On Cambridge Farm there were some cows!
In 1990 when Ellie was working on the construction of our building, she kept on getting all kinds of offers to buy thing at good prices from people who needed money pretty quick! She got a small Jeep for around p40,000 which really got abused and overloaded but did the job it was asked asked to do! The best buy I think was a small herd of cows consisting of about 35 heads for a really good price! This was from a very dear relation, Joe Deonoso who at that time had well over 1,000 cows and he said that he did not need this particular herd but really, as he was not short of money I really think that he was just being a good relation and wanted Ellie to get into the cattle business for a while!
All the cows were mostly the local variety of White Brahma, a few had other colors on them! Some were mothers and calves, some were yearlings and one was a good size bull who was kept busy with the lady cows! The was also a cowboy with them so we took him on also! We did not actually keep them at Cambridge Farm as it was too small so we kept them in a pen opposite Tropicana Beach Resort which was a very good location with plenty of water to be had from a borehole which was on the land! To graze the cows, the cowboy took them out to the hills every day, the hills were right at the back of the pen anyway so that made the job a lot easier! The pen was actually on a grazing leased piece of land so like everything else here it was not free as we had to pay the guy who held the lease one calf in three which was the standard going rate! We did try to get our own lease but all the areas which were available were well up on the hills with no roads and more importantly, no water so we accepted the place where the cows were, that way the cows knew where they lived anyway! Basically we were in a good location and had no real reason to move!
The Cows in the pen opposite Tropicana!
The Pound Sign Brand £!
When I got back to General Santos on a leave period, I was asked to think about a brand for the cows so I did a few simple designs but unfortunately when we had them checked in the Cattle Brand Registration Office all were rejected as they were already in use or were very similar to existing brands so it was time to put brain in deep thought mode and the perfect brand appeared to me! Being British gave me the idea, the sign for the British Currency, the Pound Sign £! This design was approved and a local Brand Maker soon made up two different sizes, one for the large animals and one for the young ones!
Once we had the Branding Irons ready we decided on a day to brand the herd so as usual the food and drink was prepared and it was a family day out to do the deed then on to the beach! The cowboy did not take the Cattle out on that morning so as we arrived, a fire was built to cook the Branding Irons and the cattle were driven into a special trap with a strong gate on each end so that only one cow at a time could be penned and branded! A couple of other cowboys were assisting with the process so there was no real problem except for a couple of the calves who were not happy about being separated from their mums for the first time and the mums were not too happy hearing their babies shouting for them especially when they got their first kiss with the Branding Iron!
The Brand is Applied!
The actual Branding was very interesting to me because I had seen it in movies before but had never actually seen it done live before! The cowboy was very skillful at Branding as he knew when the Branding Iron was the correct temperature, if it was too hot it would burn through the hide and could possibly cause infection, if too cold then the Brand would not be permanent! Also when applying the Brand he kept the contact time very short, just long enough to leave a permanent mark! Once the work was finished we all feasted in the normal Philippino Style at Tropicana Beach Resort and went swimming etc, the cowboy on the other hand after eating took the newly branded cows up the hills to graze! They all seemed non the worse for their Branding Adventure and some still had several other brands on them from previous owners!
The Herd Bull!
Now as the Branding was going on we had to fill out new papers for each cow so that we could register the New Brands with the correct office! The registration form was basically a single page with two cow pictures on it, one right and one left side and a few lines for details! On the cow drawings we had to put the distinguishing marks of each animal meaning the different Brand, colors etc, also you can guess what we had to draw to signify a bull! Once the paperwork was completed it was submitted and stamped at the office and we had our official copy! These copies came in handy a while later when I was doing my permanent residency as I added then into the requirements to show my wealth!
Once the herd was all registered we really had nothing to do with them as the cowboy looked after them, all we had to do was check on them once in a while and we had a couple of relations who worked in the cattle business so they checked up on them also! The Bull did his job well and kept the cows pregnant all the time, any who did not get pregnant was destined for slaughter! We had a couple of young calves run down by trucks on the road but the meat was good so we ate them anyway so It was no real loss!
Ouch, This would make your eyes water!
We had several young Bulls which we were told needed to be castrated so again a day was set, the food and drink prepared and again it was family day at the beach also! Once again I had never seen this done live before and I thought that the cowboy would use a knife on the unwanted parts but I could not have been more wrong! The cowboy had a piece of equipment called a Burdizzo, this looked very much like a Vice Grip for holding pipes, it was designed to go over the testicles and had a flat bar on each end of the vice piece and was clamped onto the poor unsuspecting bull so that the skin, blood supply and nerves were compressed into the thickness of a piece of paper! The testicles then basically died and was reabsorbed into the body leaving the once Bull to be a eunuch! Ouch! One thing, when the Burdizzo was applied, the unlucky animal did not move a muscle or even breath until the clamp was removed a few seconds later, job finished!
Thats how tight it closes! Wow!
All this was the interesting part of being a part of a cattle owner, paying the salary of the cowboy every month, buying medication and inoculations and other stuff cost quite a lot per year! We also had a couple of cows stolen but we kept the herd for several years and it increased in numbers until we had 55 heads but the joy of owning cattle was gone really and after getting a very good offer for the herd we decided to sell it and do something else with the money!
If we had lived out where we had the cattle then I am sure that we would have kept them all but its really not a good idea to have expensive livestock out in a place where you cannot actually keep an eye on them yourself!
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Burdizzo??!!!……the horror…the horror………..
I have seen rubber bands do the same job in Kansas. Still ouch! The best way is to cut them off. Then you can cook them. Hmm, tasty!
Hi Edward,
I have seen it done that way also and I have eaten them also! I do not think our local rubber bands would be very good for such an opperation!
Very interesting article, Chris, especially the branding and castration. I have several questions. So, all female cows that do not get pregnant all get slaughtered? That’s a lot of steaks to eat and sell right there. I’m a meat and potato man, and I just love prime ribs and steaks, though I have never tasted the Kobe beef, which I heard to be the best beef in the world. I go to Outback Restaurant a lot. Which meat is more delicious, the bull or the cow? I like my prime rib pink rare, served with horseradish and baked potato with sour cream and chives, and au jus served in a bowl, not just slathered on the meat. I dip the meat in the au jus, sometimes I drink the au jus straight from the bowl. Ummmm, my mouth waters just thinking about it. Steaks, the New York strip, I prefer it cooked Pittsburgh style, meaning, charred outside, pink inside, and served with onion rings and a good bottle of red wine. The best! No sauces here. I wince when I see people pouring Worcestershire sauce on their steaks. Why eat steak at all when you’re going to mask its true flavor with sauce?
Regarding the castration, I’m going to be graphic here. The castrated bull with the flattened testicles (Ouch is right!), does it lose the desire to copulate? Can it get it up?
Hi John,
All female cows who cannot get pregnant are slaughtered as they are considered useless!
Kobe Beef is excelent but overpriced, most good steak is as good I think!
My mouth is watering reading your favorite way of eating steak! I agree, too many people mask the true flavor of many dishes with sauce, I do not!
During the castration process, the testicles are not touched, its the blood vessels and nerves above that are crushed killing the testicles!
As to weather they can still do the deed I am not sure as I have never really looked into the matter!
Hello Chris, I enjoyed this article. It makes me wonder if you kept a diary in those days.
Were the animals hurt? The branding and the clamping? Ouch..
But I can imagine how exciting it was for your butcher. All that meat for kare-kare, pinapaitan, goto, all dishes requiring inside parts, you have them freshly slaughtered.
I wonder if young cow really tastes that good.
Hi Roy,
I did not keep a diary at the time, just the cattle log!
The cows do not feel much with the branding, its more shock and a sting from the brand as long as its not kept on more than a split second before it burns through the skin!
We used to eat mostly cows that were injured as we had a breeding herd! Young cows are very tasty especially when roasted whole!
Hmmmm, think i prefer tuna. As someone once said, “Sometimes I see a good tuna, and it looks better to me than a woman.”
Hi Brian,
You definatly do not leave such a device in the house just in case you upset the wife! Ouch!