How To Get Kicked By A Cow

Gideon, do you want to go out with me in the dark? Start the brooder?

No, but I'm not the brooder, the scalded. You are going to go out there and you're having a point of milk in there when we get back.

Oh, oh, you're gonna eat when we get back? Yeah. Why not? Not ever stop.

Okay, you can go and then I'll go out.

I like that idea, Gideon. You come when you're ready though. Yeah, don't wake up Mom and the baby. There's another rough night and we about woke up at 3 o'clock this morning. No, he did wake up at 3 o'clock. His diaper had filled up, or his you-know-what was pointing up, and we had a leak. What is wrong? They're leaving a lot of food. They're not eating that. Just have to trick them, I guess. What's wrong? So you get stale and you don't like it? You spoiled cats. It's our last butchering day of the year. Butchering days are always big. We got 9 members from Abundance Plus coming. It's a little bit more. It's gonna be a good day or bad day. Well, it all depends on if this starts— the scalder starts or not. Although Hilda taught me there are no bad days. Sure, there are sad days, but there are no bad days. Oh, but this day, good or bad, just got so much better. The scalder is working. Let's go down the line. Cones, buckets, but no water. What are these buckets of water for underneath these cones? Well, the blood from the kill goes into this and the blood doesn't congeal as bad, and it's easier to go put this as fertilizer on our fields. Next up, the scalder, which is heating up. It's already come up 5 degrees. The plucker near a plug— oh, turned the wrong direction. That actually might be all right. Well, no, not really, because the switch is in the back. Turn this this way, just put the feathers out behind us. And the water for that matter. And the switch will be right there. We should probably go ahead and test this. Yay! Soap— we don't want anybody getting Campylobacter. The sink to wash your hands. Eviscerate, eviscerate. A hose to spray that down. Another eviscerating table, gut bucket. You need another gut bucket. And we got butchering knives and trays for our offal. And lastly, our bagging pot. I'm kind of wanting to part— only have 50 birds, which probably means we only have 40 out there. Some of them have lost, have died. It'd be really neat if we could part because they take up less room in the freezer. We're kind of running out of freezer room. I'm looking for the vacuum sealer. Here's some vacuum seal bags. Why is our vacuum sealer not in this neat metal— see, every day we get a little more organized. Maybe every week. Every day might be a little strong. A couple more buckets. We got to get ice for this and the vacuum sealer machine. This is good. This is the trailer to get them. It's got bedding in it. It's here, ready to go. Well, there's an eager beaver, 30 minutes early. We're just out here getting stuff ready that really you can't do with a group of people like Gather Chidlers. Hey, are you guys coming? Yes, I'm getting my boots. Okay, come on. 3 people here. Lombardi time, that means 15 minutes early. It's got a washer. Hey, y'all are crooked there. Okay, you got a washer, I think. Maybe it's worn out. Oh, you know, it's leaking out of this, so it has nothing to do with the washer. Let's try, let's try that. What's your name and where are you from? Hold that for me.

My name is—

feels like a magic trick.

My name is Sharon. Okay, I'm originally from Rhode Island and I moved to Asheville in 1984. Okay, raised 2 children there, they're 35 and 32. Yeah, I'm a jazz singer, so when I start my YouTube channel, I think I'm gonna be the Singing Gardener.

Oh, I like it, I like it. That worked. That kind of felt like we were doing a magic trick. We'll call it that. Real quick, where are you from?

Alberta, Canada.

Oh my, we'll pause for a minute. Wow, Canada.

Georgia. Savannah, Georgia.

Georgia.

Florida. Tampa, Florida. Virginia. And Nashville. Okay, y'all ready to get some chores done? Okay. Hilda! Holistic Hilda showed up!

Aww!

I guess y'all know each other? We do now!

Virtually before.

Yeah, and now we're best friends.

How do you know each other? What's going on here?

Just DM'd and was like, oh, maybe I'll meet you tomorrow. I was like, that'd be awesome. And I just didn't expect that it would be like for real.

Yeah, good. Okay, so Bree, I'll let you guys do your cow talk. Bree has, has been homesteading for 3 months. What? And she's already gone to the, the height of homesteading— the family cow. Oh my goodness, real fast. Uh, and so what do you want to get out, out of today? So we got to make sure you walk away.

Yeah, I think just, you know, see the confidence of watching just a cow get—

hey, hold on, we've got to get the bram out of here.

For me, I think it's just my confidence in approaching my cow, not getting kicked. I'm terrified of getting kicked. Okay, I know it's gonna happen.

I'm gonna show you how to get kicked. Okay, awesome. What else?

Um, just proper technique, uh, in, you know, fully emptying her out. Okay, just to offset mastitis.

Okay, cool, we can do that. So let's show you how to get kicked. Do you mind if I show you? I'm gonna bump you. I don't mind. Okay, so if you're gonna get kicked You'd rather get kicked like this. Yeah, instead of this.

All right. Yeah.

Okay, we've given her one scoop. Uh, let's just give her another one.

You just keep that full while you're milking, or—

Yeah, they'll get about 5-6 pounds a day. Okay, so I wouldn't want to get— the tendency is to—

I know, I'm afraid.

I know you could do that, but it's, it's gonna hurt a lot worse when she Goes like that. I've noticed the cow likes to kick more out than back. It's not like a horse, so she's not going to kick back straight back so much. So you could go in it that way. So then you ride up on her, and then if she were to kick, it would just be like I showed you. So she's just bumping me.

Oh, that's aggressive.

Oh, you got to be aggressive. Yeah, yeah. People are like, what?

You know, does that help bring the milk down?

I'm really getting any, any dirt or manure off. Yeah, you cannot hurt that. You've ever seen the calf nurses? They're bumping it and kicking it. See, that's cut. That's, that's normal. She's not going to kick me, but if she's got a sore teeth like that— yeah, and there's a combination, you know, is she hurting, is her teeth hurt, or is she out of feed? We squirt out 3 squirts. Okay, because guess what?

It helps clean it up.

Nature plugs that, and that's where the bacteria is going to be. It's protecting bacteria from going up in there, but your bacteria is going to be in that plug. So she's, she's empty. The calf got to her. So then, yet, milking a kicky cow, you can go like this. I'm right up on it, kind of behind. Okay, and then let me get my left hand right there. Okay, and then when she goes to kick, your left hand's there and you can ward it off a little bit. Yep, you'll— and you'll stop it right here, not here. Always keep that left arm on her. All right, everybody ready to do this? Everybody get their cows done up there?

Yeah, thank you.

Everybody got their cow fixed? You ready to look at Dexter?

I feel so confident. Oh yeah, okay, it's happening. I'm not waiting any longer.

Good for you, good for you. Oh my goodness, what is going on?

I'm ready for the party.

Uh-oh, it's a party now.

Well, let me put my heels on.

You're gonna be sorely disappointed in heels.

Wait, I thought—

What kind of party did you think this was?

The chicken dance. All right, you guys, you ready? Let's do this. Here we go, here we go. Okay, ready?

What is happening?

She's gonna break an ankle. Okay, what's next?

Let's catch the birds.

Hop on in there.

Let's catch the birds, put them in the trailer.

I thought it was gonna be—

do you think I should go change?

You might.

I might, if you like that dress.

30-degree slope, hills, I don't know.

All right, seriously, how am I going to get down this hill?

You might be a crazy chicken lady if you travel hours to butcher somebody else's chickens. Yeah, for free.

640 miles.

Yeah, we took their feet out last night. We got the goose. Goose will go in the yard. All right, we got everybody over here. All right, this next part though I can't show on YouTube. You can always see it on Abundance Plus. We have a number of chicken butchering videos there. I encourage you to check that out. It's abundanceplus.com. Hopefully we'll get some— we'll talk with these guys. I can't show the blood or nothing. We'll try to frame that out. But, uh, let's get to know these guys, their struggles and how they're overcoming. I think they're going to be an inspiration to us. 148, it's right where we want it.

Mark Ramsey from Florida.

What are you growing?

Uh, chickens right now. I got layers. Uh, meat birds is next. And then ultimately I want to get into the whole, uh, pigs, cows, probably goats. Down there in Florida, stuff grows really fast, and I need something to help me stay ahead of it because every time I cut something, it grows back before I get back to it.

Nice. What's stopping you from doing those?

Uh, we're just getting started. So I've got the land, I've got a lot of the equipment And, uh, and now it's just I'm learning, and when I'm ready to advance to the next animal, we're going to add it.

Nice.

I'm Jody and I'm from Georgia.

Have you been born and raised Georgia?

Yes.

Proud Georgian?

Yes. My family is where I am for 4 generations.

Nice.

Yeah.

What are you growing?

A garden right now.

Does your family think you're nuts?

Um, actually not many of them know that I'm thinking of doing this.

Well, they don't even know you're in the closet.

Closet pre-chicken lady, I guess.

When are you gonna tell them? Um, now, probably. We'll just see the show tomorrow, probably, when I have them and don't fail. If I can only pan right where all these chickens are being harvested. Okay, okay. So what, what's your biggest struggle?

Not having land is where we— my son is in school, and so we have to focus our search within 30 minutes of where he is, so that makes it very limited.

Okay, how you fixing this problem?

I'm going to hopefully try to build a, uh, what is the thing called that Joel Salatin has with the rabbits on top? I know it has a name.

The racking house.

Yes, I want to build one of those.

I think usually you're saying you're gonna put them in a carport.

Yeah, I'm thinking I might put them in an enclosed carport and, uh, just hide them from the street.

Yeah, so chickens— yeah, rabbits on top, chickens on bottom. You can grow so much. Or is it legal?

We can have hens where I am, just no roosters. But I don't know about rabbits, I haven't asked.

Go for it. Don't ask. Long distance reward, Canada! I think you might be my first guest from Canada. Nice. Okay, so has it snowed there yet?

It has a couple times.

Okay, how long is your growing season? No frost?

Middle of May to Beginning of September.

Cool. What are you growing?

Garden. And we did pigs this summer. We did 4 pigs.

Nice.

I have laying hens, and we borrowed some sheep from my cousin this summer to keep our pasture down.

Cool.

Just to kind of try having sheep out. But I'd really like to get a milk cow with calf for, for beef as well.

What's stopping you from getting the milk cow?

Um, We have restrictions in our area. I need to be patient because I want to do it all right now. I want to have this, but we've only been on our property for a year and a half.

This makes you feel any better? It took me 15 years to get this.

Hey, I'm Russell. I'm from Virginia.

And what are you growing?

We have an herb garden and a— and some raised beds.

Nice.

And we have some laying hens.

Laying hens?

Laying hens.

What's your biggest struggle, uh, on your homestead journey?

Starting where we are, right? Because we're in the city. We'd like a few acres. But, uh, you know, if you're, if you're not going to do it where you are now, you're not going to do it on a few acres. So we, uh, started to grow some things, started to lay some, lay some eggs, and I would go from there.

Is it legal?

We can have 4 birds, and we have 4 birds.

And who's counting? 4 birds per family, per person.

We have—

we might have more than that.

Okay, if she got the long distance award, he gets the coolest nickname award. He goes by Goose. What's your real name?

My name's Lee.

Okay, Lee, where are you from?

Tampa, Florida.

What you growing in Tampa?

Got collards, kale, lettuce, and tomatoes and cucumbers right at the moment.

Is, uh, Tampa cool? Not like physically, but it's a cool place to live.

It is a cool place to live.

Why?

Well, we have— I'm 20 minutes from the beach and I'm 20, 30 minutes from this. Not, not the mountains, but at least a little bit of, um, a little bit of, uh, country.

What's your biggest homestead struggle?

Going to the next level.

What's the next level for you?

Meat chickens.

Ah, well, what's, what's stopping you?

Uh, nothing yet. I just have, uh, I wanted to get a hands-on experience doing the processing and You know, doing it the right way prior, and, you know, learning from you guys. I've watched you guys, my wife and I, for since April of last year. So it's been, uh, it's been a fun, a fun journey to, to learn and to just be a part of.

Bree, hey, if he wins the cool nickname award, you win the accelerated high-speed Crazy homestead lady.

Yeah, pretty much.

Got the family cow. Uh, what's your biggest struggle right now?

I think sourcing things, you know, wanting to make sure the nutrition is there and knowing where to go and buy it and find it. Lots of local feed stores, they don't carry what— yeah, what we want and how we want to raise our animals. So, um, just What's an example? Um, I was, you know, looking for mineral supplements for the cattle, and you know, Tractor Supply, you just have the blocks. And like you were saying with minerals, they need to be free choice with a lot of different options for what they need. So now having to outsource and find, find stuff, and just, you know, finding animals too and knowing who to buy from. I, I accept I'm probably gonna get a lemon here and there, but I think you just have to try and do it.

You win the coolest apron award.

I'm interested in having a homestead.

Cool.

Enrolling my children to get involved with me.

Nice. Um, you're, you're wooing them to get involved? How old are they?

35 and 32.

So how are you wooing them? What's that look like?

Well, they grew up gardening gardening, and we had a water garden in our yard and lots of time outside, you know, being outside in Asheville and the mountains. So they love the outdoors and they love animals.

So you'll think— you think you'll convince them to join us rebels?

I hope so.

Okay, good.

All right, looking for some land.

Okay, good. What's your name? Where are you from? What you growing?

And my name is Arun and I'm from India.

We might be further away than Canada.

Oh yeah, way more further away from Canada. And I'm growing so many things right now actually. Yeah, I have a chili growing right now, green chili. I have a red pepper growing right now. I have a tulsi, holy basil. Yeah, I have a lettuce A little bit. I have, uh, oregano right now. I have a papaya tree is growing.

You can see he's like his spices. Now we're parting birds. How do you think— how is it? You feel like you guys have got this?

In my past genealogy coming out are appreciating. Yeah, you know, they pass on things to us that we're not aware of.

Yeah, there you go.

And then all of a sudden it comes out.

This is something everybody knew how to do. Look what Grandma's got me. Just one day later, it sticks. I got my bee stinger.

I want to see you sit down.

It's not the height of fashion, but it works. This is the seat. There you go.

Now you need to put on the rest of the Tigger costume.

There we go. I can get up, you know, gather stuff and go back down the mill.

Just don't lean too far.

Yeah, it's good on those hills too because it's one leg. You can put it however you want. Okay, we've got a feel for parting, we got a feel for bagging. Everybody feel comfortable? Are we gonna butcher our own birds now?

Yeah.

Okay, next year, right? Oh, somebody got some next week. Yeah, look at you. Oh, you would, you would.

Hey, this is our thing now.

Except we had to study in advance. So what would you have done if you didn't have this workshop?

Just figure it out.

All right, I like it, I like it. Look what's going on in here. You guys have stepped it up again. French fries coming to the rescue and cooking. I'm glad because it's like 2 o'clock. We'd just be now getting to it. So thank you guys very much.

Our joy.