And is it safe to eat?

My neighbor in back of my property called me this evening to say one of his calves had died and do I want some veal. This guy bought the farm behind me a couple of years ago but he’s not a farmer. He keeps some steers and some horses, but he’s not a farmer.

He knows I process my own deer so he gave me a call. I went back and gutted the calf, he says it weighed 375 pounds when he bought it at auction a week ago, but I have my doubts about that.

Anyhow, it hadn’t been dead long. He says it was alive last night and he discovered it this afternoon when he came home from work. Rigamortus had not yet sit in and it was still kind of warm. There was no sign of bloat, neither one of us have any idea what killed it. Y’all think it’s safe to eat?

I wouldn't eat it myself not knowing the cause of death. I hate to be waist full, but not knowing makes me nervous, better safe than sorry. IMO
Being a sale barn calf it could have had any number of illnesses to die from and I don't eat anything that dies from sick.

no

I would not. If it was in the sale barn a week ago no telling what kind of shots its had for starters.

The hide makes me feel the animal was in rough condition or conditions. I would not be arguing about if it is 375 lbs. or not as to me that is a small matter. I have worked with dairy and beef for decades and saw a lot of animals go down and or die. Most farmers I worked with would not even think about eating that calf. We don't know what killed it but if it died in 24 hours to me there would be a significant hormonal and potentially blood change in that animal which would circulate throughout the muscular system of that animal.

Bryce

Grind it freeze it feed it to the dogs . Stake it down fir bait station

I wouldn't even feed it to my dog....looks bad...burn n bury

It's gutted and hosed down in the pic, still dripping wet. There was a lot of crap on it. That accounts for some of how it looks. It sure didn't have much meat on it though, is that normal?

I'm thinking I'll take you guy's advice and pass on any meat. I'll advise the owner to do the same.

The first words out of my mouth when he told me were, "I don't eat my chickens unless I kill them, never if they died on their own."

Probably any number of respiratory sicknesses from the stockyard. Could be pumped full of meds as well. Better stuff to eat. Kind of like buying a PC of equipment at the auction and it has a bad bearing when u try it.

That's one sorry looking steer

Maybe it looked better in sun light.

Don’t eat that.
And a 375 pound random sale barn calf isn’t veal.

No way should u eat that thing!!! About guarantee is was sick. About guaranteed it had a temp. Never eat anything that has a temp!

I quoted it three times to reiterate this point.

One week after sale barn is typical for a respiratory illness brought on by stress. Quick killer. Probly not vaccinated. Anyway, a hard NO to eating.

NO !

I would seriously eat coon before I'd eat that thing. It would honestly be safer.

Nope
Same answer as all the rest

Covid

I deal with tons of three weight sale barn calves a year. We had 900 of them that came in before Christmas. That’s great coyote bait and that’s it.