End of a ranch icon, part 2

[Kali]

See the first part of the story here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x8284825

First I have to apologize for the crappy pix. Sorry. I took my “better” camera, but of course the batteries were dead. I ended up sitting there long enough to have gone and bought some more, but I was too scared to leave. I didn't want to miss them coming through. At least I had the cell phone, cruddy as it is.

The normal sequence of events at the weekly sale is odd livestock first at 11 am. They just recently quit selling horses, partly because of the slaughter ban, partly because they say they have been harassed by animal rights activists. I am a little surprised by that as they run a pretty open, clean sale. Anybody can walk around the pens (within reason, some animals are plain dangerous) and (can I get away with saying this?) there are a lot of women working there.

Anyway, after the odd goat or so, comes the baby calves and pairs (calves and cows together) then after lunch what are known as stockers. These are the money animals, 9 months old to a year or so - steers and heifers. Cull bulls and old cows go last. They had “scheduled” the two big guys to go after the regular stockers. Lots of people had been by or heard about them since we took them in early on Sunday. (Normally Wednesday is my choice to take things, because they charge yardage and feed, but I have no facilities to hold those guys – part of the reason they were so old and the real reason they had to go!)

Here are some normal yearling steers:



It was pretty funny when the steer entered because about 10 of us stood up and started taking pictures. Here is a head shot – not wide enough to get his horns all the way. Note where his back comes to on the sign compared to the first picture.



Here he is watching his audience:



The sale barn owner normally works in the ring, letting the animals in and calls up to the auctioneer the starting price, and any other info he wants announced, but I noticed he left an came out on the outside just when the big dark steer entered. :rofl:
That is him walking towards the camera, being watched. Note the guy in the blue shirt staying behind the protective panel. I wonder if he got a little extra hazard pay? :P



Yet another blurry shot, but it shows his size. Want to guess what he weighed?



Here he is on the scale:



And:



Pretty hefty.

The white one weighed just 50 lbs less.He was a little more agitated and even the guy in the blue shirt decided to step out of there.



At least three people bid on them, I know one guy – he had been (unsuccessfully)involved in trying to catch them about 4 years ago. The Auction owner is the one who bought them, I heard later that he had an order from somebody else to get them but I haven't found out who yet. At any rate it would seem to be somebody who wants them for novelty and not food, at least yet.

Thus ends the tail of two gigantic steers on the old homeplace. Well, unless they get away from whoever ends up with them. They have a pretty strong homing instinct and not many fences can hold them. :scared:

[skygazer]

1. Wow, this has been a great story

And the photos are good enough to really get a sense of their size - and their beauty. Majestic creatures. It would be interesting to know what happens next in their lives.

[flvegan]

2. Glad to hear they won't likely be food.

Big damn animals, geez.

[Critters2]

3. Just those two won't be food. All those other ones mentioned earlier,

the calves, calf and mother pairs, the stockers, the "old cows"...they'll be shot in the heads with metal bolts, hung upside down and have their throats cut. For starters.

I doubt we'll see any pics of that posted here, though.

[flvegan]

4. I know and that sucks and is unfair.

I was just referring to the two particular steers (I learned something) that Kali had posted about before.

[Critters2]

5. I think pics should be posted. People should know what happens to these amazing creatures. nt

[Kali]

11. and don't forget to show other pics of reality -

death from predators, old age, and accidents. Hey ever witness human birth? It can be pretty damn messy, painful, and frightening.

Yes people ought to know how and where their food comes from, if they can't manage to participate occasionally themselves. It should be their choice, though. They don't need to be intentionally shocked and insulted by sleazy tactics like some right wing anti-abortionists use.

[Critters2]

7. Just read the other thread. Trying not to laugh that you didn't know what a steer was.

I used to live next to a cattle pasture--white face Herefords. The cows would come over every morning and watch me walk to the road to get my mail. Such magnificent animals! And gentle. And to think the brutality that will mark the ends of their lives.

Even the way they "steer" them is brutal...they don't get anesthesia, ya know. Not being a man, I can't empathize as others do.

Why are we so cruel to such wonderful creatures?

[flvegan]

8. Nah, laugh. It's funny.

I've had a few cow friends, none bull/steer variety.

Here's me with one that I visited often:



Whenever she heard my car, she'd hustle to the fence. She knew I'd rip up a bunch of the long grass out of her reach for her. She also loved skritches behind her big headlump.

People are cruel because there's a selfish want to fill and they can justify it.

[Critters2]

9. Cows are such soulful animals...those beautiful brown eyes.

And you're not bad looking yourself! Thanks for the pic!

[Kali]

12. that animal looks like it had its right hip broken

could be the angle of the pick. Common injury from too narrow of gates or crowding.

[flvegan]

13. Honestly, no idea.

These cows are my ideology of "free-range". No real gates or anything just a nice open range of land. On the 10 acres, might have had 12 head.

[Kali]

14. eh even if it was it would most likely be an old healed injury.

I just noticed cause it's my thing, you know? It's one of those apparently not too important pieces of bone (ouch) on livestock. I had a horse that got hit by a car and had the same thing - it never bothered him. Now the gash on his leg was a bit of a problem - vet spent quite a bit of time on it - said the hip would likely heal lopsided but not be a problem other than looks.

[achtung_circus]

21. Gentle can be a relative term.

I used to work for an Angus breeder, ran about 250 cows. In the mornings we would drive out around the calving ground to pick out new calves. We would put the calf in the back of the pickup. One person would drive, the other would process (ear tag, Vitamin ADE with selenium, iodine dip on the navel, notes on maternity and condition) while the cow would chase us, try to climb into the back of the truck and kill us.



It's not just cows either, steers, heifers and bulls all bear very close watching... they kill people every year.

[Kali]

10. Well, not all.

The pairs generally go back on pasture, at least around here - they are in high demand, as are bred heifers and even older bred cows sometimes get a reprieve by a small farmer. But yes they are food animals so yes they will be killed. Life and death are parts of a cycle and for those of us closely affiliated with it, it is an integral part of nature.

I don't happen to have any pictures of processing, and that isn't actually what this set of posts was about. I'm sure you can dig up some worst case examples from peta or somewhere. We can play tit for tat - you show gross pictures and I will show delicious steaks. Think that will achieve anything?

Oh, except for those rare worst case accidents where the stun doesn't work correctly (even more rare in a small well managed plant): once that bolt hits, it is over. So your attempt to amplify what some find difficult about the processing is misleading. Why don't you talk about the dirt and filth involved in growing vegetables?

[Ptah]

6. They look even larger in the pen.

:wow:


Thanks for chapter two.

[Kali]

15. they are always bigger up close!

:rofl:

[Ptah]

16. Yes, bigger up close, for sure

I just can't stop posting pics from fifty years ago.

[Ptah]

17. Kick for kali

:kick:

[achtung_circus]

18. That Roan

is a kicker. They'll knock you ass over teakettle when you're milking.

[Kali]

22. here's one at least 40 years old

[XemaSab]

19. Did I ever tell you about Jose the bull?

If you're ever sitting in the cab of a Ford F-150 and you're looking a bull with a 4-foot rack right in the eye, that's a BIG animal. :scared:

[Kali]

20. ever have one ram your vehicle?

I haven't but the husband and one of the kids were down chasing things off the railroad one time and a bull got pissed off and rammed the truck. Good thing husband had a witness 'cause I wouldn't have believed him.

One time shortly after we moved down here we were having a wild west round up and a relative volunteered his pick-up to be a short wing fence so we could load some wild stuff into a trailer. That didn't work too well and we're still finding pieces of chrome down there.:rofl:

People were flying, cows were jumping into and out of the back of the pick up. I'm laughing thinking about it.

edit for grammar, I'm really bad when I start talkin' country-style.

edit again for editing. I am not drinking, I swear!

[XemaSab]

26. Here's how he got the name Jose:

He walked over to the truck and began banging his horns on the hood.

I got back to work and told the boss what had happened (it was the work truck).

I said "If there are any dents in the truck it's probably from the bull."

He said "If there are any dents in the truck it's probably from Jose."

Basically, he was driving down the highway in the dead of night and plowed into a drunk Hispanic farm worker at 70 mph. The dude was so trashed he was pretty much totally ok, but he left some dents on the hood.

A few weeks later I was back on the project site with a colleague, and sure enough the bull was there. I told my colleague what the boss had said, and somehow by the end of the conversation she had named the bull Jose.

We went back to the office, and she said something about "Jose the bull." My boss shot me a complete and total LOOK OF DEATH that I would be SO CRASS as to name the bull Jose after the drunk Hispanic gentleman that he ran over. :P :banghead:

[achtung_circus]

24. I once hit a 900# steer

on an icy dark winter road, only about 20 mph at impact. I thought the steer was toast but he left a smear of feces down one fender and a smear of vomit down the other fender. Internal air bags. He was stiff and sore for a couple of weeks, but otherwise OK.

The truck, a Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 suffered $9,000 damage.

[Kali]

25. a Dodge huh? $9K?

what did it have a small dent in the hood? ;-)

(I am not fond of Dodge vehicles having paid for repairs on a few of them)

[achtung_circus]

27. A tad bit more.

All body panels from the bumper to the doors, frame straightening. Still, I thought it was a bit much (British genetically-derived understatement at work).

[Midlodemocrat]

23. I have really enjoyed reading these threads. Thank you for posting them.