Butchering dead cows- feasible?

[Willowynd]

I know of someone that has 3 heifers that wandered into stray voltage and died several days ago. They were offered for free. Note it has not been above freezing here- mostly in the 20's and below. Farmer is waiting for them to thaw to bury...but if I can use them he will give them to me. Says they weigh about 700 lbs each. My questions are- first...if butchered would any of this be fit for human consumption (if not, I can use it for dog food as I feed raw). Second, would a butcher process them? Third, if not, I am wondering if this is something that can be done outside since I do not have a barn. Forth, how much can I expect to have in meat and bone and just meat from each cow in weight. Wondering how much my chest freezer can hold.

[Ronney]

As you know for a fact that they didn't die of disease, yes they would be edible BUT they won't have been bled out so the meat won't be the best. Also, even although your temperatures haven't got above freezing, it will have taken some considerable time for the gut to have cooled down so personally, I wouldn't want to be eating them. Pity the farmer didn't get on to it immediately because they would have been perfectly edible had he done so.

However, they needn't be a complete waste and will be brilliant dog tucker for you and with three dogs of my own, I wouldn't be turning my nose up at this mana from heaven.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[Willowynd]

Now...how would you deal with this? I am assuming I could get one at a time in the back of the pick up truck. But what then? Will a processor take them? I do have a neighbor that prcessed a deer for me before that I had hit...but would he be able to do a frozen carcass? I could always offer him one of the cows for butchering for me as he has hunting dogs. How many cows can I reasonably be able to fit in a chest freezer?

[Willowynd]

OK...just figured out my freezer will hold 308 lbs.

[mamahen]

In my area, all animals have to go live to the butcher.

But if can find someone willing to help, like someone who has done large animals, no problem!

Deer are a LOT smaller than a cow!! We do our own deer, takes about 3-4 from start to finish including packaging. But we string them up. What we use, wouldn't hold a cow. You need a large building or tripods to hoist up a cow. You could just take what meat you could hack off on the ground, and organ meat.

3 cows X 700, you would probably get around 900 lb of meat give or take.

Good luck!

[Madsaw]

Originally Posted by Ronney

As you know for a fact that they didn't die of disease, yes they would be edible BUT they won't have been bled out so the meat won't be the best. Also, even although your temperatures haven't got above freezing, it will have taken some considerable time for the gut to have cooled down so personally, I wouldn't want to be eating them. Pity the farmer didn't get on to it immediately because they would have been perfectly edible had he done so.

However, they needn't be a complete waste and will be brilliant dog tucker for you and with three dogs of my own, I wouldn't be turning my nose up at this mana from heaven.

Cheers,
Ronnie

Ronnie is right on here. Even though its been cold, the guts take a long time to cool down. Thus tanting the meat for human comsumption. So, if possible use it for dog food. Just do not put to much thought in to butchering them out. Just quater them on the spot and leave the main carcess there. If frozen a chainsaw would be fast work of it.
Bob

[GoldenMom]

I use a saws-all on frozen deer, that and a chainsaw should work well for a cow. I just chunk it up into mostly meal sized pieces. It will be a pain to skin frozen solid (at least deer are), so if you want it skinned, you'll need to cut it into managable pieces and bring it in somewhere it can thaw a little bit. My dogs don't seem to mind the skin and hair-Sage eats it and Ruby pulls it off and plays with it later.

There's no way your chest freezer will hold all the meat/bone from 3 700 pound heifers. Even if you lose half their weights to guts, etc. you're still going to have around 1000 pounds of beef. How much do you feed a day? Right now, I'd get as much packaged and stuffed into the freezer as possible. Leave the rest outside in a protected spot until it's frozen solid, then bag it up into garbage bags and keep it in that protected cold area (no sunlight, etc). Feed that meat ASAP. Well, at least that's what I've done with my excess venison. I didn't even bother to package the stuff in the garbage bags. Keeping it all together in a garbage bag makes sure that even if it does warm up slightly, the meat should stay mostly frozen-if they were all individual pieces, all the pieces would thaw slightly, this way only the outside ones will thaw a little.

[ozark_jewels]

I butchered a friends old beef cow that had died after calving a few years ago. I was butchering it for the dogs. She was 24 hours dead and the weather was below 25* for the whole time.......and the guts/offal had still smelled something terrible and the taint had spread to the meat. The dogs liked it but it was obviously not fit for human consumption.
Too bad these heifers weren't gutted and then left...the meat would be fine if they had been.

[farmergirl]

Sounds like a good idea that will be a royal pain and ultimately a big waste of your time I think the farmer who owns the cattle has the right idea...they should be buried when the ground thaws.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by farmergirl

Sounds like a good idea that will be a royal pain and ultimately a big waste of your time

Not if you feed your dogs raw and have enough freezer space. When I butchered that dead cow for my dogs, I had about three months of dogfood and all I did for it was spend one day hacking meat off bones and freezing it.

[Willowynd]

Thanks GM. I am not crazy about feeding hair, but will if it is going to be a big issue to get it off. I have decided we will go out with a chain saw and cut off quarters to a manageable sizeto get home and bag up liver, keart and kidneys. Then when we get a warmer day I can go out with the sawzall (if that will work) and try to cut it down into 1.5-2 lb chunks and bag enough for each day. I go through about 20 lbs a day, so 900 lbs will feed for about 45 days n(actually longer as there will be meals of chicken and fish in there for variety. It would ahve been nice to be able to grind some of the meat with the organs, but I don;t have a meat grinder. I do not have a " protected" area outside. Tom suggested in the crawl space, but I really don;t think wild animals will mess with frozen meat anyhow. I think if we just place them in bags and stack them against the house it will be fine...don't you think? Of course I would work on that meat first.

Originally Posted by GoldenMom

I use a saws-all on frozen deer, that and a chainsaw should work well for a cow. I just chunk it up into mostly meal sized pieces. It will be a pain to skin frozen solid (at least deer are), so if you want it skinned, you'll need to cut it into managable pieces and bring it in somewhere it can thaw a little bit. My dogs don't seem to mind the skin and hair-Sage eats it and Ruby pulls it off and plays with it later.

There's no way your chest freezer will hold all the meat/bone from 3 700 pound heifers. Even if you lose half their weights to guts, etc. you're still going to have around 1000 pounds of beef. How much do you feed a day? Right now, I'd get as much packaged and stuffed into the freezer as possible. Leave the rest outside in a protected spot until it's frozen solid, then bag it up into garbage bags and keep it in that protected cold area (no sunlight, etc). Feed that meat ASAP. Well, at least that's what I've done with my excess venison. I didn't even bother to package the stuff in the garbage bags. Keeping it all together in a garbage bag makes sure that even if it does warm up slightly, the meat should stay mostly frozen-if they were all individual pieces, all the pieces would thaw slightly, this way only the outside ones will thaw a little.

[Willowynd]

Well these have been frozen for 2 weeks...so hoping no odor. Yes, I am sure the meat is tainted....such a shame as you said. Would have been nice to have some prime rib in my freezer

Originally Posted by ozark_jewels

I butchered a friends old beef cow that had died after calving a few years ago. I was butchering it for the dogs. She was 24 hours dead and the weather was below 25* for the whole time.......and the guts/offal had still smelled something terrible and the taint had spread to the meat. The dogs liked it but it was obviously not fit for human consumption.
Too bad these heifers weren't gutted and then left...the meat would be fine if they had been.

[Ed Norman]

Coyotes and wolves eat the hide much of the time. It helps push out all the bone chips and undigested stuff that gets into them.

[Willowynd]

I know Ed, I just have this thought that if they get a taste for the hide that when I get a cow or 2 they may make an association. That is the reason I never feed fur or feathers.

[Dodgegal79]

My stepdad did this when we were kids, the meat was so horrible and smelled so bad. The thing is the cow died for some unknown reason so he gutted her and took her to the butcher.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by Willowynd

I know Ed, I just have this thought that if they get a taste for the hide that when I get a cow or 2 they may make an association. That is the reason I never feed fur or feathers.

No problems with that. Been doing it for years. If I lose a calf or a goat, I drag it to the back and cut it open. Once its cut open the dogs know it is theirs. They eat everything, even the small bones. All the head, the head, hooves, guts, etc.
They are very smart and know the difference between live and dead. This is my LGD's and yard/farm dogs.
Now, I probably wouldn't do that with chickens as they are the "perfect prey" animal.

[||Downhome||]

she could still grab the back straps out of them couldnt she??? As long as the guts not busted how would it taint the meat? I know the gut can gas up
and bust do you really think that could of happened. even if that did happen
as long as there was no blood flowing it would take some time at the low temps to taint (backstraps) wouldnt it. Often times if I see a fresh kill deer and its gut busted I'll just strip out the tenderloins and call it good. although a clean kill like a head shot I'll take the whole thing. Ive never got sick.

[GoldenMom]

As long as no sun can get to the bags, it should be fine to leave them out. Personally, I'm scraping variety right now. I'll go back to the variety after all the garage meat is gone. Really if you think about it, that's pretty prey model. Dogs/wolves would eat what ever was in abundance at the time which would vary over months rather than over days.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by ||Downhome||

she could still grab the back straps out of them couldnt she???

This isn't a fresh kill, it is two weeks old. I would not chance it.

[Honorine]

Oh wow, what a terrible waste. If they'd been gutted what a great windfall that would have been. Its a good idea to cut off what you can instead of trying to take the entire carcass, as long as the farmer does not mind. With the legs gone he won't have to dig as large a hole, but he may be hoping you'll take all of the carcasses off his hands. I wouldn't eat any of it.