This Spicy Sausage Dip is perfect for any party! Toss everything in your slow cooker and let the cheese melt while you enjoy hanging out with your friends.
Weaning Calves
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Every fall, we wean our calves. When our calves are about 5-6 months old, it’s time to separate them from their moms. The cows stay at our house, and the calves go to live in a pasture at my in-laws’ house. We also move the cows to a different section of our pasture so they have fresh, long grass to munch on.
Distracting the cows and calves by giving them both a new pasture to explore helps to decrease the stress of weaning. We often get asked if it is mean to take the calves away from their moms. I’ve talked about this before, so check out this post to read more about what actually happens when we wean.
Is It Mean To Take a Calf Away From Its Mom?
Once the calves are weaned, it’s time to sell them. We usually will keep the heifer calves in our herd. We keep one registered Angus bull calf and sell him later as a breeding bull. The rest of the calves get sold. Usually, we take them as a group to a nearby sale barn and sell them together. When we do this, the calves get transported about 30 minutes in a trailer, hang out in a pen with a bunch of other calves, get sold at auction, then get transported in another trailer to their new home where they meet even more new friends.
This year, we were able to sell all our calves locally. Some of our farmer friends in the area wanted to buy calves, and we were able to sell them in two groups. So the calves went to a pasture at my in laws’ house (10 minutes away), stayed there by themselves for a few days, then went on another short trailer ride (less than 30 minutes), and were at their new home. This means they had less stress and fewer chances to get exposed to diseases. We love that we were able to sell all our calves to people we know this year.
Spicy Sausage Dip
That’s enough talk about selling our cows. Let’s get cooking!
Even though it isn’t fun to sell calves in the fall, it is fun to be able to kick back and watch some football when we’re done for the day. It’s even better if I can cook something in my Crock Pot, so I don’t have to hang out in the kitchen while everyone else is watching the game.
This recipe is adapted from one in “Slow-Cooker Fall Favorites” by Gooseberry Patch. I love this cookbook!
When the people at Colts Awesome Tailgate gave me this awesome Colts 6-quart Crock Pot and asked for a recipe for tailgating, I knew exactly what I was going to cook!
All you have to do to make this dip is brown some ground pork, chop up an onion, grate some cheese, and mix everything together. (Want to use a different meat? Check out your options here.) Then kick back, relax, and enjoy the show!
If you don’t have one of these excellent team Crock Pots, you can pick one up here. (Yes, they have other teams. Pick your favorite! We can still be friends, even if you don’t pick the Indianapolis Colts!)
Enjoy!
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Spicy Sausage Dip
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound ground pork browned and drained
- 1 onion chopped
- 2-15 ounce cans refried beans
- 2-10 ounce cans diced tomatoes with chilis drained
- 1.5 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Scoop-style corn chips or tortilla chips
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients (except chips) in a 6-quart slow cooker. Mix well.
- Cover and cook on low for 2-4 hours, stirring occasionally, until cheese is melted and dip is heated through.
- Serve immediately with chips for dipping.
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