When we first started taking cows to the processor, we were struggling to get to 500 lbs of hot hanging weight. We didn’t have scales, we were woefully behind on production, and frankly we were pretty new at finishing cows.
A few weeks ago, I took two cows to the processor, LF07 and 63.
63 was normal sized but crazy so he got a free ride.
LF07 was pretty big and he was the number one candidate to go.
On Friday I picked them up so we’d have fresh beef in the store for this weekend. I put 21 baskets in the truck to hold all the meat, plus a pickup at the goat dairy on the way home. I usually only take about 9-10 for one cow so that should be enough. When I got to the processor, they handed me my bill which has our hanging weights. #63 weighed 685 pounds hot hanging weight! Now that’s a great weight. That means that we really have these cows finished well. That we have lots of fat, lots of meat on the bones, and we are delivering a quality steak to our customers. Then I was I saw LF07’s weight.
820 pounds!! Oh my God! I’ve never heard of a weight like that.
So to make a long story short, 21 baskets was about 4 short of having enough. I had to scramble to get the meat loaded, and still get our dairy order on the truck. I made an emergency stop at a customer to drop off 60 pounds of hamburger just to get something off the truck and when I got back to the farm, it was all hands on deck. Lucy, Erin, and I all worked to stuff every inch of every freezer on the farm with beefy goodness. We BARELY made it, after I’d taken all of our beef bones to the dump just to make room. Don’t worry, I held back some of the fresh beef bones but we are literally bursting at the seams.
If you want some beef, or pork, or whatever, we are loaded for bear. Steaks, ribs, whatever, we’ve got it. Plus SWMBO is working the store today between 8-5 so stop by and work her hard! I’ll be at the Garner pop up market today on Old Garner Road working that event so she’s unsupervised.