That is truly interesting and informative. I think hunters that use their animals for meat is good. Not wasted. And venison is delicious. But then so is pork and steaks! Yummy. And such a good thing to have some self sufficiency to fall back on. None of this kind of stuff bothers me although I am a city girl.

Do you have BBQ beef ribs? I used to a lot in CA. I love beef ribs. They are no where to be found here in TX. I think all the beef is shipped to Iowa, and they ship us the hogs. There is bacon in everything. Even chocolate, and somewhere in ATP, they put bacon grease on popcorn. You are so lucky, Dave.

I love bbq beef ribs too, haven't had them in years, they used to have all you could eat nights at Black Angus Restaurants in CA.

We don't mess with the ribs, as much fun as that sounds. We bone out all the meat from the ribs and add it to the ground pile.

Do you mean you put the coveted beef ribs in the compost pile?????

Although you can get pork ribs over here, we also bone the meat and make mince from it! The US is brilliant at BBQ's. Unfortunately we are not, as it rains too much here, so we do not get the practice.
Regards.
Neil.

I always loved the short ribs and shanks. Hard to find now and very pricey if you do. Both made wonderful vegetable beef soup.

So do you know when your preferred short and solid type of cows go up for sale or is it just luck to find them? I thought short and solid was a description of body type till I read your explanation.

I wonder why more older cows are not sold for meat.

texaskitty111 said:Do you mean you put the coveted beef ribs in the compost pile?????

We pull all the meat off the bones so there's nothing but bones left. Then the bones go into the chicken yard for them to pick off the bits we left.

Newyorkrita said:So do you know when your preferred short and solid type of cows go up for sale or is it just luck to find them? I thought short and solid was a description of body type till I read your explanation.

Short and solid is referring to their teeth. The animals are so old that their teeth are worn down flat. That's how you tell a cow's age.

Every week people bring S&S cows to sell at the barn. You just sit there and wait til they bring them out and then bid on the ones that the cowboys are ignoring.

Rita.....0lder cows that can pass inspection are used for meat.....lots goes into Ground beef.

Paul2032 said:Rita.....0lder cows that can pass inspection are used for meat.....lots goes into Ground beef.

Ah, I see. I didn't know that. Thanks.

dave said:
Short and solid is referring to their teeth. The animals are so old that their teeth are worn down flat. That's how you tell a cow's age.

Every week people bring S&S cows to sell at the barn. You just sit there and wait til they bring them out and then bid on the ones that the cowboys are ignoring.

Boy, I don't think I have ever been at a livestock auction though I have been at auctions for horses only. I think I would enjoy looking at cows and goats though. Would have no place to put them however. No livestock around here where I live.

Ground meat instead of BBQ beef ribs. Go figure.

dave said: We pull all the meat off the bones so there's nothing but bones left. Then the bones go into the chicken yard for them to pick off the bits we left.

I've often wondered about "composting" bones, or recycling them into the soil. Is there a practical way? Like roasting in or over a bonfire, then grinding them up? ("bone meal") Or dusting with hydrated lime. Or soaking.

Or is there a method like hugelculture where they decompose slowly without processing steps?

They must contain a lot of phosphate, calcium and protein (nitrogen).

There is a method for composting large animal carcases as opposed to burial. I don't know where to find the recipe, but you might try the Texas A&M website.

Dear Rick, we boil bones down to make amazing gravy. Of course the marrow in them is essential for; vitamins, making marrow recipes. Loads of protein and good for you. We eat lots of soup, they are ideal for that as well. Nothing can escape from a soup pan, all the goodness retained.
As for the bones; as you may know they are not harmful ( beef bones that is), to dogs. Other bones are especially chicken. So give them to the dogs, they soon crunch them!
Regards from England.
Neil.

That makes sense: boil for soup or gravy, and/or give to the dogs.

At first, Googling, I only found wack-a-doodle ideas such as I might have tried:

- an acid soak such as vinegar demineralizes them and makes them rubbery. However, I would only add vinegar to soil that was basic, not my usual situation.

- hammer them into tiny bits (labor intensive!)

- " steam them into a goo" (in a pressure cooker? that's a small batch size)

But it turns out to be pretty easy even if you have more cow carcasses than dogs or soup pots:


A Low Maintenance Approach to Large Carcass Composting
http://amarillo.tamu.edu/files...
Paper Number: 032263 - An ASAE Meeting Presentation
(four Texas A&M authors)

>> This paper presents results of a large- carcass (horse and cow mortalities) composting study using an in-bin, static pile composting system. Bins were created using large hay bales and spent horse bedding was used as a co-composting material. ....

>> This was a low maintenance composting system because no pre processing of mortalities (cleaving, grinding etc.) was performed, ...

>> and piles were turned no more than twice during the nine-month trial period.

>> After six months of composting with and without the wooden pallets, similar carcass conditions in terms of faint odors and a high degree of large bone biodegradation were observed.

>> The final product was ready to be land applied without the need to screen out large bones as they shattered and disintegrated easily.

Dear Rick, this is the way to make Yorkshire puddings and proper gravy, It is at our sister site cubits http://cubits.org/Neil/article...
Dave is correct on the do not waste anything, we don't.
Regrads from a sunny but humid England.
Neil.

(stomach rumbling loudly)

I wish I had known about this when I was a child, scolded for mopping up gravy with split biscuits. I'd have said: "WELL, you should have served the gravy ON the biscuits, and then I wouldn't have to mop my plate!"

You guys seem to have all the details worked out.

I'll add that around here Trish makes stock with the bones. Then what is left is buried along with wood in any future hugelkultur project. I figure eventually they break down into the soil and until then they aren't hurting anything by being 12 inches under the soil.