

The fellow did a good job.  My husband walked beefy out to where we wanted him. We had some grain waiting in a bucket. The fellow just walked over and it was over before beefy noticed.

But it wasn't over for us.  Seeing the guy with a rifle, I darted around the corner and tried not to think.  When I heard the shot, I scurried to the cow shed and stayed with the living cows.  We had them all tied up so they couldn't see anything.   I could hear the compressor running and the smell wafted over. 

They drove off in less than half an hour, leaving the heart and liver in a bucket, the hide lying on the ground, and a pool of blood that wasn't as enormous as I had feared.

What a hard day.  Beefy was such a good cow.  He hardly needed a rope to be lead.  I wonder if eating meat from a cow you didn't know is easier.  Well, I know it is, but is it right?  When beefy's meat arrives in our freezer, we will honor it in a way that we haven't honored meat before.  We will honor it in a way that all meat deserves to be honored.

My daughters are handling this better than I am.  As I looked down at his hide, I said, "oh my gosh, it's beefy," and my daughter said, "no, beefy is in heaven with Jesus. These are just his remains and we can't waste any of them."  She's right.

So tonight we watch youtube videos on what to do with a hide.