The new sheriff in town

If you have been following this blog, you would know we used to have a bull that we named Dexter.  We sold Dexter awhile ago because first of all, he was getting old, he was about 9 or 10 years old.  Another reason is that he was not satisfied with the small herd of cows that we had so he kept escaping and getting out to try to find other girlfriends to play with, he was giving us so much trouble that he just had to go.  But at least while he was with us he gave us 3 calves, so I'm pretty happy about that.

So this time around, we bought a much younger bull.  He's about 1.5 years old.  He seems very chill, and very docile.  He would let you feed him cattle cubes off your hand and he's not skittish like the other cows.  We are hoping he would give us some more babies.

Meet our newest bull, Jr.

Though he's not a direct offspring of Dexter's, he is a
replacement for him so we decided to name him Jr.

Jr. already made friends with all the cows.  As soon as he got
off the trailer he went straight to work and sniffing all the cows.
I have a feeling we will be getting some more calves very soon.

He's definitely a bull, he's very well intact.

Give me some of that homegrown, grass-fed beef!

About two weeks ago, we took our steer, Jelly in to get butchered.  Yesterday we got a call from the butcher shop telling us that the meat was ready for pick up.  So this morning we went and brought him home, and he was "a changed man".

Before we were flooded about 2 years ago, we bought a baby steer to raise and use for meat.  But unfortunately that calf we named Ribeye didn't survive the flood. 

So now I'm so excited to try out our very own grass-fed beef for the first time.  This is the first time we butchered a steer that we bred and raised from the very beginning.  So I'm excited to see what the meat tastes like. 

As we had learned before, if your cows are mainly grass-fed, between 21-24 months would be the best time to butcher them.  That will give you the best quality, and best yield of meat.  We didn't keep our very best record of expenses spent on raising our cows this time.  But with our brief calculation, which includes money spent on shots, cattle cubes (they're more like treats, so we don't give them all the time), renting trailers/transportation, and finally butchering expenses, we ended up paying about $2/lb for our natural, grass-fed beef!  Now that's a steal!  Plus, we know what exactly is in our beef, and no junk, no hormones or additives added!

This is what 298lbs of beef looks like. 7 big bags full of meat!

We got a bunch of steaks and a good variety of different cuts
of meat.

This is our list of inventory.  

One very full freezer!

Another farewell

This time, we are saying good-bye to Jelly, the steer.  Jelly just turned 2, and so it was time to take him to get butchered.  He had no idea what was coming, but surprisingly it was quite easy to get him up on the trailer this time than all the other times.

Got Jelly loaded on the trailer relatively easy.

Getting ready to take a little trip to the butcher shop.

The cows were very curious as to why Jelly was getting the "special treatment"
Trust me, you don't want to get Jelly's special treatment.

Or maybe they're just gathering around to say good-bye to their friend.

Good Friday

So on Good Friday, we decided to take our cows in for their shots.  They were due for their shots.  We loaded them up in the trailer and off we went to see the vet.

Waiting in line to get their shots.  Surprisingly it went by pretty quick, even for 6 cows.

The Vet is doing his thang.

Another project we did on Good Friday was that we put in an automatic sprinkler system and laid down some sod.  Let me tell ya, that was a lot of manual labor involved!  We wanted to put sod all around our home so we had to dig trenches all around the home as well for the sprinkler system, and we did it manually!  Man, I'm too old for manual labor.  And after we were done digging trenches we put down some sod.  It sure was tiring, but it was fun being able to work on projects together.  The sprinkler system we went with is the Rainbird sprinkler system that we bought from Home Depot.  So far so good.  It's pretty easy to install.  The hardest part of installing the sprinkler system is digging the trenches.  Other than that, it was not bad at all.  

Digging trenches is not an easy task!

Of course we solicited the help from our children, AKA our little slaves
with digging trenches and laying down sod.  Dirty boots don't go
inside!  They stay outside!

A piece of heaven

We really enjoy living on acreage, though there's always a lot of work to do.  It was a beautiful morning today.  Beautiful sun rise, with beautiful weather, and my hard-working hubby mowing on the tractor.  Life can't get any better than this!  I just want to say how grateful I am to be able to find another place and rebuild after we got flooded about a year and a half ago.

Country living is awesome!  I highly recommend it!

And these Bluebonnets are what Texas is famous for.  They bloom
everywhere around here during spring.

What's that white stuff

Weather has been pretty crazy lately.  About a month ago, back in December of 2017 our area had experienced snow.  As you might know, snow is very very rare in this part of Texas.  Just when we thought we were done with the cold weather and snow, BAM we are getting snow again this week.  School was even canceled due to this inclement weather.

We had all our pipes wrapped up so they don't burst in this freezing temperature.  Since we live out here in the country we are on private well.  We also had all the water pipes that are connected to the well (of course just the sections above ground) wrapped up, but little did we know we needed to keep the water pressure gauge wrapped up as well.  Otherwise it will freeze too and stop working.

We will be going to check on the cows too this afternoon just to make sure they're handling the cold weather ok and that they're all getting along.  We purchased a Low-line Angus cow last year, but I guess I never made a post about it...Anyway, her name is Nutella.  Low-line Angus is also a small breed, but with no horns.  Ever since we brought Nutella home, she has not been very welcomed.  At first Nutella and Jelly were friends...but now not so much.  And all the other cows, especially Blackpearl and Peanut Butter are so mean to her.  I feel bad for Nutella.  So we need to go to our old property to check on the cows and especially Nutella to make sure they're all staying warm together, and they're getting enough food.  The weather has been so cold, grass has been very scarce on our old property so we bought big bales of hay for them. 

We are getting snow here!!!  Insane!

The cows got icicles on them.

 Nutella is being excluded from the group.

Peanut Butter's baby is getting so big and she's enjoying a snack

All the cows seem to be doing ok

Operation tire swing

Operation tire swing.

Mission status: Completed

We finally moved into our new place about a month ago, right before Thanksgiving.  So we have been pretty busy organizing the new place.  And many many projects that we want to work on and are working on.  Tire swing seems to be a very easy project.  So a few days ago we decided to just get it done so the kids can at least have something to play with outside.

Check out this tire swing.  It's nice and sturdy.

We have the professional tire swing testers testing it out.  Everything seems to be working perfect.