Gary Ulmer and the family have shut the smokehouse down for the year now that their sausage and jerky making days are completed.
Now their attention shifts to other things, like ice fishing, helping a neighbor finish insulating and sheet rocking the interior of his garage and starting to dismantle the old farm house they moved out of a couple years ago. And we can't forget the daily routine of taking care of their commercial cow herd and the pen of calves they are backgrounding.
The weather did warm up enough so they were able to separate out the cull cows and haul them to the livestock auction in Edgeley. He had wanted to do this earlier, but the cold weather in December put those plans on hold until the temperatures moderated a little.
The nicer weather also allowed the feeding operations to be shifted to the pasture for a few days, which cuts down on the manure buildup in the farm lots and allows the cattle to get a little more exercise. But the winds and chilly temperatures on Thursday (Jan. 10) brought the cow herd back into the lot so they could get out of the wind.
Gary and son Jade recently spent a day at a neighbors helping clip sale bulls so he could take pictures for an upcoming sale catalog.
Gary has a reputation for letting his creative mind work overtime when it comes to making summer sausage. He starts with a basic recipe that calls for a mixture of deer meat and pork back fat and this is combined with all spice, brown sugar and pepper and allowed to sit in a cooler for a week. At the end of the week, the mixture is ground, stuffed into casings and smoked. It's during this final grinding process that Gary gets creative and is known to add a few interesting ingredients.
Yeah, yeah, I know, it's not our Gary Ulmer... but still...
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