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First, I really, really hope you have a deep freezer! One is good, two is better!
We butchered our first cow last fall. After we sent our cows to a neighbors farm to get pregnant, one of our yearling heifers gorged herself on all the apples the big girls were hoarding . . . and bloated. I think it was the 2nd week of October and the temperature was in the 80's.
Now, after recommending a deep freezer, I have a refridgerator that is completely dedicated to "farm use". My wife knows to stay out of it. I'm training my kids to stay out! I have been known to keep a small bucket of fishing worms in it from time to time, but the kids have discovered I also keep a few cold Cokes in it as well. Personally, I put the cow down about 9 am, hung her on the Gambrel, and started to skin her. I use my pocket knife for a Skinning Knife and have a large Fillet Knife I use to separate large pieces of meat from the carcass. If you don't have a gambrel, you can hang the cow by her neck instead of her hind legs. Truthfully, it makes no difference.
After skinning, I punctured the abdominal wall and allowed the guts to fall into a wheelbarrow. Some people meticulously cut around the anus and tie it off. I find it easier to "milk" its contents backwards and either yank it or slice it. You can cut around the diaphragm and remove the heart and lungs as you wish.
I personally use a battery operated reciprocating saw with a coarse metal cutting blade to remove the feet above the leg joint. You can also use a hacksaw to cut the bone, or a knife to cut the cartilage in the joint. (Be warned, you will seriously dull a knife cutting the joint!)
At this point, you may want to cover the carcass with a sheet to keep the flies out and let it sit overnight to pass through rigor mortis and age some. This will result in more tender beef, but its your choice.
Next, I use the large fillet knife (with a very sharp edge!) to cut either the shoulders or the hams, whichever is closest to the ground, depending on how you hang the cow. Once I have them both separated from the carcass, I place them on trays and rush them to the refridgerator to cool and age. Next, I use the fillet knife to separate the backstrap, and the pocket knife to separate the tenderloin. Again these are taken to the refridgerator on their own tray. Finally, I lower the carcass so I can now reach to cut the hams or shoulders. In the end, you have an ENTIRE carcass now devoid of 90% of its meat.
After the shoulders have been in the fridge for a few days, we grind them into burger, form them into patties using a Large Canning Ring, and stack them 3x5 on trays (my wife's cookie sheets) that go in the freezer. We use wax paper between the layers and stack them about 5 high. After that, the bottom layer gets a bit flattened. Each patty ends up about 1/3 lb of meat, so each layer is 5 lbs.
We leave the hams in the fridge for 1 to 3 weeks, depending. You can cut them into steaks, but the Backstrap and Tenderloin are much better steak material. We usually cut the hams into 1-inch cubes and can them in a pressure cooker (15lbs of pressure for 1 hour) for long term, freezer free storage, or slice them into long, 1/2-inch slices for jerky that we marinate and dry in the oven. Occasionally, we need the extra burger so we go ahead and grind them anyway.
Some people save the ribs for a roast. You can cut them off with your saw and simply brush the bone dust off the meat, or you can cleave them with a butcher's cleaver or a simple axe. The neck looks like a lot of meat and you can cut it from the carcass and the head with your saw or axe. We have cooked them in the oven with potatoes and carrots as a simple roast, but were a tad disappointed in the quantity of actual meat.
You can take the carcass and bury it or compost it at will, but I prefer to give it to the chickens or at least the pigs. If you have laying chickens, you will notice an immediate increase in the number of eggs! Of course, it also makes good dog food which Commando will greatly appreciate!
So to answer your question, Refridgerator, Freezer, Large super-sharp knife, small sharp knife and saw/axe. Oh, and a lot of elbow grease and sweat!
P.S. Up to this point, we have ground all our meat BY HAND! However, we may be investing in an electric grinder, soon.
P.P.S We do vacuum seal our steaks for long term storage, but haven't been able to justify the cost for other cuts. To store large amounts of jerky, long term, we use an 11x17 vac seal bag (or cut one from an 11" roll) and place the raw strips, marinade and all in the bag. Makes a large "pillow" of jerky. Just thaw for a few days, and place on toothpicks in the oven.
Last edited by Copperhead; 08/08/12 at 06:13 PM.
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