Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

What?? Wait! This must truly be official! @Latestarter has changed his location to "NE Texas"!

Too bad you aren't closer; I have 2 nice jersey steers ready to go to the butcher and the one that was "sold" is now available as they said they couldn't afford it. That's at $3.00 lb hanging weight which would make it in the neighborhood of $6.50 lb with the cost of kill, cut, vacuum packed, frozen for actual take home edible meat. That's for every cut; steaks, roasts, ground meat, everything. If you look at the cost of angus steers at the stockyards, they are running in the $1.00+ lb live weight, so $2.00 lb hanging (min.), (figure 50% of live) butcher costs will run the same, but there will be more "loss" with more fat on them, and so the actual take home will be a little less percentage usually. And I guarantee my beef. If you take it home and try a steak and a pkg of ground meat within a week and don't like it or find it tough (which has never happened with a jersey I've sold yet I will take it back and give you a full refund. My steers are grass fed so are a little leaner, but have never been tough, and the meat is healthier being grassfed there is more good "cla". Last year I sold 3 1/2 steers to a lady who co-ordinated with several neighbors and she worked directly with the butcher here on the way they wanted it cut up. They came from 2 1/2 hours away. Came down with several freezer chests and handed me 1/2 cash and a check and I talked to her a week later and they all were very pleased with the meat. She said they figured it averaged $8.00 lb by the half (total cost) and they were very satisfied as they specifically wanted grassfed. Prices have fallen alot this year on all classes of beef cattle, so I dropped my price $1.50 lb on the hanging weight to reflect the current markets; when all is said and done, we are not making much over actual input costs, but I really don't need 2 in the freezer as I still have a 1/2 or so from last year. Being jersey they will not bring much at the market and I will not give them away so if they don't get sold they will be in my freezer. Anyone want some beef?????

LOL Home on the range... yup, it's been official since last week. All closed and the problems and issue are now all mine! I knew the truck repair was going to have to happen but pretended to myself that I could put it off indefinitely... Of course we all know how that works... and how it turns out in the end. $3,088.00 later I have my truck back. Not sure, but it seems this fix also fixed my speedometer. Didn't know, but it may have gotten it's input from the front transfer case. My tractor down payment money is dwindling fast... And I have a barn to build as well and home upgrades/repairs. Might have to pick up a few lottery tickets.

I used to do a lot of high altitude camping/hunting in late fall early winter, snow/ice/mud, goat trials and all that good stuff. Many places I went I would not have gotten to or back out of without 4 wheel drive. Even with the 4x4, there were a couple times I didn't think I was getting back out . Never got to the point that I had to chain up, but there were a couple times when it came real close. I do keep a set in the truck for emergency situations. Other than that, the 4x4 isn't really "needed" down on the farm too much... IF you have a tractor or dozer to pull/push stumps. I use the truck in 4 wheel drive to pull stumps. Not as effective as a dozer/back hoe or tractor, but gets the job done in a pinch. Having posi-traction/locking differential in 4 low helps also as there's no more wheel spin on one side.

Bruce, when they built the outbuilding, the contractor took a LOT of shortcuts... I mean a LOT. It's a ~32'x16' bldg & they did lap siding directly to the stud walls with no OSB or house wrap. Since there's only one small nail at the top of each lap into each stud, the studs have the ability to move laterally and "fold" like an accordian would (think dominoes falling, but all at once, to one side or the other). In order to keep that from happening you need a single piece of wood (4x8 sheet of OSB for instance) with multiple nails vertically in each stud to keep that (and all other) stud(s) vertical and unable to move/fold side to side.

In addition, one front corner is substantially lower than the rest of the floor and I believe the entire front of the building is in fact, lower than the back. The one front window won't close as the window frame is no longer square... one side is much lower than the other at the low corner side. So I need to jack the front of the building up to level the floor and the side walls at the base before I winch the top of the building forward to pull the wall studs back vertical. Then I need to brace the side walls internally and remove all the lap siding and do house wrap and OSB before putting the laps back on.

They ran the electrical wire in the gap provided by the lap siding, between the 2x4 studs and the siding, not through drilled holes in the studs, so I'm going to need to re-wire the bldg as well before I can really "finish" the outside walls...

They built platforms for ceiling height storage at either end, but they weren't built or anchored properly, and will probably need to be taken down and re-done. They will also most likely need to come down as they used 2x4 studs for the roof and there's no low rafter horizontal tie in or support like with a typical truss so the peak of the roof is slowly sinking as the roof rafters push the front and back walls out. So I'll probably need to use a jack on the roof peak beam while using a come along to pull the front and back walls back in to the proper distance apart, and then probably use a fabricated metal plate outside the header/top plate and up against several of the rafter ends, and then wire front to back with wire & turnbuckle to hold them in proper placement.

Seriously... I've contemplated if it wouldn't be easier (though more expensive) to just take the building down to nothing but floor joists, then jack up the floor piers and pour concrete footers under them to level the floor, re-raise the walls, and re build the roof with a proper truss system. No matter how you look at it, I've got a bit of work to do to fix it. Both side walls are leaning toward the back of the building. The North wall is leaning worse than the South wall. There doesn't seem to be a problem with the level on the front and rear walls (leaning to either side. They ARE both leaning back, due to the lean back of the side walls). I haven't dared to look underneath and see what the builder used for floor joists... I am afraid I'll find he used 2x4s there as well.

I knew all this before I put a purchase offer on the place. I have time available to me to do these things.

Hey Jan, I may be coming up to NC here in the next several weeks to visit Mel's breeder. Dates aren't firm yet but it would be after the weekend of Nov 6th as I'm having a cook out here on the 6th for some local BYH folks. So what would 1/2 a steer or a whole steer cost me total; cut/vac-packed and frozen. And what would the approximate finished weight be for each. I have several (4) 120 qt coolers, and I'm sure the meat would be fine in them for the 20 hour drive back down here. price per pound is nice, but I need to know what the total cost will be and what the total finished weight will be... approximately. When it comes to beef, I (personally) really typically only use rib eyes or NY strips, 85% hamburger, and that's about it. I guess if I had them I'd cook a few roasts, and maybe do some ribs on the BBQ. If it all works out, maybe we'll get to meet and I'll get some meat

I really think I would dismantle that building and rebuild it. A moron built it and it will never be right. You're talking about putting a bandaid on a slashed jugular.....

If you do decide to buy some beef from @farmerjan maybe you could convince her to freeze some bottles of ice for you. That way, as they thaw, your packages of meat wont be sitting in water.

Okay, this is approx....Steers will weigh 800 to 1000 live, so the hanging weight will be 4-500 lbs.; problem is I don't know if I can get a kill date. Let me see what is available from the butcher I like to use as he is close and does a good job. I usually suggest filets and NY strips and stay away from T-bones and anything with bone in as it takes up freezer space... They were scheduled to go after the first of the year, since I wasn't in a rush for my beef and the original "buyers" didn't want to spend the money before the holidays. Sometimes he has a cancellation, so I will call him tomorrow and see about that first. If you wanted a whole steer, I would say in the neighborhood of 1500....I will pay the butcher costs etc; cut to your preferences. You will be getting about 250 lbs actual meat and I can get back all the bones etc that you want (for Mel and soup etc) and the beef fat which there is very little extra since they are more lean. Usually a half will fit in one of the BIG coolers, (mine are maybe 160 qt???) no ice or anything... so in the 4 coolers, you should have room for a whole one with plenty of ice etc. I can get a bunch of bottles to freeze full of water to help the cause. Let me see about a kill date first....I hope that he will be there tomorrow being sat....although it is bow season, they might be around...Maybe if nothing else, we could meet up, and I could bring you a few pieces from my last one and if you like it, a future trip could be planned....I also have a mennonite that I take beef to and have hot dogs, several kinds of bologna, beef snack sticks in several flavors, chipped beef, and such done. It's not cheap, in the neighborhood of 3.00 lb extra....but I liked the idea of having my own meat in my "processed" stuff. I love sweet lebanon bologna and chipped beef on toast (SOS yeah haha) and just hate to buy things like hot dogs when you don't know (and don't really want to know...) what is in them....I did about 150 lbs of stuff processed 2 years ago with "old" meat from the freezer; stuff that was left over from the previous year when I was getting ready to kill again. I tried nearly everything he made - usually a minimum of 10 lbs per each type of process, and have recommended him to several people. The chipped beef is REALLY good, the lebanon bologna tastes better than deli, and the hot dogs can be plain or with your choice of cheese in them. There must be some places down there that do that sort of stuff...Let's see what I can find out tomorrow first....

We are getting ready to bring them home from pasture in the next week or two so can get them weighed to give you a better idea of what their size is and a little more accurate weight and cost...

I'm OK with waiting till early next year and making another trip. The way you posted, I thought this was a "right now or soon" sort of situation. I'd be more than willing/happy to purchase some of what you've already got on a trial basis to determine if I want to go forward with a whole steer. Bones for soup and Mel would be great. I do like bologna and hot dogs, so that's great too. Never really been big on SOS but do like sausage gravy on biscuits. I'll PM you shortly before I hit the road and see if we can arrange a meet up while I'm up that way. Does that work for you? Maybe I'll share some of the meat with the other folks down this way and if they want to go in on it they can?

So I have the house all opened up. I'm sitting here in front of 2 large opened windows listening to the neighbor's dogs barking and just realized I'm shivering... Only wearing a pair of jogging shorts. Outside temp is right at 50 with a light breeze. I'm gonna sleep good tonight! My pillows are right under 2 opened windows in the MBR so fresh cold air to breath all night wile under a light down blanket. my favorite sleeping situation! But for now, I think I need to get a sweat shirt on or something.

OK, sweatshirt on, big old mug of hot chocolate made and a couple of toasted english muffins with cinnamon and sugar for a snack. If I hadn't already been in the jacuzzi once tonight, I'd be thinking about heading back out for another soak! It's always best when it's cold outside.

I love Texas fall/winter!