Mr. Beefy, Part 3

more on our first beef cattle experience here and here.

I've already discussed how our steer, Mr. Beefy, is the bane of my existence. I look forward daily to the thought of his beefy-ness gracing my plate. I will not be sad to eat him.

We bought a few weeks of peace with him by having him castrated, but the peace was to be short-lived.

One week after castration (or A.C.) he was still pretty mellow. He politely asked for his grain. Frankly, he seemed a little pathetic. And I was glad.

Two weeks A.C., he seemed to be getting his gumption back. He even had the gall to charge the fence once as I walked down to the garden. 4 strands of barbed wire seem mighty insufficient with 1000+ pounds of steer coming at you.

Three weeks A.C., and we were back to business as usual. He snorted, he bucked, he demanded his grain with a wild look in his eye that plainly said that he knew darn well he could take out that fence if he really wanted to. We stopped walking down to the garden and started riding down on the lawn tractor.

Four weeks A.C., it happened. I felt him go thundering by, even as I saw the black and white blur whoosh past the front of the house. "He's out again," Davey said, and went to strap on his boots and work pants. This time I knew exactly why he was out. We ran out of grain a few nights earlier. He wanted his grain and he wanted it NOW. So. I snuck out of the house while he beat the crap out of the grain bin and the lawn tractor and went to get what he wanted. This time there was no 2-hour wrangling. He charged right through the gate after that bucket.. and I nearly peed myself. We closed up the gate, and Davey fixed the fence where it had been pushed down. (That sounds simple enough, but the job included breaking 2 large sticks over Beefy's nose to keep him away from where Davey was working. He finally got the idea.)

After all was said and done, we got to survey the damage:



I'm sexy and I know it...



 And this is just what he did to the van. Davey's car is just as bad. It helps keep us humble.

It's not like our cars were ever beauty queens to begin with, but any illusions of "niceness" are definitely gone now. It was right after this that we learned our biggest mistake was in keeping Beefy alone. Cattle are herd animals, and without a herd to hang with, they get crazy. Clearly.

We live, we learn. And maybe next time we raise sheep.