Does anyone else butcher their own meat?

[Beekissed]

Butchered 4 cockerels this morning to BBQ this evening for company. Their parts are currently marinating in spices and sauces. They were pretty young, so too scrawny for a full on butchering....just split their skin down the front, removed the breasts and thighs/legs, kept the feet for stock later on, and gave the carcasses to the dogs, chickens and cats to feed on. No gutting or skinning necessary, quick and easy.

 

[Mini Horses]

Always have done just a "full" butcher......and we all know what a MESSY job. But I like the skin it method. I rarely butcher anymore but if I do get back into that, I'd get one of the attachments to pluck -- you put it on a drill. I have plans from net that tell you to use two big ( 30-55 gal) plastic tubs, hole in side to insert drill. drums on top one another, side cut out of top one to hold bird into for plucking. Plastic bag in bottom one to lift out & discard when done. Improvement but still a mess.

The feet...I was told by a lovely Jewish lady that you must use those if you want really good chicken broth for those soups. I have seen them in a few stores on occasion. It appears they have been either skinned or scaled --not sure. Like bones from carcass, flavor imparted.

Anyone got a use for the "oink" from the pig? Seems all else used.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

@baymule

https://www.amazon.com/Dux-Industries-Tabletop-Defeather-Commercial/dp/B00BGV3EBO

This is the one I got a couple years ago. (priced a bit less then) Works great and makes plucking a 30 second chore instead of a 30 minute one! I like having a plucked bird for roasting, but I hated plucking and I was slow and inefficient. You still have to scald the bird first, but dang does it get those feathers off!

 

[Poka_Doodle]

The hunting season is underway and with it comes the butchering of the animals. We butchered an antelope on Sunday.

 

[baymule]

I have never butchered my own meat.

It is not that hard. Be sure to buy a home size meat grinder. I bought one years ago and it sure has come in handy. Right now a neighbor lady is using it to make her first ever sausage from a wild hog her husband trapped.

Buy a book and a bone saw and you'll be in business. Have you ever butchered a chicken?

 

[NH Homesteader]

I'm about to learn more. My husband has always done most of it, I had the excuse of watching our daughter. Now she's old enough that she can hang out and sort of entertain herself and we lost our primary helper. So... My turn. We have 30+ Cornish x, 8 turkeys and a pig to do this fall. Next year we want to try lamb. Oh and we will hopefully have a deer when hunting season gets here. We would also like to try goat at some point.

 

[sumi]

Our problem was simple theft. Taking a bit more off the animal than we agreed on, in addition to the fee for doing the job. When we had people slaughter our pigs we paid them a fee and let them have the offal, heads, trotters and tails. Many of the pigs' necks went with the heads. We learned that lesson the hard way!

Our butcher was great though. For a minimal fee he did exactly what we wanted him to with the carcasses we took him. Even if he grumbled that we were "stealing" his customers, as we sold the majority of the meat. (I ran a small business from the farm, selling meat, eggs, vegetables etc)

 

[baymule]

I think I may have to learn how to process our lambs for our own use. I want to be able to use all of the carcass I can. So much of it hits the garbage that I could use. We butchered our own roosters and I skinned them, no way I was going to pluck all those durn roosters! I only threw away the head, skin and feathers. The dogs stayed nearby and gobbled down the tossed-to-them intestines.

 

[NH Homesteader]

@baymule do you know what the percentage of finished weight to live weight is for lambs? I remember thinking it was pretty low.

My 3 year old daughter was studying our butchering reference book, complete with pictures. Asking what each picture was of. Lol

 

[tortoise]

Yes, we butcher ours too. Not my favorite thing to do. Venison is the worst for me because we hang it and it's cold. My hands get so cold working on it. Absolutely miserable.

Last year we processed 3 deer. DH hasn't seen anything this year, so we might be processing a lamb instead.