Texas Fall/Winter thread!

[Bob77064]

Alvord Schools are again closed today. I have my last chemo treatment this morning, so we are taking my grandson with us. He and his grandma will go shopping at Sam's Club while I take my "drip buffet."

Do I dare bring up the "C-word"? I did all my Christmas shopping online yesterday except for one gift card I am picking up today. It's impossible to get folks to tell me what they need/want, so I just give them Amazon cards and let them shop for themselves. I'm not lazy, but I absolutely hate buying something that somebody doesn't need. Everyone is happy with the Amazon cards and I am too.:thumbsup: At least this year, my wife and I both gave each other hints, so that is gonna work good.

Blueriver, I suspect somebody in Muenster is gonna be might busy for awhile with your hogs. This is sure a great time to do that. If they run out of cooler space, they can just hang them outside or open the door.

Jim, the schools here close for 3 - 5 days if there is any ice on the backroads. Not like when I was a kid and had to walk to school in the snow up hill both ways.

 

[pacerron]

I don't remember what was in the "mash" that we mixed with milk and/or water for slop. But then corn was a popular feed, and in my own case, I bought "day old" bread from the local bakery. I'm not sure right now, but I think I paid 3 cents a loaf or package, but maybe it was 4 cents. I bought 100 loaves at a time. It was the stuff they'd picked up from the grocery stores; didn't have thrift shops back then. And since it was the same price for a loaf of bread, a cake, a package of donuts, or a pie, the hogs didn't get everything I bought.:laughing:

But there was never any antibiotics or any other drugs or vaccinations.

I was thinking more of the table scraps, spoiled potatoes, and anything else they might be fed.. swil.
I don't think Texas even allows stuff that has been cooked/boiled/steamed anymore?

 

[bindian]

Brandi, in the late 40s my Dad worked for Auto Electric, a chain of auto parts stores. When my first hog and I took 2 blue ribbons and the showmanship ribbon, the owner of Auto Electric was going to be out of town so he told his bookkeeper (didn't have accountants in those days:laughing to go to the auction and buy my hog. The bookkeeper (who was also a close friend of Dad's) asked how high he could bid. The boss said, "I don't care if you have to go to 50 cents a pound." Of course in those days 50 cents a pound for a live animal was ridiculous. So the bookkeeper did bid up to 50 cents, but the owner of the local Ford dealership, Sam P. Hale, bid 51 cents and bought the hog. Dad's boss later asked the bookkeeper what he had to pay for that hog, and when he found out he hadn't bought it because the bid went over 50 cents, he wasn't mad, but said, "I meant for you to buy it for whatever you had to pay. I just said 50 cents because I didn't expect it to go that high." But anyway, I got $153 for that hog and turned around and bought a good registered brood sow for $50 and went into the hog raising business.

My youngest brother raised rabbits when he was in the FFA in high school, but I never raised any myself until the Fall of 1995, when I bought a buck and 3 does (New Zealand Whites). And it wasn't long until I had 15 cages and raised over 300 of them.:laughing: I had grown up eating wild cottontails, swamp rabbits, and jack rabbits, but hadn't eaten any rabbit for many years until then. But I sure ate a bunch of those I raised. I don't understand why every grocery store in the country doesn't have them among the meats they sell.

Bird,
Showmanship with a hog is a feat. Congratulations.

I never ate a jack rabbit. We would just shoot them and give them to the dogs or hang them on a fence post.

I also showed rabbits and wethers at the Houston Livestock show. I placed a few first and second places in rabbits. But I liked showing wethers there better, as we got out a whole week of school. I never placed with wethers at Houston, but really learned a lot. Like how to get 15 Ag students into the Astrodome for the rodeo on only 3 tickets. Or you could get in free after the concert (in the middle of the rodeo back then) to see the bull riding.

Best deal I learned was when a rodeo was sold out, you could always go to the Livestock show office and get tickets that exhibitors "sold" back. I took my daughter to see Tanya Tucker at a sold out show in the Dome. She got to shake Tanya's hand. After that she wanted to barrel race!
hugs, Brandi

 

[Bird]

I was thinking more of the table scraps, spoiled potatoes, and anything else they might be fed.. swil.
I don't think Texas even allows stuff that has been cooked/boiled/steamed anymore?

Yes, of course we fed the hogs stuff like the table scraps, too; at least the ones that the dogs, cats, and chickens didn't get.:laughing: And while we didn't do it ourselves, I can remember when some restaurants scraped the scraps off plates into barrels that were picked up by hog farmers to feed their hogs. And it's been so long ago, that I can't say for sure, but I think there was some kind of law made that required such scraps to be cooked again to some particular temperature to kill any germs before it could be fed to hogs and that was when the hog farmers quit using scraps from restaurants.

 

[bindian]

Pilots in Crash Were Confused About Control Systems, Experts Say

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/us/asiana-airlines-crash-san-francisco-airport.html?_r=0

I didn't know Airbus autothrottles did not move the throttle "handles". Just another reason to fly Boeing and stay off of Airbuses.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Bird]

Brandi, that first hog I showed was raised as a pet and I could ride him around the fair grounds. So I had an edge for the showmanship ribbon because he would go, or stop and stand, when and where I wanted him to. The only problem was walking away from him that last night with tears in my eyes after the auction.

I've never had any experience at all with sheep. Besides hogs, I did show a few White Leghorn chickens.

I guess a lot of people who ate cottontail rabbits wouldn't eat jack rabbits, but we ate every one of them we could find. Young ones were tender and very good fried, but older ones would be too tough (like an older chicken), so they went into the pressure cooker, were boned, and the meat used for just about anything you'd use chicken for; chopped up and cooked with dumplings, homemade stew or soup, or ground up for sandwiches (just like chicken salad), etc.

 

[NativeSon]

I raised Hampshire and Suffolk wethers and rabbit fryers for FFA projects. One Hamp took second place and sold for $625 at the FFA buyer's auction.i

Never ate one of my lambs, but my kids remember when I still raised rabbits and butchered them myself! I love fried rabbit better than chicken. I think I just might start raising them again. My mouth is watering already.
hugs, Brandi

Brandi-Yes you're right rabbit is delicious it tastes like chicken.....but Better! I had a restaurant that served wild game. We would do a mixed grill plate with 3 different game(ie. venison, wild boar, rabbit). My FIL who was raised in the mountains of Northern Italy and grew up hunting, came to the restaurant one time when we had rabbit on the mixed grill and all he wanted was the rabbit......so we cooked it for him and he cleaned the plate. It is a shame that the grocery stores don't sell it.

Charlie

 

[farmgirl19]

Last year, I bought rabbit at a grocery store, to feed to the dogs! I think it was Brookshire's, but it has been a year ago now. They were skinned, and otherwise whole, and in the freezer section, closest to the fresh meat counter. You might try asking the butcher in your grocery if they have it, or can get it.

My front lawn is on the south side of the house, and is free and clear of ice. My back lawn is on the north side, as is the driveway, and both are STILL covered with ice. I am hoping to open the gate today, and allow the horses to leave the pens and go out to pasture. However, as of last night, the bottom of that gate was still buried in 4 inches of ice, and not budging. Maybe later today?

 

[Bird]

Only one time have I seen rabbit in a grocery store and that was 40 years ago in Des Plaines, IL. I was surprised to see a box labeled as one whole rabbit, cut up, and weighed 3 lbs. As many rabbits as we have in this country, I was also surprised to see "Imported from . . ." (it may have been Italy, but I'm not sure now). Anyway, I bought it, my wife fried it, I took one bite, and threw it all in the garbage. It tasted as if it had spoiled on the boat; looked OK, but tasted terrible.

I later remembered for sure where that imported rabbit came from and it was imported from Poland.

My front lawn is on the south side of the house, and is free and clear of ice. My back lawn is on the north side, as is the driveway, and both are STILL covered with ice.

My house faces east, but I have a similar situation. South side of the lawn thawed, north side still deep in ice. At least the driveways have thawed.

 

[bindian]

Only one time have I seen rabbit in a grocery store and that was 40 years ago in Des Plaines, IL. I was surprised to see a box labeled as one whole rabbit, cut up, and weighed 3 lbs. As many rabbits as we have in this country, I was also surprised to see "Imported from . . ." (it may have been Italy, but I'm not sure now). Anyway, I bought it, my wife fried it, I took one bite, and threw it all in the garbage. It tasted as if it had spoiled on the boat; looked OK, but tasted terrible.



My house faces east, but I have a similar situation. South side of the lawn thawed, north side still deep in ice. At least the driveways have thawed.

We would freeze ours in a bag of water.
hugs, Brandi