Dead Cow Solutions

We had a cow bloat up and die last night.  It's a half-grown beef feeder calf... big beast, but could be a lot bigger.
It probably ate something it should not have.  I've been feeding cast-off veggies along with their hay and grain, and this weekend they had squash and pumpkins (which they have had before).  This one was the glutton, so she'd have been the one to over-eat anyway.
The solution my father-in-law would have taken a few decades ago when he was raising beef cows would be to drag it out to the back 40, drop a couple of round bales on it, let it rot.  We don't have round bales any more.
We feed out roadkill deer to the dogs... but this is SO much more (plus I still have 1/2 a deer hanging).  Wishing it happened last weekend - the frigid temps would have froze it through, giving me more time to feed it out.  Now we have highs in the 40's this week - not cold enough to really chill it all the way.  
I guess the plan is to drag it out with the tractor this evening, gut it, and feed out as much as I can before it gets gross, at which point it'll go to the back 40 to "compost" and be coyote food.
Does anyone else have any suggestions?  We discussed with my father butchering it out for human consumption last night while it was still fresh.  He said he did one once, and even though it was fresh, the taste was off, so he said it was not worth doing.  We don't have freezer space anyway - to store it for human or dog consumption.

I don't see any other obvious solutions.

This is only sort of a tangent solution,  but CANNING meat has been a HUGE energy and space saver for me.   Infinite meat storage without power,  other than processing time.   It would be a big long operation to can entire cow LOL,  but in the future if you end up with meat quantities more than you can eat or freeze,  it could salvage some of it!

Heather Staas wrote:This is only sort of a tangent solution,  but CANNING meat has been a HUGE energy and space saver for me.   Infinite meat storage without power,  other than processing time.   It would be a big long operation to can entire cow LOL,  but in the future if you end up with meat quantities more than you can eat or freeze,  it could salvage some of it!

Great idea.  It would solve the freezer space issue... but as our pantry is already full of canned veggies, fruits, and meats, and we are very low on jars... and then the time and energy investment up front... and that my father-in said it's probably not much good for human consumption (did not bleed out).  
We are actively emptying jars to eat this time of year, but we quickly fill them with canned dried beans (we prefer to can these in the winter, that way we are heating the house up (canner) when we need the heat anyway, and the beans store fine dry, so we can can them whenever we choose)

But we do can meat in the winter: chicken and venison.  Same reason as beans.  Best time to heat the house up.  Canning tomatoes and beans in the heat of the summer are killers.

Cutting it in strips and hanging it on sticks to dry could preserve it. It could be traditionally smoked or maybe a fan could be used to speed up the process.

Jordan Holland wrote:Cutting it in strips and hanging it on sticks to dry could preserve it. It could be traditionally smoked or maybe a fan could be used to speed up the process.

This is a classic preservation method that is one of the easier methods. I often make jerky for our dogs, this way. The fact that the cow didn't bleed out concerns me, though - even for canine consumption.

Carla's right; if the meat is suspect, that leads me to idea number two. Do you happen to have access to copious amounts of high explosives?

If you follow Jordan's line of thinking, please - PLEASE - get it on video.

Phil Stevens wrote:If you follow Jordan's line of thinking, please - PLEASE - get it on video.

Not a chance of me blowing it up.  LOL.

I'm just saying...if it can work for a whale, it can work for a cow.



"...the humor of the situation quickly gave way to a run for survival, as huge chunks of whale blubber fell everywhere..."

Now for any naysayers out there: I maintain the problem with the whale in 1970 was simply an issue of using too few explosives, which I wholeheartedly recommend avoiding if anyone ever needs to employ the method themselves. As a general rule, I would follow the old adage that there are only two times you do not need more explosives: when you are swimming, and when you are on fire. Carry on!

My in-laws are in the Eugene area and they were telling me about this once. You don't want to be anywhere near that smell.

Here's how the locals roll when there's a beached whale:

https://i.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/104390004/learning-how-to-deal-with-dead-whales

Jordan Holland wrote:I'm just saying...if it can work for a whale, it can work for a cow.

"...the humor of the situation quickly gave way to a run for survival, as huge chunks of whale blubber fell everywhere..."

Now for any naysayers out there: I maintain the problem with the whale in 1970 was simply an issue of using too few explosives, which I wholeheartedly recommend avoiding if anyone ever needs to employ the method themselves. As a general rule, I would follow the old adage that there are only two times you do not need more explosives: when you are swimming, and when you are on fire. Carry on!

If you hadn't posted that, I was going to.

You say no hay, but how about sawdust? Or woodchips? Any biochar? Stick a bunch of woodchips and biochar under, around and on top of it and it should turn into some good soil.

Garden lime?

I don't know enough about your region of Michigan but is your ground froze up til spring?....and to what depth?

Thanks all for input.

We live in a totally different climate here in Wyoming, but when we have an animal die unplanned we butcher them and grind all the good meat for human consumption, and feed the cuttings to the LGDs. Of course, we have six of them, so we go through it faster, but the idea's the same. If you grind the good meat then it's harder to notice a particular off taste, but I've never noticed anything specifically bad tasting from "accidental death" meat. Do you have chickens? We also give leftover meat to them, especially the stomach lining and liver (which the dogs can't really eat). Sorry for your loss though!

Thomas Dean wrote:We had a cow bloat up and die last night.  It's a half-grown beef feeder calf... big beast, but could be a lot bigger.
It probably ate something it should not have.  I've been feeding cast-off veggies along with their hay and grain, and this weekend they had squash and pumpkins (which they have had before).  This one was the glutton, so she'd have been the one to over-eat anyway.
The solution my father-in-law would have taken a few decades ago when he was raising beef cows would be to drag it out to the back 40, drop a couple of round bales on it, let it rot.  We don't have round bales any more.
We feed out roadkill deer to the dogs... but this is SO much more (plus I still have 1/2 a deer hanging).  Wishing it happened last weekend - the frigid temps would have froze it through, giving me more time to feed it out.  Now we have highs in the 40's this week - not cold enough to really chill it all the way.  
I guess the plan is to drag it out with the tractor this evening, gut it, and feed out as much as I can before it gets gross, at which point it'll go to the back 40 to "compost" and be coyote food.
Does anyone else have any suggestions?  We discussed with my father butchering it out for human consumption last night while it was still fresh.  He said he did one once, and even though it was fresh, the taste was off, so he said it was not worth doing.  We don't have freezer space anyway - to store it for human or dog consumption.

I don't see any other obvious solutions.

Don't eat it-- this happened to me in 2020. I talked with a local butcher and he said he never touches anything he didn't kill himself. Don't eat the meat. Better off burying and/or burning it.

So what did you do eventually, Thomas, and how did it work out?

Jay Angler wrote:So what did you do eventually, Thomas, and how did it work out?

Due to my unfamiliarity with local laws, and uncertainty as to whether I was within within my legal allowances, I don't want to comment at this point.  Maybe in a few years :-)

So you went for the whale option, eh?
🧨💥

I think Thomas is wise. Neither confirm not deny....someday, there may be a tale to tell.