If we're lucky, after the vet pays him a visit to make him into a steer, he continues to stay healthy and grow until he's about eighteen months old. The healthy part can get a little tricky in the winter when the heifer pens (where he lives) are crowded and the temperatures fluctuate up and down. Just like in elementary school, germs get passed around from animal to animal. Several times over the years we've intended to raise a steer, only to send him to market early because of over crowding and respiratory viruses.
Luckily, this year we successfully filled our freezer with half a steer. The rest went to some family and friends...
Over 150 lbs of ground beef, another 50+ lbs of roasts, chipped beef, dried beef and jerky...
It's actually bittersweet. We are not hard and calloused and uncaring about having one of our animals butchered! But...we need to eat, and knowing that the meat we are eating is from an animal that was healthy and well cared for helps. After a while you learn that you have to distance yourself. The first time we did this, three of us were in tears, and the other wasn't hungry at lunch time!
