We're in the Cattle Business!--Part I

One day I went to the grocery store to get a few items for dinner. One of those things was a couple of steaks to barbecue. One little New York steak was about $8.00! That just seemed a little scandalous to me. I checked the price per pound on some of the other cuts of beef. Where have I been? When did beef get so pricey? I guess I never paid much attention before. Even formerly cheap cuts of meat, like flank steak, were not what I'd call cheap anymore.

That's when I decided to get into the cattle business.

Now when I get an idea into my head (previous post mentioned pea brain) I like to act on it as soon as possible. Sometimes that can work out just fine, but in my more outrageous moments it's just as well that the ideas did not come to fruition. This one wasn't so bad, it turns out...

I wanted something that would be docile, easy to handle, have easy calving, and tasty meat. I did a little research on the beloved internet and narrowed my choices down to two breeds: the Irish Dexter, and the British White. I wrote to the prospective breed associations for more info and literature.

Each of these breeds touted their attributes, but it was the Irish Dexter that finally won me over. The reason was they are smaller and advertised as "the perfect breed for the smallholder". Having just under one acre, that was me.

The Irish Dexter comes in two types: short-legged, and long-legged. I chose the long-legged version because they looked more like a cow and not a pet. This can be important when it comes time to put one in the freezer.

My next mission was to find a breeder, hopefully not too far away. I e-mailed a couple of likely candidates. The first one was out of country for a few weeks, but the second had just what I was looking for: a bred cow, still good for a few more years at least, gentle, easy to handle.

After persuading my husband that this would be a good thing (look at the price of MEAT! We can raise our OWN!) we made the necessary arrangements.

We drove to Sacramento and stayed in a nice residence-type hotel. The following morning we found the Green River Ranch where we were greeted by the thickly mustachioed Bill Kirkland. Bill took me to a small holding pen where he had our prospective cow awaiting our approval. She was in the pen with a half Dexter, half Holstein who was six months old, and already six inches taller than the three year old cow. I noticed one of her eyes was a bit cloudy, but she wasn't blind, she looked like a cow to me, and all my other criteria fit, so we loaded her into the trailer. Check, registration papers, and signatures were exchanged and we were on our way back home.

GRR Ladysmith fit right in and soon we settled into an easy routine. I eagerly checked for signs of an impending birth. Since she had been pasture bred all we had for a due date was a three month window, May, June, or July.

One day in early May, I had a "bloody blowout" at work. Without going into any further details, I had to come home. It was a good thing too. After I changed I went out back and Ladysmith was just starting labor. I was able to watch as she gave birth to a beautiful dun heifer calf.

I felt so lucky and blessed right then. I couldn't have been more thrilled because now I had a second cow and I was in the cattle business!