Taking to butcher: what do I ask for?

hrc8713 · #1 07/19/06, 09:03 AM

This is my first time to do this, so I need to be educated..

I am taking a half grown lamb/sheep to be butchered. It has bad leggs and cannot walk well. I have a time to take her next week to be butchered.

What do I ask the butcher for? How/what kinds of meat to ask them to cut. Or do they already know what to do?

Thanks

Hank

minnikin1 · #2 07/19/06, 09:46 AM

I'm no expert but we have to ask if we want them to save the pelt for us.
If it's a large lamb, we ask them to cut the leg in two separate roasts. (There's only 2 of us in my house.)

You'll want to tell them how heavy to make each package.
If you want a fancy crown roast, you usually have to tell that.
You'll want to know how much ground meat you like.

Other than that, our butcher has a pretty basic way of doing it..

Terry W · #3 07/19/06, 12:47 PM

my checking around has the same results-- one processor will salt the hides- if one wishes-- You determine the cuts, and vacuum packaging is available from one of the guys-- nicer for selling purposes!!! By asking around, as well, we found some are preferrred over others as far as how they "kill" and how fast the animal is processed for pickup.seems all may pass the required inspections-- but only a few have excellent standards during non inspection times.....

hrc8713 · #4 07/19/06, 04:15 PM

Thanks for the information. The butcher said I have to take all the leftovers(skin, insides etc) and bury them on my property. Ever heard of that?

frazzlehead · #5 07/19/06, 04:18 PM

You have to take the offal back from the BUTCHER???

What are you paying him for if he doesn't get rid of the waste: just killing, skinning and slicing? If he's gonna leave you with the waste, he should come butcher on your site and save you the transport trouble.

It seems very odd to me. I have never heard of anyone around here having to do that ... what would you do with the offal from say, ten cows? Gracious.

I'd check with a couple of other butchers - even if they are farther away than you'd likely go, just to see what normal practice is in your area of the world.

**Ross** · #6 07/19/06, 04:57 PM

Never heard of it, my butcher is rather put out when I ask for a hide back! It's not that it's worth anything just the inspecter hates things like that set aside.
Standard cutting
Neck as rings, stew or ground
Shoulders whole bone in roasts, boned and rolled roasts, chops, stew or ground
Ribs are usually boned out for stew or ground for all that's there
loin as rack of lamb or chops
legs whole, boned or steaks. If you want nice large cubed meat for Kabobs it comes from the legs

**Ross** · #7 07/19/06, 04:59 PM

Sorry forgot shank (lower front leg) you can have it whole for soups stews or stripped out for stew or ground. You'll want heart liver kidney and tongue too.

LisaInN.Idaho · #8 07/19/06, 06:08 PM

When I have racks done I make sure to ask the butcher to remove the chine bone so you can carve the racks easily.

Sue · #9 07/19/06, 06:42 PM

Yes, we have butchers that make the owner dispose of the offal. Has something to do with USDA not allowing sheep offal for rendering ~ can't recall the technical reasons. Just ask your butcher the reason.

They may ask how many people to package for, thickness of cuts, how do you want the legs ~ whole, roasts, or steaks? How do you want the shoulders ~ chops or roasts, etc. If undecided, you might just ask for a variety of cuts and tell them how many people you are feeding in a meal. I prefer the thickness on chops and steaks about 3/4 of an inch thick. I also ask for ground and stew meat.

Sue · #10 07/19/06, 06:53 PM

Ok, just remembered the reason! Sheep offal is linked to brain prions (scrapie) that caused BSE in the first place. Sheep spinal cords, brains, and spleens are dangerous for this. Much of the offal from other animals (cows and pigs) that the butcher processes, goes into an offal barrel to be picked up for rendering. Some of the rendered product goes into making animal feed. Thus, the beginning troubles for mad cow disease is from the feed fed to the cattle.

Terry W · #11 07/19/06, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sue

Ok, just remembered the reason! Sheep offal is linked to brain prions (scrapie) that caused BSE in the first place. Sheep spinal cords, brains, and spleens are dangerous for this. Much of the offal from other animals (cows and pigs) that the butcher processes, goes into an offal barrel to be picked up for rendering. Some of the rendered product goes into making animal feed. Thus, the beginning troubles for mad cow disease is from the feed fed to the cattle.

this is true-- BUT---- it has been illegal to include any rendered animal products in cattle, sheep, and goat feed for years!!! Maybe an old hanging on p[ractice from then....

hrc8713 · #12 07/20/06, 01:55 PM

Thanks for all the advice. I called around and all the buthers I found said the same thing. They are charging a min of 45, if it is over 65lbs it goes up some. This is my first time taking one in for processing.

By the way, should I keep her in a a pen over the next week before I take her in?

thanks

Hank

Terry W · #13 07/20/06, 02:06 PM

give her a nice end of life-- if her legs are bad, then make sure she is as comfy as possible--let her ointeract with her peers--- no sense in depriving her of being a lamb....

daytrader · #14 07/20/06, 04:23 PM

What is the best weight to have a lamb/sheep butchered for your own use?

I know very little about this stuff. I have these 10 ladies we will breed in Dec. Once we get our new ram.

I plan on selling my lambs at 50-70 pounds as thatr is the weight I was told the buyer wanted. All milk fed.

I am just wandering, If we cull out a animal for our own use, what is a good weight and what is a no no weight?

Goatsandsheep · #15 07/20/06, 06:08 PM

50-70 pounds seem small to me. You only get about 50% of live body weight in meat, so that would be 25-35 pound of meat at best. 100-135 is what we do.

hrc8713 · #16 07/20/06, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goatsandsheep

50-70 pounds seem small to me. You only get about 50% of live body weight in meat, so that would be 25-35 pound of meat at best. 100-135 is what we do.

I would wait, but her front leggs are bowing out and she is having trouble standing. Not sure what happened or why her front leggs started do this, but it is apparent that if she gets any larger her front leggs will not hold her weight. I had purchased her for breeding but can't now. So that is why I am taking her now. She is I would guess about 70lbs

daytrader · #17 02/13/07, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terry W

this is true-- BUT---- it has been illegal to include any rendered animal products in cattle, sheep, and goat feed for years!!! Maybe an old hanging on p[ractice from then....

FALSE, It is only illegal to feed this product to table BEEF. Not any other animal.

Chickens, mutton and the rest can still be fed it.

Much of the waste gose to dog food.

NO butcher agound here will butcher sheep or lamb UNLESS you take the waste. EVEN THEN Most will not do it for any amount of money.

Illinois has very strick laws on lamb/sheep processing. If beef or pork is processed or STORED on the same property then they CAN NOT GET A PERMIT to process sheep/lambs.

Now, if they can get a permit. They have to have refrigeration and processing equipment set up just for sheep.

I have yet to find a lic butcher shop that will process our lambs. At this time we are still growing our stock. We did ship off some lambs to Mt Vernon Ohio.

It was well worth it. The price Mt Vernon Ohio was paying was 3 times if we had the meat processed here.