This Winter's Beef

[Haggis]

My AI man gave me a Jersey X Holstien bull calf in November of '06; at three months of age the wee dear was quite a bit behind his fellows and not worth the haul to market with the rest of the mob. Now, "Little Bit", as we've dubbed him, is fully 10 inches taller and 18 inches longer than our Jersey cow. We've schedualed him for butcher on or about November 1st, by which time he will have hopefully gained another couple CWT. I'm not sure which surprizes me most: how quickly he seems to have grown, or how quickly two more of my years have slipped away, but he will make fine beef, and all I did was add water, forage, and the occasional rasher of grain.

My Good Son is of a mind that we ought to keep "Little Bit" until he reaches the age of proper beef (4 or 5 years), and then have more for our effort, but I don't need him in my hay this winter, or knocking my little Jersey cow about the barn for two or three more years.

[gone-a-milkin]

I have seen this too, a runty one that fills out just fine, especially with no competition.
I hear you about not feeding him thru another winter though. Sure, he will get bigger...but at what cost? When the grass is done this fall, you will have plenty for your freezer! Sounds like a good winter supply to me.

[Haggis]

Our staying snows hit around the first of November, and the free for the grazing pasture will be gone by then, so Little Bit is for sure headed into the deep freeze. He won't gain any more weight there, but he won't eat any more either. We've been trying to guess his weight in, but guess is the best we can do. Our Jersey is about 900 lb or a bit less, depending on season and whether she's in milk, which she is just now, and Little Bit is easily half again larger than she. We're hoping he'll reach 1600# or at least 1500# by the time our butcher comes to fetch him away.

Herself and I couldn't possible manage so large a beast in our small freezer, so we're only keeping the cuts along the top line, the rest we'll have ground into burger and give to our children and Grand-Darlings. Were I to give the beast entirely to the children, they would grind the lot of it into burger which they say they can stretch further among our 13 Grand-Darlings.

[Up North]

Well Done Haggis. The smallholder's advantage is to take an animal of little value and turn it into a great amount of value in the family grocery budget.
You and yours will sustain the winter for your efforts.