New calf

Two cows lick off a newborn in the subfreezing weather March 1, 2019
Team work

You know it’s been a rough winter when two cows clean off a newborn. At least she (mom is on left) didn’t drop it in the pond or on snow.  But as the day went on it did get a little sloshy, so Gerald moved baby to a dry shed that mama could get to. 

The cold can really sap the strength out of the young’uns. A 250 pounder is in the warming pen tonight as it’s core temp got too low out on the pasture with the herd. The stock trailer is parked in the Stran Steel, with Monte’s former heater warming the air.

The herd has access to tree cover and are fed hay there. Why they wandered out in the open is puzzling.

(snow melted off pretty quick)

Tarps hung on 2 sides of the stock trailer and a heater pushing warm air thru the slats on the forth creates a warming pen for calves or cows that need some heat.
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Our new processor

No longer to you have to purchase our beef in bulk. Want less than a quater of a beef? We can do that now. Partnering with Diller Locker we have delicious lean beef you can buy by the piece or package. Tell us what cuts or number of pounds you want and we’ll add up label weights to provide your own mix of great beef.

Buy 5# or more and get a discounted price.
90% lean Ground beef in 1 or 1.5 lb chubs $4.50/lb; 5 lbs+ for $4.00/lb; flavorful beef without draining fat off. 95% extra lean also available.
Other cuts various weights $6.75/lb; 5 lbs+ for $6.00/lb.
Sirloin, T-bone, strips, fillet, rib steak, ribeye, brisket, short ribs.
Soup bones also available.
 
Sample cut

Shrink wrapped, each package labeled with weight and that is what will be used for cost. Processed by USDA inspected Diller Locker, packed for Slezak Natural Beef. Call Gerald Slezak 402-366-4267 or Kim 402-629-4459; or email info at slezaknaturalbeef.com questions or to order. Milligan pick up and free limited delivery area; other areas negotiated delivery for larger orders. Bulk 1/4, 1/2 or whole still available.

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Cows help with windbreak

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Next Beef

We have 3 QTRS of the November beef still available and one ready to process at approximately 1100# live weight. Lean tasty natural beef with no hormones or antibiotics.

next lean beef

Next lean beef

The herd has been out on corn and milo stalks, and the alfalfa field as it greened up. Thru the winter they’ve also had prairie and alfalfa hay , with some ground feed – corn and oats. Always fresh water and trace mineral blocks.

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Recycled stage, pt 2

Ripping up stage floor boards

Ripping up stage floor boards

The process of re-purposing the stage floor starts with ripping up the boards. They had 3-4 nails at each end and at each joist. Often the board would come up and the galvanized nails stayed in the joists.

Board ripper tool

Board ripper tool

Gerald had created a tool when he was salvaging boards and joists as the Frosty Mug was demolished. You set it over the joist and rock it backwards, using it on each joist the floor piece crosses.

Chose boards, cut to length and put water seal on them all before assembling picnic table #1. After it was all put together the names of several bands that had played on the stage were added to the table top with a wood burner. The feet were rubberized with spray on coating. Final product 5′ wide table for four, or more depending on your size.

1 of 2 Assembled support pieces

1 of 2 Assembled support pieces

Sealed boards

After applying Thompson’s Water Seal

The Stage Picnic Table #1 was made for sale to raise funds for the Methodist Church building fund and sold during the June Jubilee Auction Sunday evening in a down pour. The proceeds were split with between the church and the Milligan Community Club.

 

Table displayed during rainy parade

Table displayed during rainy parade

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Good Chili con carne starts with lean beef

Winter is sorta here. Cold temps and overcast misty days brings chili to my mind. Or more appropriately chili con carne as I learned after rooming with a Hatch chili aficionado in college and then spending 15 years in New Mexico. But for simplicity, I will just call it chili, but also mention chili as in peppers, because my chili con carne contains Hatch red chili powder.

I made our first winter season batch of chili today. Thought I’d share. I like really mild chili, not using much chili powder. So I took a pepper off my chili ristra we brought home from Hatch a while back. I cheated and didn’t make it all the way to powder, but after soaking in boiling water scraped some of the flesh off the skin and added it to my boiling chili. But I jump ahead.

browned-nodrain

Browned beef, no draining needed

I brown onions and sine of our lean hamburger (1.5# chub) in my large saucepan. No fat to drain off, just good lean beef.

Other ingredients - vairous beans, olives, tomatos

Other ingredients

Add 3-5 cans of various beans of your preference, can be all one kind or combination: kidney, dark red, red, great northern, pinto. Drain and rinse all the beans before adding, which will reduce the sodium a bit. And since I was served some great chili by a friend in Chama, New Mexico, I add black olives. I cut them in half so they go further.

Tomato skin slides off easily

Skin slides off easily

Add tomato paste whisked with a can and a half or so of hot water. I have a supply of garden tomatoes in the freezer. Set in some water for a bit and the skin slides off in you fingers. Then use sharp knife to cut it up a bit and put in pan. Multiple tomatoes works well. Or canned diced tomatoes without or with chili (Rotell type).

bakingSoda-240

Baking soda bubbling out, the light color and ‘foam’ is pretty thick right after adding, hiding all ingredients

Then add a teaspoon or so of baking soda, do not be afraid of the extra bubbling and light color, it will settle out. Doing this reduces the gaseous affect of the beans upon those who partake of the chili.

If you like it spicier, add more chili powder, cayenne, jalepeno, habenero, etc. I generally let it simmer 1-2 hours, it’s really chunky.

Serve with diced onions, shredded cheese, and sour cream for toppings. Grilled cheese,  peanut butter on crackers, or in my husband’s case a hamburger or “real sandwich” grilled cheese and ham as it must include meat. Or as many Nebraskans do, eat with a Cinnamon roll (I don’t get it).

If you want to start your next pot of chili con carne with good lean beef, give us a call (Gerald 402-366-4267) or drop us a line (info at slezaknaturalbeef.com). Still have 5 quarters at sale price – $4.43/hanging pound.

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Available Beef

Lining up time at the processor can be a chore in itself. And good processors you have to book far in the future. And then it sneaks up on you and you haven’t marketed and publicized available bulk natural lean yummy beef from happy wandering cows. (And yes, they’ve been wandering a lot lately).

We have SIX quarters available and our freezers bursting at the seams means a good deal for you. When I was a teenager, my parents would buy a side of beef from my uncle that had “Ye Olde Meat Shoppe” in California. Dad was in the Navy Reserves, and each summer he went on 2 weeks active duty. When it was near my uncle’s meat shop he would return with a side of beef in coolers with dry ice. Not a feat without risk since the meat shop was in California and our home in southeast Arizona. As a teen it seemed like A LOT of meat, and maybe that’s what you are thinking – that “our family could not eat a side or quarter beef before it went bad”.

Now that I am raising great natural beef with my husband, I know that was the perspective of young eyes, but also that there are many brands of cattle. There are many sizes of animals butchered. We have small cross breed cows, but even if you hear a steer weighs 1200 pounds, that’s not all meat. There’s the hide, bones, organs, and liquid. Hanging weight includes the meat, bones and fat (very little on our steers), but the rest is gone. Here’s an example of our last two butchered steers:

WHOLE STEER Live WT Hanging WT EST Finished Wrapped QTR hanging / wrapped
August 1220 500 295 125 / 74
November 1040 593 350 148 / 88

The average annual per capita beef consumption is 54 pounds, compared to 87 pounds when my parents were buying sides of beef. (National Chicken Council consumption chart). A family of four would easily eat a quarter of this size in 6 months, even just having beef once a week.

In August, each quarter was $656.25 ($5.25/# hanging weight). So, the good deal… these 6 quarters are available for 15% off per hanging weight pound. That’s $4.46/#, making an August QTR $557.81 and a November QTR $660.45

Of course dividing an odd number of steaks 4 ways isn’t easy. We divide similar items to have generally the same number of cuts and the same amount of ground beef. Here’s a couple quarters we put in the freezer today:

CUTS
Ribeye Steak 3 3
T-Bone Steak 2 2
Fillet Steak 2 1
Sirloin Steaks 5 5
Sirloin Tip Steak 1 1
Round Steak 1
Porterhouse Steaks 1 1
Flank Steak 1 1
Total steaks 15 15
Rump Roast
Chuck Roast 2 2
Arm Roast 2 2
Stew Meat 1 1
Brisket 1 1
Total roasts/other 6 6
Hamburger 1# 24 24
Hamburger 1.5# 16 16
#burger meat 48 48

 

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Next Beef

A nice looking steer is ready to become meat in your freezer. This will be an all local beef. Anyone looking for lean natural beef, give us a shout. One-quarter spoken for….

(Stage floor picnic table followup posted soon, need to learn how to post in my sleep)

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Re-purposing

We had the opportunity and privilege to save the stage in the  Centennial Garden from total destruction. A new stage is nearly completed to welcome Diamond Rio and Trick Piny to the 28th Annual June Jubilee (June 12, 2015). But before the new one could be built, the old one had to be removed.

While we were pulling off ‘new’ wood that had extended the stage area for Milligan’s Q125 (Sawyer Brown) – which we will use to make a ‘deck’ at the recycling trailer instead of the ramp that’s currently pulled out, but the old stage?

30×16 roof and back wall, we’ll add partial side walls and take off the floor boards and bingo! Shelter from the cold north wind and some shade. Though we thought of having our own concerts overlooking the pond…

But that’s not all. With the floor boards the cows don’t need for a floor to dance on. The floor boards, about 1280′ of 2×6 boards will make 15 picnic tables (6′). Or maybe a few ‘kids’ tables, too. Stay tuned for the finished products.

Centennial Stage March 2014

Centennial Stage March 2014

 

Stage on the move

Stage on the move

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Nice compliment

We donated some beef to the Church Harvest Auction earlier this week. I’d labeled it “Lean beef from happy wandering cows. No hormones or antibiotics.”

One of the winning bidders is retired from cattle raising, so when she called a few minutes ago and complimented us on the taste of our ‘happy wandering cows’ it was a great feeling. We have another happy wandering cow at a processor right now. Call us with your order for a quarter, half, or the whole cow. Gerald’s in charge 402-366-4267.

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