From Hoof, to Rail, to Table

            “Some must work in fields if only for the sake of tropes and expression, to serve a parable maker one day” (qtd. In Kinkead, Funda, McNeill 68). I learned from a young age the work that goes into serving someone a steak. I don’t mean the waiter who served it to them, or even the chef who grilled it. I’m talking about all that goes into preparing that steak while it’s still “on the hoof.” I’ve spent a great deal of time trying to get those small calves, born at about 80 pounds, to the 1300 pound “fat” ready for slaughter. Much like Henry David Thoreau’s experience at Walden Pond, I learned a lot about the task I was engaged in but I learned much more about the world around me.

            At three in the morning it’s time to get up and do the third check of the night on the pregnant cows that are looking ready to calve. My siblings and I were in charge of checking the cows every three hours from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. to make sure none were experiencing any complications with the birth. First calf heifers were trouble because of their smaller size and often the calf had to be pulled by putting small chains around its front feet and my brother and I pulling on the attached handles. One year a calf’s hoof got stuck and was twisted when we pulled it. This caused it to walk with a bad limp for the rest of its life. My parents didn’t want to take a cut on the price at sale time, so the calf became ours to raise.

            Its birth was only the beginning of the work. We used a tube to feed it colostrum because it was unable to suck. Then we had to supplement electrolytes into its diet. We kept it in a pen with plenty of straw (the calving season is late February to April) to keep it warm. Finally after a week it was strong enough to get up and suck from its mother. Now we just had to keep the cow fed well enough, which was much less demanding. Before I knew it, the calf was out with the others.

            After we were done calving, we sent the herd out on pasture from April to November. Unfortunately, there was no way our little “project” would grow very well on pasture, due to it bum leg. We put it in the pen and fed it hay twice a day. At 800 pounds we started giving it grain along with its hay to fatten in up at a faster rate for slaughter. It was ready after almost a year. We hauled it to the slaughterhouse, where it was put “on the rail.” They killed it, removed its head, hide, hooves, and guts, and it is put in a cold room to be aged for about a month. The carcass is then butchered into different cuts and packaged (Beranek, Wood). At last the steak is delivered for the customer to prepare and serve. We had steak in our freezer for more than a year from that once small calf.

            This experience taught me all that goes into the products we consume on a daily basis. However, unlike Thoreau, I appreciate all who have worked to advance agriculture (Kinkead, Funda, McNeill 68). With farmers growing the food I eat and the materials used to make my clothes, I am able to pursue my goals. Without farmers, we would all be confined to small plots to scratch a living off the land and progress would be compromised. Thank goodness for those who work to get our food “from hoof, to rail, to table.”

Sources:

Beranek, Magda, and Jason Wood. Agricultural Marketing Guide. Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, 9 Oct. 2008. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.

Kinkead, Joyce, Evelyn Funda, and Lynne S. McNeill. Farm: A Multimodal Reader. Southlake: Fountainhead Press, 2014. Print.