Just in the Nick of Time

It was about 19 months ago that we borrowed a registered Jersey bull from a friend who lives about 10 minutes away from us.  The bull's name was Nick, and that dude was big and not halter broken.  We didn't know how things were going to work out, but he ended up being gentle and we got him to the house.  We unloaded him and he was able to breed LuLu.  Elsie did NOT get bred.  As it turned out, she had a cyst on her ovary and hopefully we got that fixed.  Rose Ethel did not get bred, either.  We think that she may be past her 'child-rearing' years.  She's old.  But you never know.  Abram laughed when he was told that Sarai would give him a son in his old age.

It's been almost a year since LuLu's bull calf, that we named Nicky, was born.  He was born at the hottest point of the year, during a drought.  LuLu was extremely stressed after calving and we thought that we were going to lose her.  We kept her alive by keeping a water sprinkler going that kept a small patch of bermuda grass growing and by feeding her sweet potato vines after she stopped eating.  We drenched her with molasses, too.  She pulled through and has raised a nice calf.  He's coming up on a year old on August 6th.  Here is Nick today:

Up to this point, he's been docile, but in our experience with previous Jersey bulls, that changes as they mature.  We're starting to notice that with Nick.  He uses his head as a weapon, threatening to come at you.  He'll also push the water troughs all over the barnyard.  He just likes hitting things with his big, meaty head.  We don't want one of those "things" he hits to be us, so we never turn our backs to him.

Our plans for him are what our plans have been for every Jersey bull calf born on our little farm - we'll eat him.  We'll give him another six or eight months to mature and, most importantly breed LuLu, Rosie, and Elsie and then we'll take him to the slaughterhouse.  We'll get all the meat, organs, bones, and tallow.  We use almost everything off of the animal.  It may seem cruel to some, but meat comes from somewhere, and that somewhere might as well be from our pasture where he's lived a good life, eating grass, with no antibiotics, hormones or medications.  

Astro's Final Stop

When Jersey cows calve, you ALWAYS want them to give you heifers.  Heifers will, a couple years later once bred, give you more calves and fresh milk. Heifers also bring more money once you sell them.  Many people want nurse cows for calves on their farm.  Others want to buy them to show them as dairy cows in livestock shows.  Many want a family cow that will become a part of the family.

Jersey bulls are not in demand.  Jersey bulls kill more farmers than any other breed, which is odd because Jersey cows are so docile.  Jersey bulls are good for pretty much one thing - meat.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it, we've had six bulls in a row!  Astro is our Jersey bull that we've had for a couple years.  He was named Astro because he was born on the night that the Houston Astros won Game 6 of the World Series.

It was time for Astro to go to the slaughterhouse.  We made an appointment this past Saturday.  I wish I had a way to weigh him.  I'm not very good at guessing weights, but I'll guess he weighs somewhere between 600 and 650 pounds.

Astro has been grass fed in our pasture in the "bull pen."  The quality of the grass will be dropping soon as the grass goes to seed.  We wanted to get him off while he is still in great condition.

We coaxed him into the cattle trailer with a bucket of sweet feed.  He jumped right in and it went easier than expected.

Now, I know what you may be thinking - How can you eat a pet?  Well, once Jersey bulls are born on our farm, from day 1 we know that they are not pets - they are food.  While it isn't easy to bring them to slaughter, we give them a good life, treat them with dignity, and take care of them.  It still isn't an easy thing to do, but let's be real.  It is foolish to raise him, sell him to someone else to butcher and then go buy meat at the store.  That makes no sense at all.  He's grass-fed.  No hormones.  No antibiotics.  No medicated feed.  All natural.

Once loaded up, we made a twenty minute drive to Morse, Louisiana.  Back in the old days, many communities had their own slaughterhouses.  They are few and far between now.  Elliott's Slaughterhouse is out in the middle of the country, surrounded by rice fields and crawfish ponds.

Elliott's does a really good job.  We've used them time and again.

We backed the trailer next to the gate.  The trailer is in bad need of a paint job.  It was my grandfather's trailer and is a 1978 model.  While it may not be aesthetically pleasing, it's still going strong.  I will try to prime and paint it once the weather gets more pleasant.

We got Astro unloaded and said goodbye.

Elliott's was jam packed with people on this Saturday morning.

It is a very small place and we actually had to wait until some customers left before we could fit inside.

We were the only ones dropping off a live animal.  Most customers inside were buying fresh cut steaks, ground meat in bulk, pork chops, smoked sausage, etc.  Meat doesn't get much fresher than this. 

We were given a cut sheet and began explaining what cuts we wanted.  We want half ground meat and the other half cut into steaks, roasts, brisket, ribs, tenderloin.

We'll get an assortment of T-bone, ribeyes, round and seven steaks.  We also want all of the 'debris,' except for kidney.  I don't do kidney.  We want the bones and the fat.  That's one thing you never think of, but when you bring an animal in for slaughter, you can get everything except the "moo."  They will dry age the meat for two weeks and then will package it all up and call us and we'll go pick it up.  Lots of fresh meat for the freezer...  And we have two more bulls growing in the pasture for next year's supply of meat.

Time For Bully To Go

Bully is our our 20 month old registered Jersey bull.  He's Daisy's boy and here is a photo of him from back in September.   He is much skinnier now, because of the lack of grass and the fact that he's been eating 100% hay, but he is much taller now. We wanted to keep him around because he is registered and has A2/A2 genetics. Our goal was to use him to breed all of our cows to get offspring with his good genetics and also save some money on 'stud' fees.

Bully (September 2014)

Those plans changed.  Over the past month, and getting worse as time goes on, Bully has become more and more aggressive.  Jersey cows are so docile, but Jersey bulls are mean and crazy.  I read somewhere that Jersey bulls kill more people than any other breed.  Especially when one of the cows is in heat, Bully charges around like he's crazy.  I guess he sees us as competition for 'his ladies.'  He's been coming up to us and bumping us with his head. He has on short, thick horn and he's used it to destroy numerous things in the pasture.  He has also chased us several times, causing us to quickly jump over the fence to save our skin.  Tricia keeps big sticks by the gate to hit him with if he threatens her.  I don't like worrying about my family being attacked by a bull in our pasture.

The rod of instruction

The bottom line is this.  I learned that we aren't set up on our little farm to keep a bull.  We would need a special pen with heavy duty fencing.  We don't have the room or set up for this.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) Bully has to go.  We decided to go ahead and bring him to the Kinder Livestock Auction and sell him.  My Dad came and helped me get him loaded in the trailer.  It was no easy task as he's not halter broken.  He knew something was up, that we had plans afoot.  Wielding a bucket of feed, we lured him close to the cattle trailer, clipped a lead rope around him and pulled it around the trailer to pull him slowly in.  We slid the bucket of feed into the trailer and I got behind him and pushed while Dad pulled on the rope. Pretty soon he was in the trailer.  Whew!

We told him goodbye.  Sort of sad to see him go, but mainly happy.  

Daisy and Rosie came to the fence to tell him goodbye as well.

Dad and Mom drove off with Bully en route to Kinder to take him to the sale.  Cattle prices are real good right now, but we won't know for a few days how much he weighed and how much money he brought.  Sadly, the fact that he's a registered bull won't factor in to the price he brings.

 

This evening as I walked out to milk Rosie, there was peace in the barnyard.  You didn't have to walk with a stick or watch your back for crazy bull running at you and I didn't have to worry about Benjamin as he walked in the pasture to complete his chores of collecting eggs each day.  From now on if we keep a bull calf, we'll castrate him, and raise him for a short while until he's big enough to eat.

Stryker the Jersey Bull

Stryker is Daisy's bull calf.  He's a registered Jersey bull and is eighteen months old.  I'm not real good at estimating weight, but I'd guess he's somewhere between 450 and 500 pounds and will start to put on some more weight as soon as the Spring grass comes in.

Tricia and I have talked about it and have decided that we're going to put him up for sale.  We have 3 acres of pasture and right now we have Daisy, Rosie, Maggie and Stryker on it.  As soon as the Spring grass really comes in we'll separate the pasture into paddocks using temporary electric fence and begin rotational grazing.  The little dairy herd has eaten a lot of hay over the winter and we have 10 bales left.  Daisy, Rosie and Maggie are all expecting calves and our little 3 acres is not enough acreage to carry that many cows.  Someone has to go and it looks like Stryker pulled the short straw.

The other day as I was fixing the roosting bars in one of our chicken tractors, Stryker came and started knocking into the tractor with his head while I was in it.  It caught me by surprise and scared the devil out of me.  I'm not sure if he was being playful or mean, but I'm not taking any chances with him.


Curious Stryker

He and Maggie are in the same paddock together and I think they're buddies.  They share the same water trough and bales of hay.

Stryker and Maggie at the water trough

I'm going to put Stryker in the Market bulletin, Craigslist, and maybe put a sign out in front of the house letting people know that our registered Jersey bull is for sale.  In the meantime I'll do some research to see what a fair price to ask for him would be.  He is Daisy's second little bull in a row.  She's due in early May and we're hoping for a heifer this time.  

Stryker swishing his tail

I've also been doing some reading and confirmed that Jersey bulls are one of the most dangerous bulls there are.  According to what I've read they are unpredictable and vicious, and view you as competition for their "lady friends."  They will chase you, gore you, mash you and knock you to the ground.  They just snap.  They have been known to kill farmers and farmer's wives.  He hasn't shown any aggressive traits so far other than hitting his head against the tractor the other day when I was in it.  I do know this - I don't trust him and won't turn my back to him.

What are you looking at?

When we sell him Maggie will miss her buddy.  They'll lick one another and hang out together most of the day.  They are almost that same size and were only born two days apart.


Buddies

They'll also playfully headbutt one another.

Butting heads

Hopefully we'll find a new home for him quickly.