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The owner of Coach Stop Farms,
John Bosworth, documented what happened with the beef cows.
Bonnie and F Neil are claiming that Mr. Bosworth owes them money for
taking care of the cows.
The Herefords
During the winter of
2007-2008 I made a deal with a local farmer, “Deacon” Smith trading
hay for 3 beef cows. The cows were yearling Hereford bulls, uncut,
meaning they were not castrated. They were yearlings, born in
2007.
Deacon dropped of the 3
bulls in May of 2008 and I kept them in the little pasture next to
the indoor arena, with access to the “heifer” barn for cover and
food. I grained them there. The idea was to fatten them up and
slaughter them in the fall of 2008.
I called a local butcher,
Alan Carroll, and made arrangements for the slaughter. I was to
bring the 3 Herefords to his place on Dec 16th, 2008. On
cow was to be for my use, one cow was to be split between 2 friends
and the 3rd I had no “home” for yet. Alan Carroll is a
very good butcher and in demand. The Dec 16th date was
his earliest date, I called in May.
When I moved off the
farm and the Erickson’s moved in they offered to take care of
the 3 Herefords. In exchange one was to be theirs. They knew of
the slaughter date in December. They told me they would take care
of the cows & fatten them up for that date.
During the summer I kept
an eye on the cows and was concerned about their lack of weight. I
never saw them being fed and every time I checked their grain barrel
in the heifer barn it was empty. I pointed this out to the
Erickson’s and they were offended that I would doubt them not
feeding or taking proper care of the cows. They told me they were
going to get silage for the cows & they would be ready for butcher.
I left it at that, though still concerned.
s we got close to the
butcher date I emailed the Erickson’s and the other 2 people, double
checking that they are ready and still want the meat. The cows were
going to be butchered, if they did not want their meat I would find
someone else.
I received emails from
the Erickson's that they still want theirs butchered. I arranged shipping for the cows, at my own expense.
I need to find someone to haul the 3 cows. I have access to a 2
horse trailer and could have hauled 2 for free, but not 3.
I kept the Erickson’s
aware of what was going on with several emails and had heard back
from them. The night before the cows were to ship I received an
email from Bonnie which said they changed there mind about having
their cow butchered. The reason was he wasn’t big enough yet and
they didn’t have the money for the processing. They wanted to keep
their cow and fatten him up more. I was not happy – They had
known the date for months, they knew I was looking for some one to
haul the 3 cows and had to pay for that, whereas I could have hauled
just 2.
I called the butcher the
next morning and told him to expect only 2 cows. When I got to the
farm that afternoon to haul the cows, I found out the Erickson’s had
loaded their cow to be butchered!
When I got to the
butcher’s I apologized for telling him 2 then showing up with 3.
Cindy and I filled out
our order, how we wanted our cow processed, and I took an extra
order form to email to the other people so they could call in their
order. I sent the form & instructions to call the butcher by a
certain date to all parties. After that date the butcher called
me. No one had called him to tell him how to cut their meat! He
was worried & rightly so that if the people won’t even call to get
their meat custom cut would they show up & pay for it? And, to top
it off, he wondered if the cows were 2008 yearlings! He said they
were TINY! The biggest one was about 380 lb hanging weight, the
smallest about 300 lbs. He said they should have been over 600 lbs
each! They were not fattened up for slaughter by the Erickson’s as
they said they would. We lost ½ to 1/3 of the value of the cows.
I told the butcher that
he would not be stuck w/ the meat. If some did not show up to claim
& pay for their meat I would pay for it. I then RIPPED an email to
all 3 people. My 2 friends and the Erickson’s, telling them what
happened and that the meat would be ready on Jan 3rd and
that I would pick my meat up at 11am and any that was not picked up
by then I would pay for and it was mine. My 2 friends finally got a
hold of me and sheepishly apologized. And they showed up to claim &
pay for their meat that Saturday. The Erickson’s never contacted
me about the meat and never showed up to pay for and get it. I paid
for it and contacted other friends who bought it.
I have emails
documenting all correspondence between Bonnie and me.
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