VET Excursion

"Guess who's going to the vet today? Do-daah, Do-daah!"

Bovine Beatrice

Round-up:

This meadow lady, at the encouragement of every farmer we've met (for reasons of safety), will be losing her horns.  Then everyone can play nice around the water trough.

Maggie

Everyone seemed a little nervous, all huddled around.

Sammy, Maggie, Meat Loaf & Beatrice

Even the donks came sidling up to see what was going on.

After loading the three girls, Meat Loaf became visibly irritable, pacing up and down beside the trailer. He started moo-ing (the first we'd ever heard) and was clearly unhappy that his girls were being taken away.

The 20 minute journey to the livestock vet went smoothly.  We pulled around the back and let the professionals take over.

Shoot! I mean chute

There are my girls!

"But I thought you said we were going to the park"

I guess they don't call it a
SQUEEZE chute for nothing

And just when the vet thought he was going to have a quiet afternoon, Thousand-and-one-questions arrived.

Peanut Gallery
(Do you see what happens when
you let your kids dress themselves?)

The girls received their shots and the two Hereford's were dehorned.  I say that like it was nothing.  Truth be told, it was an ear-curling, nasal-assaulting, visually traumatic event that both the hubby and I would like never to repeat.
Now the boys, on the other hand, watched with morbid fascination as the vet used his full body weight to manually clip the horns off and were transfixed by the pouring of bright red blood.
UGH!

"Look Mom, no horns!"

Anyway, we survived to tell the tale and headed straight to Dairy Queen,… as any good Texan would.

The End Of Lunch

A couple weeks ago, our dear farming mentors, N & S, graciously allowed us to purchase half of one of their pasture-raised, home-grown steers (after the not-too-surprising realization that Walmart beef prices aren't keeping up with it's reputation).  

This was a new adventure for me as I'd never experienced "up-stream" meat processing (OK, so I made up that term), and I was quite thrilled to witness how this all goes down (minus the blood).

We headed north into rural Texas and pulled up to Fischer's Meat Market (www.fischersmeatmarket.com) in a "German" town called Muenster.  Then got in line...

The Rig

'Lunch' seemed calm and unaware of his pending doom.  He was a beauty - half Brahma, half Angus - Brangus?  We had no doubt he'd be good eatin' - as they say around here.  He was born to be eaten - just the right amount of fat and a dedicated vegan ;)

Lunch  

We placed our bets as to how much his live weight would be. 

The Biggest Loser Weigh-In

After silently thanking our Creator for the gift of this magnificent animal, we said our tearful good-byes (I probably imagined that) and headed inside to chat with the head butcher.  

For the most part, I pretended like I knew what I was ordering (filet mignon, T-bone, ribeye, flank, skirt, striploin, chuck etc. etc.)  but somehow it all worked out.  

...17 days later, Lunch was packed, deeply frozen and settled comfortably in to my freezer. 

First Visitor of the Year

CityGirl came to visit us for 5 days from Denver, Colorado.  The consensus from the boys was, "Can she visit us every weekend?"  We love this girl.

We broke her in with building a loading shute, feeding the inhabitants and checking out the turf.

(Secretly petrified)

Known in Texas as a COW PIE

It took about two weeks for the cattle to allow a bit of head rubbing.

With my boy Meat Loaf

Low-Line Angus Arrivals

It ain't easy being a heifer half-sister and looking this good.

Magnolia & Samantha

But times, they are a changin'.

Enter Beatrice Angus Young and Meat Loaf Angus Young

"I can't believe they made us ride cattle class."

These two bolted out the back of the trailer, no problem!  Meat Loaf (ummm, yes, that is why his name is Meat Loaf) led his meadow lady around the new pasture.  Both are around 9 months old.  Beatrice will hopefully become a good mommy in about a year or so.  (Thomas named her after a special friend he left behind in Morocco)

Tough crowd at the social mixer.  Not the welcoming committee they had hoped for. 

"Hey, where y'all going?"

  

The pastures were alive with the sound of ... hoof clomping.

The chase is on!  

Sometimes it's best to just stand quietly and watch the ridiculousness...

"We'd never dream of being that silly"

"I know!  Let's play 'pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey'!"

"Mmm, spoke too soon"

Finally, everyone settled down and it was time to eat and get aquainted.

Who's Your Donkey?

For a short while, Bullet enjoyed our undivided attention.  

He suffered a bit of an identity crisis between the humans and cattle (who eventually made nice) constantly surrounding him.

Shortly after Christmas we headed to High's Mini Assets (http://www.highsminiassets.com) and collected Bullet's future wives, Sierra and Picabu.  These girls arrived looking mighty fine!

Missy Sierra wasted no time in setting the pecking order and continues to show Bullet who's boss.

"If you make any ass jokes I'll kick you!"

Picabu:

"Yep!"
 "You totally caught me in the snack box."

Next up,... Meat Loaf and Beatrice join the funny farm...

Magnolia Heifer Young & Samantha Heifer Young

Finding miniature Herefords is no easy task but thanks to a new friend, Amanda Oliver (www.oliverminiatureacres.com), we were pointed in the right direction. Thanks Amanda!

It was a rather quizzical online experience pushing "Add to Cart" and suddenly you're the instant owner of a pair of cattle, site unseen. (I'm resisting the urge to say COW because they won't be cows until they've had their first calf)

On Monday, Farmer Young headed 6 hours southwards to Hemphill, TX to collect the two beauties from Rusty Cow Company. (www.rustycowcompany.com)

Samantha taking it easy

After some tactical horn handling, Farmer Husband coaxed the girls into the temporary pen.

Then came time to introduce Bullet to his companions.

"Yup, I can't take 'em"

Ultimately, the social mixer didn't go as planned and Bullet spent Christmas Eve in the big barn.  This was also the night Maggie and Samantha planned their great escape.  We woke up to discover the girls happily roaming the entire property, leaving hot, steaming evidence to prove it.

All in a days work!

 

Bullet Donkey Young

Introducing... (drum roll)... the glorious Bullet Young, first equine member to join Amber Acres.  Hails from the lush pastures of Little Elm, Texas. (www.DonkeyTonkAcres.com)

Bullet awaiting his fate

Time for good-byes and home before dusk.

After a short ride home in our 'new' cattle trailer, Bullet emerges gingerly to discover all of Amber Acres.  Echo, echo, echo...

The digs don't look too shabby, but where are all my hommies?

So far, so good.

"I wonder if the blonde thinks she's a donkey,
because she totally dresses like me."

AND, we're in.  Phew!

'Sigh!'

"Happy days, the torture is over!"

Unfortunately... this is the next problem.

"Who me?"

Because Problem (a.k.a. Charlie Young) likes to join Bullet for a game of Kick Me If You Can.

"Anyone game?"