In order to not gross anyone out or have someone reading something they don't really want to , I am going to start a thread specific to butchering and processing of livestock. Please remember some of this may be a little bit graphic, but it is the best way to show the process other than hands on . Also keep in mind that different people have differing views on butchering and processing of animals for meat. I will attempt to give as many variations as possible for each animal as well as how we do it here on the farm, however, if there is something you would like to add or contribute that can make the steps easier please do. There are always little shortcuts ,helps and tips that people use and not only are they interesting to hear but educational as well.
butchering Killing anything can be a difficult task. Being on a homestead and dealing with the circles of life and death does not by any means make butchering day any easier on anyone.However, it is a necessary task . We have alot of preconceived notions about butchering animals and we tend to hold on to the worst ones that we hear.When you hear of tales of chicken butchering day, the smell is always first to come up, it is no where near as bad as we are led to believe. Blood is generally the second, that is also much less than we have envisioned.Of course we have all heard stories about chickens and no heads running around,, This is true... The first time butchering is the worst by far and even it isnt as bad as we tend to think it will be if we have never done it before, i think many will actual find out that they do not react to the process in ways we think we will and then perhaps feel bad that we didnt feel as bad about the whole thing as we thought we were going to . Preparation again is the key factor when it comes to the slaughtering process. Having all the necessary tools etc makes things go along much smoother than just attempting to wing(pardon the pun) your way through it. It is really quite a simple process and no where near as bad as it has been made out to be for most of us. I am going to go through how we do our processing of birds here when we butcher. I am sure there are many different ideas and variations on how to butcher, but since we are lazy slackass hippie/homesteaders, this is the method we have found to be both the easiest, quickest and cleanest. As with all things dealing with animals, practice is what makes it easier all the way around, and with a bit of time two people should be able to process about 10 birds per hour.We generally have 10 -20 birds to cull at any given time so the entire process for us including prep time and cleanup time is just one morning every 6 months or so, not bad when you consider for a four person family that is ten to 20 meals easily and you know where your meat is coming from and exactly what they have been fed and how they have been raised. materials needed. machete or large knife, a chop block (The usual method is to get a big piece of lumber or log , put two nails in it about 1 inch apart and sticking up about 2 inches (just far enough apart to hold the chickens neck) smaller knives and poultry shears (not needed , but nice) large working surface, garbage bags, plastic sheeting, rope or string water source large kettle or two, depending if you want to scald the feathers and pluck (for plucking one kettle needs to be hot water ) ice chest with ice bleach preparation We generally set up our work station near a tree with a large limb , cut several pieces of twine or string and place them on the limb in groups of two (to tie to legs and hang from limb ). Lay a sheet of plastic out under said limb to keep blood on ground to minimum. Fill the cooler with ice and bit of water and set it away from you work area. We use our picnic table for a flat surface area, ( saw horses with a piece of plywood also work well). I then cover that with plastic sheeting .. I keep the garbage bag in a garbage can near my work area so i can just brush cleanings into the bag.Sharpen your cutting instruments and set them out on the table . I then wash down my working surface with water and bleach. Cleanliness is key here and there is no such thing as too clean. Catching the birds is best done when they are resting and calm, They are quite dopey acting in early evenings and early mornings. You can simply walk up to the ones you are selecting and pick them up at there feet and take them to the holding box or cage until there time has come.. We have small cages to put ours into , so that we can go in and gather all birds before hand rather than one by one. A large box will work well so long as they are not left in there for huge amounts of time. Feeding time is also an easier way of snagging up a chicken, just sneak up behind them while they are chowing but like i said , evening or morning is easiest n least intrusive to the others left behind. The calmer you are, the calmer the birds are...Usually the evening before butcher day, i skip the evening meal for the birds it ,keeps the innards from being quite so full of digesting food materials thus making the process a bit cleanlier. You must still provide them water. The processing Now that we have our work area set up and the culled birds separated from the rest of the flock it is now time to being the actual butcher process. Again there are many ideas n thoughts on how killing should be done. Some will say to grab the chicken by his head and begin spinning it til its head pops off and the chicken flails about and runs around bleeding out with out its head,,,I suppose this works well if you have fairly flat land and said chicken doesn't go failing off the side of a steep hill and then you have to chase it round almost as though you were also missing your head. Some will say to take a small knife and somehow stick it into the beak and then up into the brain , thus making a more tender bird, (never tried n dont plan to). Others will suggest taking a cone from road construction etc and trimming a bit off the pointy end and then placing the bird in the cone and either taking an axe or machete to decapitate. Following is what we do here. For us it is the easiest , fastest method and to me most the humane and quick. I take the chicken out of the holding box and hold his legs, and place it into the chop block ( piece of lumber, put two nails in it about 1 inch apart and sticking up about 2 inches (just far enough apart to hold the chickens neck), stick his neck in it , stretch him out and then use a machete to do the work. Throw the head into the garbage . Remove the chicken from the block and take him to the tree limb where i attach a string to both legs and then the limb and allow it to hang head down and bleed out . We do this to several chickens (quantity depends on weather conditions, more if it is cold and fewer if it is warm.) (insert smoke break here) After five or ten minutes they should be bleeding just a drop or two at a time . I then remove the chickens from the hanger and begin the actual processing of the birds. We do not scald or pluck feathers, we skin them. It makes for a much faster, less smelly and better for you bird in the end. This is the part where most people remember the smell of chicken butchering. Scalding and plucking are the causes of the majority of the smell.( Some folks do like to keep the feathers and either make pillows etc of them after cleaning or sell them local craftsmen for fishing lures and flies etc.. The next step is to remove the feet and wings .Lay the bird on its back. Grasp a foot and apply downward tension while slicing into the joint. There is no need to cut with a lot of force. You want to direct your knife blade between the joint and through the tendons. Just saw gently ahead and back with the sharp knife while bending back on the foot. This is pretty easy to do, It looks and sounds harder than it actually is. We throw the feet away, but some cultures do eat them and chicken foot soup can also be made. Repeat for other leg. I next move to the wings and cut the lil pointy part of the wings off much the same as i did with the feet. This makes skinning much easier in the next step. Once this is done i make a small slice( in the skin only) of the birds lower legs and the wing area where i just nipped off the tips and much like a jacket just peel the skin off the bird. This is a very simple process, the bird is still warm to the touch and it just peels off nicely and where the wing tips were a few short minutes ago is now free to peel the skin away as well. At this point I discard the skin and clean off my work area with water and a wiping down with bleach water, , give the knives and utensils a good rinsing and wash the bird down on the outside . I then viscerate or gut the bird. To do this i simply lay it on its back start at the vent or butt and take a knife and work my way up through the breast bone. being careful not to go too deep and rupture any of the innards. Again this sounds hard, but it is much like gutting a fish and they more or less are going to fall out as you go up the bird. Once this is done. I again wash the bird thoroughly , wash down off my work area and knives so that everything remains clean for the remainder of processing. . If you want a while fryer left intact, of course this is not the method to use, then you must enter the cavity from the backside (butt) and reach in a pull out the guts etc etc. after taking a few other steps to remove funny lil pieces and parts of the bird. We dont use many whole fryers here on the farm and like i stated before we go for simplicity , ease and clean. Now that you have a gutted split down the breast bird, you can simply just cut down the back bone and have half birds, (work great for frying and roasting). This is when i also throw the again washed bird into the cooler filled with ice to allow the bird to cool down entirely while i finish the killing , gutting of all the birds. I then later go back and cut it on down into the various sections and parts , separating at joints n large bones. and package for freezing. continued in next post
Gutting thru the vent area here is a place right under the anus that you can cut into and not cut anything you don't want to. That's where I make my first cut. stick your finger in that first cut and work your way around. With some chickens you can almost pull the anus loose but this one I had to cut. You want a really sharp knife for this so you don't have to use much pressure to cut so you won't cut yourself or the chicken's guts. Once the anus is loose, pull it out some and stick your hand up in and tear the membranes that attach the guts to the inside of the carcass. It is work around, work around, work around, feel, work around, pull a bit, work around. In the photo the guts started out but I'm now way up in there working the windpipe loose. With the head off, you just pull everything out the rear end. Rinse the bird and put him where it is cool. Here is a very good tutorial and step by step process butchering process all the way through from start to finish. http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Butchering-Killing.html Again, this sounds and reads a whole lot worse than it actually is. Even with your first butcher, you should be able to complete the entire process in less than 20 minutes per bird. Happy butchering and enjoy your birds
I found this article while in search of photos of the butchering process. It does a very good job of explaining the actual kill and hanging of the meat. http://www.freewebs.com/ozarkjewels/homebutcheringarticle.htm A couple things to remember when butchering a goat. If they smell your meat will smell. Start with a clean animal. If they have an odor about them a buttermilk bath will take the smell out as well as a good dose of ground garlic in a water base thru a syringe a day before slaughter. Keeping the animal as calm as can be before slaughter is best. If the animal dies tensed the meat will be tougher. Always shoot a goat from the back side of the head, most others are done from the front. The basic cuts of meat are made as in the picture below. making cuts of ground meat, chops, ribs, roasts steaks and stew or jerky meats. Young goats are often cooked whole in ground or over a spit. Goat Meat Nutrition Comparative Chart Serving: 3 oz. Cooked
Butchering equipment * gut bucket if saving pelt, some thing to place them on as well * 2 or 3 buckets for ice water (washing and cooling meat) * cutting board * skinning or boning knife * small pruning shears * scissors for cutting meat and bone * "Ziplock" freezer bags, either pint or gallon size Again butchering is not the most fun of tasks, but it is part of the cycle and an integral one of a homestead. There are several methods that can be used in the slaughter of a rabbit. Sparing oodles of details i will simply use the method that i prefer since it is also what i know, experiment a bit and find what method works for you in your situation. What works for one may not work for another for a variety of reasons. so long as it all ends with the same result in the end the path we chose must be our own. Here is a good site for a step by step pictorial of the entire process... http://www.rawdogranch.com/rabbit_butchering_9.htm http://www.rawdogranch.com/rabbit_butchering1.htm http://www.rawdogranch.com/rabbit_butchering2.htm http://www.rawdogranch.com/rabbit_butchering3.htm http://www.rawdogranch.com/rabbit_butchering4.htm http://www.rawdogranch.com/rabbit_butchering5.htm http://www.rawdogranch.com/rabbit_butchering6.htm http://www.rawdogranch.com/rabbit_butchering7.htm http://www.rawdogranch.com/rabbit_butchering8.htm
do u guys use any sort of painkillers or anything for these poor animals or do u just go ahead with the slice n' dice?
umm yeah you kill the animal before you slice and dice.. im pretty sure when you kill them it kills their pain..
okay, first off, i love animals, but id so be willing to learn the butchering process. I think as a foodie id be more pleased with my meals that give myself and others such pleasure. it sounds so intresting and not once did i cringe. well, a bit for the rabbit, but thats just because I wont eat anything besides the "normal" ya know, chicken, seafood, meat, pork. Very rarely venison. i dont think it necessary with all the other stuff available. I watched my gran twist chicken heads off chickens and the laugh as they stumbled around. gross.
rabbit is the most economical meat to grow and consume.. 8 to 12 weeks to grow them out(raise to slaughter weight) and they have babies about 5 times a year and lots of them..
I find this all very interesting, and I think I could do it once I got over the squeamishness, but what about the legal aspect? Say I had a few dozen chickens hanging up in the back yard. Could I advertise my meat and sell it from a stall along the side of the road? Do I need to be registered and pass inspection in order to advertise and sell it? I don't want to have to start up a black poultry market.
