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For those of you who are new to this, here is the long version
Where do these steers come from?&- These are Black Angus steers borne to cows in our herd. We are a fairly small operation, with about ninety head of cows and three bulls. The steers have never had antibiotics - neither as medicine nor as a sub-therapeutic fed supplement. They have never been given growth hormone implants. They have not been branded, which is a crying shame because we have a really gorgeous, single iron brand. It is an old Felzien family brand: Lazy sixty nine. My cows wear it well. These steers have been vaccinated twice with five way and a seven way vaccine. They are band castrated, not knife cut, which will certainly disappoint the traditionalist cowboys out there.&
What does 'grass fed' mean?&- It means these steers have eaten only the grasses and forbs that grow in our pastures, or alfalfa hay. It more specifically means I have gone out of my way to see that they never eat any grain based feeds. They are not certified organic, but could very well be eligible if I thought that designation meant anything. Our pastures are not fertilized, nor sprayed with herbicides or pesticides on a broad scale. I do spot spray some small areas in an attempt to control our horrible goat head problem. My steers have been free range in spacious pastures for their entire lives. In the winter, their dry pasture grass is augmented with alfalfa, and grass hay. The alfalfa hay I buy is very high quality hay, usually second cutting, and has been fertilized.
Most cattle in this day and age are given growth hormone implants and finished in a feedlot, where the animals are crowded together in small, filthy pens. They are fed a highly programmed diet high in grains, usually corn and distillers grain, which is the leftover corn mash after it has been through an ethanol plant. The grains and grain by-products are mixed with various other materials including straw, ground alfalfa, and even wastes from plants that make processed foods for human consumption. These grain-based feedlot diets fatten cattle very quickly and cheaply. Part of the reason that grass fed cattle cost more is the extra time it takes for my animals to naturally grow to their full size.
Grass-fed beef has a lower fat content than grain fed. There is less marbling in the muscle. Grass fed beef can be slightly less tender due to the lower fat content. Also, the fat in grass fed beef is much better for you, with a proper ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids. I won't go into more detail here. I'll let you google it and see for yourself.
The beef will be dry aged for at least fifteen days to tenderize it, and to develop flavor.&
How big is a quarter?&- A quarter will weigh roughly between 85-110 pounds. It will fill three cubic feet of freezer space. A side, or half, is twice as much. If it's too much, find someone to split it with. It is called 'cowpooling', and that is just fun to say.&
What does it cost?&- Edited to update price since I haven't kept up with the blogging. &Contact me for recent price.
& 970-520-5595
Processors base their price off of the hanging weight. This gets complicated, so bear with me, and if you have any questions, call me or Your Choice Meats, and we can explain it. When a live animal is slaughtered and the sides of beef are hung, the weight is reduced by 60%. This is called the hanging weight. It is measured by a certified scale at the plant. You will pay part of the slaughter fee, which is $48.00 per animal, and .68 per lb hanging weight to the processor. This price varies based on the exact weight of the animal, and on how you have the beef packaged. Certain things incur extra charges, like having ground beef formed into patties, or running round steak through the tenderizing machine.&
After the beef hangs (dry aging for fifteen days) it is cut up however you want, reducing the weight again by approximately another 55% thru evaporation and trimming of waste and bones.
For example, let's say I take in a steer that weighs 1100 pounds. After slaughter and dressing out it will weigh approximately 660 pounds. Those two halves, or sides of beef (each weighing 330 pounds) will hang for fifteen days. Then it will be cut to your specifications, with most bones removed, and fat and scraps trimmed off, This will reduce the 660 pounds to approximately 363 pounds. Divide this by four, and each quarter weighs 91 pounds.&
Why has the price gone up? There are two reasons for this. First, I have learned that grass fed animals take much longer to fully develop physically, and I was slaughtering too soon. Subsequently, they were underdeveloped, especially in a droughty year like last year. Hopefully, this year my steers will be larger and the poundage on the individual quarters heavier.&Second, the cattle mar actually higher than it has ever been. There are many reasons for this: First, there is a nationwide shortage of cattle. Second,& the prices of most feeds are very high due to weather caused crop damage and competition with China.& My weaning age calves sell for almost twice what they did just three years ago.&Also, the price of alfalfa h a few years ago I bought alfalfa for $80 per ton, this year I was fortunate to get some for $190 per ton.&
Long story short:&You will pay Your Choice Meats for processing, approximately $130 when you pick up the beef. Then, at some point later you'll pay me my recent price per pound multiplied by the hanging weight, which will be listed on your receipt.&
How does this work?&- Please let me know if you are buying some beef, and how much- a quarter or a half. Also give me a daytime phone number. &Then call Your Choice Meats at 970-483-7885 and tell them you want to buy a quarter, or a half of Ned Norman's beef. Your Choice Meats will guide you through the beef cutting list to customize the meat however you want. When the meat has finished hanging, they will cut and wrap it and call you for pick up. They can hold it for a while depending on how busy they are. When you pick it up, it is frozen solid. Just wrap in a few blankets or tarps and drive home and put it in the freezer. You don't even need to bring coolers. Easy peasy.&
This sounds complicated and intimidating if you haven't done it before, but it is really simple. And tasty. And healthy. Please call, text, or email me, or post a comment with any questions, and I can explain the process in more detail. Or less detail. However you like it.
Wet, slick with vernix, covered in mud. Curled in the sun. Teetering wobbly on legs buttressed hard against gravity. Momma hovering close, bothered, mad at me, busy sniffing, licking and cleaning. Two objects locked in a primal orbit, slowly spinning around each other while drifting out across the winter faded pasture. Soft mooing black notes in a white song.&
Spring blizzards have been common, late and severe this year. They are hard on cows, birds and us.&
A few weeks ago, within a twelve hour period we had, in order:& A warm day, mostly sunny, with the temperature almost to 70&, then thunderstorms moved through with heavy rain and lightning. Very strong winds, strong enough to blow two power poles over, usher in an extremely nasty cold front. Then tornado warnings. Then enough small soft hail fell to cover the ground. It didn't melt, but froze as temperatures plummeted. Then the winds shifted out of the north. Finally, snow, driven by the blizzard force winds, piled on top of the frozen hail crust. Temps dropped close to the single digits. All that within twelve hours.
Two in the morning checking cows, I have to watch the ditch and fence as I drive because I can't see the road in the whiteout blown snow. I startle up a gangly Blue Heron who had taken cover in the plum bushes. It struggles to fly away in the strong gale, flailing like a bed sheet hung on a clothesline.
Two calves died. Laid out flat, covered in ice, frozen to the ground.&
Storms like this, that get the calves thoroughly soaking wet before it gets cold and snowy are the worst. The calves struggle to stay warm. They nurse too often, whic and the cold taxes their immune system. I've doctored three with antibiotics and antitoxin. &
&School was canceled for Ella, and Maret stayed home. We watched Starlings take cover on the porch and hide in the firewood pile. One was bleeding and ill, and died there sometime later.
Maret's Grandfather Marvin used to say, "Make sure you still have half your hay on the first of April". These blizzards are why. You go through a enormous amount of feed during these storms. Every morning I roll out grass bales so the calves have a dry place to lay, and every evening I put out more bales for feed.&
Chores and calving are exhausting during these blizzards. First, I am wearing twenty pounds of heavy clothes and muck boots. Second, the corrals are hard to walk through. The corrals that were soft dirt, are now a thick amalgam of partially frozen mud churned together with all the leftover hay. Next, large areas are puddled in water. Now top this with a crust of hail. Now top that with snow that is drifted thick in places.&
Middle of the night, walking through the heavies, I notice the Meadowlarks have come into the corral and are nestled down inside deep cow footprints. This is odd because Meado they are never in the corrals. They are trying to hide from the wind. Trying to use the heat in the ground to stay alive.&
Two calves were born during this storm. Both times I found the calves wet and new, shivering. Both times I had to pick up the eighty pound limp calf and carry it, walking backwards through the muck, a hundred yards or so into the calving barn. I walk backwards so the cow, angry and bellowing, can see and sniff the calf. If I turn around, the calf seems to disappear to the momma, and she goes back to where she last saw it.&
Maret's mother, Gail, finds over a dozen dead Robins in her yard after the storm. I find a few to weak to fly and easily catch them. I set them on a sunny windowsill to warm up.
I rub the cold calves vigorously with some old towels to dry them as much as possible. Then I put them in my calf warmer- a super insulated box with two heat lamps hanging overhead. The front has clear curtain so the momma can look in and see her kid. Usually, two hours has them dry and toasty warm, and after giving them a bottle of warm colostrum they can go back with mom. One of these calves has already lost most of its ears from frostbite.
After the blizzard the corrals fill up with ponds and puddles of snowmelt.& Water the color of thick black coffee from decades of tannins leached from hay and cowshit. And swimming in them is a half dozen ducks, taking a rest from their long migration.
There are now thirty two calves. Actually thirty three have been born but I didn't tag this one because I didn't think she would survive. Turns out I was right. Though born alive, she can't stand up, or even sit up. I've kept her alive for the first few days by tube feeding her. She is even unable to nurse. In this photo you can see her in front of the Ranger which has the tube feeding bag hanging from it. She is only sitting up because I have placed her in that position by folding her legs under her, so she will be in the right position to place the tube down her throat. She flopped over right after I took the photo.
I've consulted with my vet as to possible causes and remedies but there isn't much to be done. Likely cause is a neurologic or brain development issue. I gave her shots of both an anti-inflammatory and an antibiotic on the rare chance it is bacterial meningitis. No luck. I have tried repeatedly to lift her up, stimulate her legs, help fire those nerves, but to no avail. I"ll have to put her down or else she will starve and suffer. &
In the photo below you will notice the calf has duct tape wrapped around his front hooves. Since birth this calf has had trouble walking. He can stand up, but his front legs buckle at the ankle due to contracted tendons not allowing the front legs to straighten. I've had this happen before. Sometimes they simply grow out of it in a few days. He is not improving very quickly, so I've wrapped his legs in cast padding and vet wrap. Then I splint the legs straight with PVC splints and duct tape. I also give him a shot of a tetracycline antibiotic which rapidly binds with calcium allowing for muscle and tendon relaxation. I learned that last nifty part from my amazing vet, who is probably tiring of my phone calls.Philadelphia Electric Inc.
&Philadelphia Electric
Electrical Repairs & Installations Old Work Specialist. Philadelphia Pa.
Bucks & Montgomery Counties . Immediate Emergency ,Repair & Installation Service .
Call: 215-9271100&
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DO NOT RISK YOUR HOME TO UNLICENSED People CLAIMING to be
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&CONSUMER EDUCATION SECTION 1
UNDERSTAND YOUR ELECTRICAL SERVICE&
100 or 200 AMP SERVICE into Your Home :
electrical service panel is the main distribution center of your
home's electricity. It's where the local utility's service
lines hook up with the individual circuits that run throughout
the house.
Don't feel
to comfortable working at the service panel if you arte not
TRAINED , YOU can be injured or killed& don't
take chances -- hire a licensed electrician. We have seen people
do more harm than good trying to do &their own& repairs.
In most areas, a
Licensed & Insured Electrician is also needed to hook up the
service leads to the service panel and that's also a good
time to have the branch circuits hooked up. (Separate Lines)
Every Home built before 1985 can probably use Separate lines to
appliances ,computers & large T.V's.
&SERVICE ENTRANCE WIRE :There are
Three Utility Service lines come into the panel. That is your
SERVICE ENTRANCE CABLE, it is encased in plastic or Old
Asbestos Cloth Covering , Grey in color and holds 3 wires , 1
wire is a stranded silver wire wrapped around the other two.
This sometimes is extremely weathered in back of your home .It
either goes to the TOP of your Meter Socket or right into your
home. We get calls that &The Squirrels& ate the wire cover. No
squirrels did NOT eat the cover , it is worn from the Weather
and needs to be replaced. You can not tape this wire or recover
it, once water is in the cable you Replace it.& Water &
Electricity DO NOT mix. In this cable are Two &hot& leads
that attach to a two-gang main circuit breaker that connects to two
&hot& buss bars. This supplies 100 or 200 amps
Power into your home.
BREAKERS: Individual branch circuit breakers, rated to accept a
fixed amperage of electricity, clip or slide onto the hot buss
bars these are rated 15,20.30.40,50 or 60 AMP s each .
Each breaker also connects with an outbound &hot& lead that
supplies a circuit in your home.
GROUNDING :
The service panel has a neutral buss bar where the
incoming neutral service line connects with the neutral leads of
the branch circuits. If this wire is missing or corroded you
will have a serious problem as your back up GROUND system will
have to handle the work of this line. This neutral wire usually
carries the unused electricity back to the Utility Company.&
If it is missing, Corroded or damaged you will see your lights
get Brighter, blow Bulbs & Appliances out.
The panel should also have a ground buss bar where all the
branch ground wires screw in. This is a SAFETY precaution.
Required by all codes and MUST be in every home. You should have
a GROUND ROD , a COLD WATER pipe ground and have the Water Meter
Jumped out to complete your ground. If you ever see Sparking at
the Copper Ground wires in your home, call 215-927-1100 for
AFFORDABLE ELECTRIC Inc.
CIRCUIT BREAKER PANELS : In main service panels, the ground buss and neutral buss are
connected together to provide a safe grounding path for both
newer homes, and many older ones that have been re-wired, will
have circuit breakers. Each breaker controls the power to a
group of lights, outlets and appliances. If you still have OLD &
OBSOLETE FUSES call 215-927-1100 to REPLACE THEM with Modern
Breakers. Even some Breaker panels are not the Safest to have
such as Federal Pacific Breakers which were recalled for being a
FIRE HAZARD .If
it hasn't been done already, you should label each breaker so
you know just what it controls. You can do this on your own.
There are devices sold that will help you locate each rooms
breaker or have the Electrician Do it . We mark each Breaker
panel that we install.
Circuit Breakers protect the wiring and fixtures by turning off
the power. If a fixture shorts out, or if a circuit gets
overloaded, the breaker will &trip.&
That cuts power to the circuit and protect the wires and
fixtures from damage. The most common reason for a breaker to
trip is too many appliances and lights on one circuit. This is a
Breaker saying & HEY To Much is on ME & and you want to have a
separate line installed to take some of the &weight& off of that
tripped breaker usually looks like it's between the ON and OFF
positions. To reset a breaker, turn it OFF and then ON
again. If a service panel doesn't have breakers, it probably has
to get RID OF FUSES! Old Obsolete and tired Fuses are also
underrated for Today's homes, Most FUSED SERVICES are only 30
or 60 amp services ,not nearly enough power to properly
power a home today . Replace them . Call 215-927-1100 and
arrange your appointment& today.
& End of Consumer Education Section 1
Philadelphia Electric, Philadelphia
Electricians, Philadelphia Electrical Repairs, Philadelphia Electrical
Contractor. Residential Electric Repairs Philadelphia , Electric Repairs
Philadelphia. We Troubleshoot Electric Problems in Philadelphia Pa. &
Surrounding areas.
EXAMPLES of FIRE HAZARDS .Look for Blinking Lights , Dimming Lights or
appliances not working &like they used to &.
These are BAD TAPS, Neutral Wires & Main Lines Connected up top of the lines and
are a FIRE WAITING TO HAPPEN !
Philadelphia Electric, Philadelphia
Electricians, Philadelphia Electrical Repairs, Philadelphia Electrical
Contractor. Residential Electric Repairs Philadelphia , Electric Repairs
Philadelphia. We Troubleshoot Electric Problems in Philadelphia Pa. &
Surrounding areas.
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ALL PRICES QUOTED ONLINE , IN PRINT including Philadelphia Yellow
Pages and in any other Media are BASE PRICES for Devices and Certain Materials.
We make every attempt to be as accurate as possible with &
Pre-Pricing& during your initial Free Phone Consultation .All homes are
different and your final costs will quite possibly vary depending on your
specific Job Description & Installation .&
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We believe in giving a FAIR PRICE for a QUALITY job. We price our
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always know your cost BEFORE we start your job .&
&We& promise that we will always be available to
speak to you , our Customer personally for whatever reason. You will NOT GET the
runaround from & manager to manager& . You, Our CUSTOMER are our most
IMPORTANT ASSET and we will be available to help you as needed. We know & THE
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& ONE HAPPY CUSTOMER will tell TWO others about
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We will beat any
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There is no need to waste time &Shopping
Around&, we are IT, we have shopped our Competitors and come up with Realistic
Prices. If you get a Legitimate Written Estimate from a Same
Type Electrical Company that is less than ours and call us with that Estimate we will not only meet it
we will BEAT IT by at
least 10%. You MUST HAVE a WRITTEN ESTIMATE . WE Price our work to be
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Call: &215-9271100&
lectric, Philadelphia
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Philadelphia. We Troubleshoot Electric Problems in Philadelphia Pa. &
Surrounding areas.
Some of the Neighborhoods we Service .
Yes we service YOUR neighborhood . We KNOW Philadelphia .
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Electricians, Philadelphia Electrical Repairs, Philadelphia Electrical
Contractor. Residential Electric Repairs Philadelphia , Electric Repairs
Philadelphia. We Troubleshoot Electric Problems in Philadelphia Pa. &
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Philadelphia Electric, Philadelphia
Electricians, Philadelphia Electrical Repairs, Philadelphia Electrical
Contractor. Residential Electric Repairs Philadelphia , Electric Repairs
Philadelphia. We Troubleshoot Electric Problems in Philadelphia Pa. &
Surrounding areas.
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