Wednesday 29 October 2014

A Big Day

It's a big day for these cattle on Friday because they are off to market.   Not, I hasten to add, to be bought and killed by a local butcher for Sunday lunch food, but to be bought and sold on as Store Cattle. to survive another Winter and be allowed to grow bigger.

At the moment they are in our paddock, right next to the kitchen window and I have enjoyed seeing them all week.   They are there because they will be easier to catch and transport on Friday morning.   They belong to our friend and neighbour L, but his grass has been almost eaten off, we have plenty and in farming there is always a lot of give and take.

Friday is a big day at our local Auction Mart.   It is the 'Middleham Moor Fair' - the annual show and sale of 350 strong store cattle, suckled calves and feeding bulls.   There is also a sale of beef breeding cattle.   It is here they are destined to go.   They were bought in in the Spring and have been fed, as well as eating grass, all Summer long - with the sun on their backs.

There is obviously some Limousin in there somewhere, although they will not be pedigree.

The farmer will be there to see them sold (as will their owner) and will be happy to stay and have an indulgent lunch in the Auction Mart Cafe as friend W and I are off to Kirby Lonsdale to meet our friends for lunch in the Italian there.

It is easy to look at them and feel sad that they are destined eventually for the pot.  But one has to realise that if there was no food end to the product no-one would breed them and they will have had three years of pleasant life.   They have been drawn in pen 39, so will not have too long to wait.

Poetry meeting today - one of my favourite days of the month.  I shall now go and shower and then sit in the sun and choose my poems - tomorrow I will tell you what I chose this month.

13 comments:

John Going Gently said...

Do you and/ or the farmer have any favourite cows? Ones that you would hate to see to go"

Heather said...

I hope I am right but it seems that meat producers in Britain look after their beasts well. After all, it is in their best interests too, to have healthy wellbred animals to sell.
Enjoy your lunch and your poetry afternoon.

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Some of the happiest times of my childhood were spent at the old cattle market in Cambridge. It disappeared sometime during the 60s as agriculture became increasingly arable around here.

MorningAJ said...

Can't object to market when I just had a beef sandwich for lunch! Enjoy your day.

Joanne Noragon said...

Our dentist raises a few beefs each year, and we buy some meat. One year his wife told me she wasn't sorry to see that one go, she couldn't keep him out of her flower beds.

Mac n' Janet said...

I like the idea of cattle raised on small farms instead of the "factory" production that goes on here. I would prefer grass fed beef too.

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

I always think of Josephine. Cats are obligate carnivores. They must eat meat or die. I don't feel well without eating meat. Have tried. I wish every animal destined to be food had a pleasant life like your cows. Big sigh.

But, speaking of poetry, you will like my post this Friday. And it will be your birthday! Wha-hoo! Does it feel celebratory already?

Big cold front on the way here. Was 80* with a hot, puffing west wind yesterday. And now it is s very chilly breeze from the east. San Diego is 70* and sunny all years. And why don't you live there, Maureen? Because the people I love live here. Oh well...

Happy Day, Pat! m & jb

Terry and Linda said...

This is the time of paychecks...how we all survive!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/?s=The+Adventures+of+Fuzzy+and+Boomer&submit=Search
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

The Weaver of Grass said...

John - you ask if we have a favourite. Back in the days when we had a milking herd we did indeed have a favourite - number 55/ She would steal every new born calf in the summer months when they were born outside - she adored babies and would be very reluctant to give them back to their mothers. She was burned on thebonfire when we had foot and mouth - it was very hard to see her go.

Gwil W said...

I am pleased that they are in your lush field with the sun on their backs. It means they are being properly cared for. There are too many factory-farm animals these days, especially poultry and pigs, and most of them never see daylight from cradle to plate, many destined or export to China and other faraway places. It's very sad.

Frances said...

This post, the prior comments, and your reply to John Gray's in particular, really help this city dweller have a much better view of another aspect of the countryside in autumn.

I thank you once again for these posts that I so enjoy reading, and from which I learn so much.

xo

thelma said...

When I was a child we were sent off to farms for holidays, blissful days bringing the cows in with our ponies. It is always heartwarming to read of your farm and its daily goings on.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks everybody.