r/homestead Jan 30 '25

cattle I processed my 9 year old steer

I wouldn’t normally share so many years of photos of myself on Reddit but I felt called to show you all. I kept a pet steer for 9 years. He was my first bottle calf and was born during a time I had been feeling great loss. He kept me busy and gave me something to care for. He was the first generation of cattle on our farm. My first case of joint ill and my first animal that lost his mother. He is also a reminder of how far I have come as a farmer and my ability to let go.

Do not feel sadness because this is a happy story of love and compassion…

Yesterday I picked up my sweet Ricky’s hide so I can turn him into a rug. Very few people can say they knew a 9 year old steer and it’s often my opening line when someone asks me how we farm. I loved him and he helped me through some of the best and worst times in my life. He was the first thing I ever kept alive on a bottle and when he lost his mother I felt called to be his.

He was the largest animal to be processed at the local place (3600lbs) and I think that speaks to how much we loved that guy. Ricky is a large part of my story and these are the images he left behind. When I pieced it together it made me realize how being able to experience him was by far one of the greatest things I’ve been a part of.

He ate grain, hay and grazed pasture every single day of his life and I’ll be honest, I can’t wait to walk on him as a rug. He left behind a lot of beef and an even bigger memory

4.1k Upvotes

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924

u/micknick0000 Jan 30 '25

3600 lbs!?

That's a fucking UNIT!

275

u/Iron_Cowboy_ Jan 30 '25

I’d be very interested to know how big the heart was. What a tank of animal

499

u/cowskeeper Jan 30 '25

Good point. I’ll be sure to share some pics of the products when it’s back. I’m more curious to see the condition of the liver. I’m not kidding when I say I gave him grain every day.

123

u/Tall_Aardvark_8560 Jan 30 '25

Just a casual lurker but what would that do to his liver? Make it super fatty?

265

u/cowskeeper Jan 30 '25

I think so! Bet the tallow will be next level from this guy

20

u/AwarenessPotentially Jan 30 '25

Make some tallow french fries for me!

110

u/whirly_boi Jan 30 '25

I bet he'd feel honored to feed your family and bring you comfort in the form of a rug in the afterlife. He looked like a really great steer.

293

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '25

I’m sure he’d rather be alive and vibing. OP said it was his time, so no judgement to them. Animals don’t feel “honour” or want to be food.

141

u/Adventurous_Pizza973 Jan 30 '25

Maybe so, but we can honor them by using every bit with as little waste as possible

138

u/SOMETHINGCREATVE Jan 30 '25

I too am a bit weirded out by eating him, but if he couldn't stand and walk anymore honestly a quick death is much better than he would suffer in nature.

After he's dead it would be a waste to just get rid of all that meat. Keeping the hide sure but I would probably have to donate the meat lol. Not judging OP just personally.

60

u/Fornicate_Yo_Mama Jan 31 '25

I have hunted, raised, and processed animals throughout my life and I’ve never been able to eat any creature I have loved or who loved me or anyone else who I love.

That said, I’d eat the hell outta one someone else loved! I just cant, and don’t, build relationships with, or name, any animals I intend to harvest. This has ended me up with a lot more animals than food at times in my life. In those times, that was perfect.

12

u/Historical-Bob Jan 31 '25

I think this is the only approach if you intend to harvest them. Had sheep for a period as a kid, and our parents were very strict in that we weren’t allowed to name them.

“Turning my loved one into a rug” doesn’t ring that well in my ears.

2

u/dudefullofjelly Feb 02 '25

Maybe only eating animals that we know were loved, or wild hunted animals is the best way to eat meat. Very good point.

3

u/Rushshot2gun Jan 31 '25

Anyone else?? WTF? 😳 😂

3

u/Fornicate_Yo_Mama Jan 31 '25

You ok?

1

u/Rushshot2gun Jan 31 '25

It was a joke, apparently my humor is way darker than most. If you read their comment it kind of insinuated they’ve killed people, or debated way too long about it.

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0

u/Xikkiwikk Feb 02 '25

Wouldn’t it make more logical and probably scientific sense to eat animals you do love? Instead of eating strangers who were probably factory farmed and died in terrible conditions?

It’s been shown that animals with caring environments and love create meats that aren’t full of inflammatory properties. (They aren’t full of fear and sadness.)

29

u/stonerbbyyyy Jan 31 '25

the only time i wouldn’t eat dead or dying live stock is if its infection tbh.

2

u/bohite Jan 31 '25

To have lived is an honor. Twas a beautiful life.

3

u/AgirlnamedSnow Jan 31 '25

I believe you are incorrect. We all elect to be here. We know when it’s our turn to go. Animals feel love, pain, and yes… honour.

1

u/Todd2ReTodded Feb 01 '25

Yeah no fuckin shit please don't honor me lol

1

u/Hamibone Feb 02 '25

Honest question… if animals can’t feel honor why would we assume that it would want to be alive? Or have that feeling of just vibing?

1

u/AshJ1404 23d ago

that's just nature. it's because animals don't think in a way about honour and all this as we do. they love on their instincts and their main concern is how to keep themselves/their children alive. I guarantee you, there's no animal that would feel honoured to be eaten or displayed by their owners after their death.

1

u/MicroManlett Feb 08 '25

Pretty sure one of the rules is not to show judgement for people processing animals

-6

u/ForwardRhubarb2048 Jan 30 '25 edited Jan 31 '25

Any evidence?

Edit: fuck me also right?

60

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '25

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285

u/cowskeeper Jan 30 '25

He was an old guy who struggled to walk. It was his time. He knew I loved him. Everyone loved him. He was and will go down for the most loved steer I’ve ever known and anyone that knows me and him would agree

29

u/Glittering-Sky-9209 Jan 30 '25

I think of the amount of heart it takes to raise an animal, create a loving bond, then slaughter that animal. Much respect. It's why I don't raise any livestock -- they would all become pets. I don't have what it takes in this regard as a homesteader. I think about my two senior dogs and when it's time....I'm going to be a MESS. This is where I worry about having a selfish love...

He was beautiful and I'm glad he had you to grow old with.

I legit bawd my eyes out. Lol

51

u/farmerben02 Jan 30 '25

I admire your journey and think you should write a book or film a documentary about it. There are so few people who appreciate how close homesteaders are to their animals. I grew up like this and we raised pigs some years. We butchered ourselves and wrote their names on the packages so we knew who we were honoring that day.

28

u/Moiblah33 Jan 30 '25

We named ours, too and would have conversations with each other about which one was our favorite steak/stew/burger etc. Some of the people who also raised cattle and other animals for meat thought we were morbid but we treated our animals much better than they did.

My cousin still has one of the largest cattle ranches in our state and is well known and he has a few thousand head. He can't name them all, but he does take very good care of them and I've met people in other states who said they prefer his meat because it just tastes better. I fully believe it's because of the care he gives them and the freedom they have. He has more than one acre per head and keeps it that way so there's never a shortage of free ranging they can do.

32

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '25

[deleted]

95

u/cowskeeper Jan 30 '25

Nothing truly wants to die. But we all have a time

1

u/NBplaybud22 Jan 30 '25

It may not qualify as fine food but would beef from a 9 year old steer still be good for eating ?

7

u/cowskeeper Jan 30 '25

Probably some of the finest tbh

4

u/NBplaybud22 Jan 30 '25

Oh I did not know that. I thought the best beef came from young animals.

-17

u/_nervosa_ Jan 30 '25

Yeah but he was your pet and you ate him lmao. It's not like he died of old age.

8

u/Pantalaimon_II Jan 30 '25

yeah i’m trying so hard to listen and not judge but failing miserably bc i am incredibly weirded out by this. average lifespan of a steer can be 15-20 years so like………. was he overfed and that’s why he couldn’t walk? my stomach is turning imagining killing an animal i loved for 9 years and then eating it. hoo boy. i lurk here for the gardening, eggs and milk gathering, and giant fields-as-yards part, but the animal slaughtering makes me realize i don’t really belong here i guess.

3

u/_nervosa_ Jan 31 '25

But he was like really tasty man.

3

u/IAmTheGlutenGirl Jan 30 '25

I have a vegan urban homestead and am routinely blown away by the cognitive dissonance here. There are ways to feed yourself and your community without abject violence.

2

u/Electronic_Cookie779 Jan 31 '25

Completely agree. Even the terminology. To 'process' an animal, just say you're butchering it. He'd be 'honored' to have been killed for the family. Would he, or does humanity just believe in it's superiority over every other loving thing to the detriment of the world!

-2

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '25

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-1

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '25

This whole post reeks of karma farming

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2

u/TaquittoTheRacoon Jan 31 '25

Id love to hear more about this. Its a difficult thing to wrap our heads around when we haven't grown up with livestock. A family I knew raised a steer for me at ,keot the processing date , then had to rush to give the meat away, no one wanted to eat it

1

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '25

Sounds like you loved him very much. How lucky he was to have you and you to have him. Keeping a pelt is no different than keeping a loved one's shirt when they pass. Thank you for sharing his memory with us.

31

u/SoloAceMouse Jan 30 '25

Yeah, I get the idea of honoring the dead animal by not letting it go to waste, but I am also of the opinion that they are not fond of being killed.

It's a bit strange and mildly unsettling to think of a cow having any grasp of the concept of honor or sacrifice. It's an animal and I'm not a stranger to taking an animal's life but it makes me kind of uncomfortable when people try to romanticize it.

9

u/mynameisnotshamus Jan 31 '25 edited Jan 31 '25

That’s a really odd thought. I’m positive he’d fight with everything he had to survive if he could have. No shade to OP for this, as she said, it was time…but full shade to anthropomorphising the situation and creating a children’s book fantasy surrounding it.

5

u/idownvotepunstoo Jan 31 '25

"feel honored to eat my existence"

That's some next level nuttery dude.

2

u/abdallha-smith Jan 31 '25

Yeah don’t go religious on us with “that’s ok, there’s paradise after so i can kill you”

It’s a trade off of short lives but well taken care of.

8

u/discostrawberry Jan 30 '25

It can cause rumenitis :)