Butchering

I butchered my first animal last summer. I was mulling around in my mind exactly how I was going to make that incredible leap and go out there and get my dinner. Turns out it came to me in an unexpected way.

I had a Buff Orpington Rooster(had is the operative word here ) who attacked me one Saturday. On Sunday morning I head out to the barn and there stands Barney eyeing me again. So I pick up a long handled dandelion digger that was leaning against the deck post. I head to the barn and when Barney comes up I shove him with the stick and walk by. Well, he came at me from behind! I whirled around and swung the digger and whack! Barny was a pile of gold feathers! The hens walked over to look down at him.

Took him in, cleaned him (I had cleaned many chickens as a kid), skinned him and threw him in the pot. So it was chicken stew that Sunday for dinner. :haha:

Once that was over, I have done several each of chickens, ducks and turkeys with no problems.

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I think that's a wonderful idea. I know how to use a scapel. I've helped the vet with many necropsies before. Can't be much different. Where is a good source for cheap disposable scalepls?

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I remember laughing when I first read of poor old Barney's demise. I don't think you mentioned the hens looking down on him the first time. This time, however, there is milk and peanut-butter sandwich spewed all over the computer screen. How dare you cause me to make such a mess this late at night? :haha: :haha: :haha: I'm going to have to wake my wife up to clean it. (yeah, as if I'm stupid enough to try that.)

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I can't really say what I butcherd first,I know I was brought up with it,so it wasn't no problem.

Always looking for an easier way of doing things.I go Rabbit hunting I always butcher them as I get them.Takes me and the wife about 2 hours to Butcher and pakage a Deer,that includes grinding.

big rockpile

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The scalpel made all the difference. Did my second rabbit today. Wow, how much easier it all was. Maybe the combination of a little experience and somewhat better equipment worked together to make it easier. I'm trying the slow cook method with cream of mushroom soup that Sue sent me. Smells good already.

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I just picked mine up at TSC. It was actually labeled as a castration kit. It was a scalpel handle, and 5 cresent shaped, disposable blades. I picked up some more "normal" shaped blades, since I didn't think (and I turned out to be right!) that the blades coming in the "kit" would work for skinning and butchering.

The kit and extra blades were in the livestock vet supply area of the store. You can also order them from pretty much any vet/livestock supply catalog.

Happy Butchering!!

April

I like to use the box cutters with the snap off blades.

I like the largest size ones, the blade is about 8 inches long and an inch deep.

The mild steel blades are a lot sharper then the shiny ones.

Pete

I started butchering so young I don't remember when I started. My Dad taught us all kinds of stuff really young. Butchering, gardening, fishing (including trotlines and turtles), hunting etc... I remember butchering chickens with
Dad when we were really young. He'd chop their heads off and we would "accidentally on purpose" let them loose flopping around the yard with a dog barking and chasing them. We were supposed to put them under a basket.
It was great fun.
For a small animal I'd use a cheap filet knife, frequently run over a steel. The maroon handled falcon knives made by Normark are great. You can get them for 5 or 6 dollars apiece. For a bigger animal get a good skinning knife. It doesn't need to take much equipment. You don't have to cut bones much. bone out the meat, more compact for the freezer anyway. You can cut bones with an old wood saw if you want. or chop bones with a hatchet. Buy a small hand crank grinder or borrow one to grind with and your all set. I have hauled deer, hogs, goats and sheep up with a lawn tractor by a rope over a tree limb. Its not hard to get something you can cook when you are done. Custom meat processing has gotten really expensive :no:

I was at Tractor Supply this morning and picked up the castration kit. That was the deciding factor to have rabbit for supper tonight...that and the idea that Sue gave me to cook it several hours in the crock pot.

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I have never had the opportunity to provide my own deer but maybe someday.
I buy scalpels thru a medical supply catalog. You can get them at Fleet Farm in MN though. Be careful! the disposable kind you do not have to take the blade off, and they are easier to deal with than the ones you put on the knife handle.
Jodi