Food for thought

[old_anorak]

As I was sitting here tonight I was wondering just how many of the members here have actually killed, cleaned, and then properly butchered their own meat or meat for their family?
Hunting doesn't count and neither does fishing. What I mean is to raise the animal yourself and then dispatch it quickly and as painlessly as possible before butchering.

If you've ever hunted or fished and taken care of your own kills then you are already doing good, but killing an animal that you've only seen for a few minutes versus one you've raised from birth on is different.

I'm not trying to question anyone's manhood or anything like that. I just want people to think about this for a minute about what they are going to have to do to feed themselves when the worst happens. If you've tried and you can't, then you already know that you are going to have to trade for your meat or make a deal with someone to do it for you.

I've seen grown men, military men cry like a baby when they cut a chicken's head off or they simply walk away instead of putting a kill shot in the back of their goat's head. I know that when we slaughter here that it does affect me. I am the one that generally does the deed. My husband tried and found out that he just can't do it, but he does help in other ways.

Maybe you have to be raised on a farm and have grown up seeing the cycle to be able to get what I'm saying. It always amazes me when someone slaughters their first animal and then doesn't have a clue on what to do next, like the meat is supposed to just jump off the bones and into neat little plastic wrapped packages.

Yeah, I know I'm rambling and if I've said something wrong, then Clydesdale can pull this.

 

[alabaster]

Nah, you're not rambling or questioning people's manhood! It's a fair question, IMO. There was an episode of Family Guy(I hate that show) that was talking about how hard it is to kill things once you have named them. I saw a DDP episode that a fellow in PA was saying the same thing. THey had meat rabbits and he forbid his family from naming them because of that.

I've done both. Hunted and fished, and raised chickens, a snake(Yes, to eat) and a rabbit, and I have an uncle that has raised cattle. I think it's a thing of conditioning more than anything. My Dad and his family had chickens around as long as he could remember. THey had NO issue killing them even when they were little kids. I think the best idea is to treat them like animals though. DOn't ever let them in the house or go and cuddle with 'em and s**t. It's opening you up for that kind of emotional bond. To be quite honest with you, I thought the technical aspect of butchering was harder to do correctly than the actual killing. I have had to put down my own pets too though, even one of my dogs before, so that may have something to do with the psychological/emotional detachment, I don't know. I had never really thought about it until now.

 

[old_anorak]

I generally name everything but the chickens and there are just too many of them. Almost everything on our place has a purpose and for some of them, the purpose is to be food. I don't baby them, but I do have 3 baby goats that are being bottle raised and they were in the laundry room for awhile. Both girls have raised their own animals to show and sell, they've even butchered some of them. I think you have to compartmentalize what you are doing. Dogs are pets, goats are food, but they are fun to hang out with.

I have had to put down pets and that's a hard thing to do, but I think it's better when it's done at home in their own environment where they are comfortable rather than being taken somewhere and they're scared. The worst thing I've had to do was put down one of our horses. He'd broke a leg while we were camping out in the middle of nowhere and we couldn't get a vet out for several days to our location and the horse just simply could not move more than a few feet. I'll be honest and tell you that I bawled for at least an hour when I did it. We'd raised that horse on our place, broke him, and he'd served faithfully, going anywhere we asked and going through so many things that scared him. He had absolute trust in us keeping him safe and it was the right thing to end his pain then and there instead of making him wait for days.

When we plan to slaughter anything larger than a chicken, they always get a good last meal, generally a whole peach pie and a heartfelt thank you from me.

Butchering the meat can be difficult if you've never been exposed to it before and the chances of wasting or ruining the meat is high.

 

[Clyde]

As I was sitting here tonight I was wondering just how many of the members here have actually killed, cleaned, and then properly butchered their own meat or meat for their family?
Hunting doesn't count and neither does fishing. What I mean is to raise the animal yourself and then dispatch it quickly and as painlessly as possible before butchering.

If you've ever hunted or fished and taken care of your own kills then you are already doing good, but killing an animal that you've only seen for a few minutes versus one you've raised from birth on is different.

I'm not trying to question anyone's manhood or anything like that. I just want people to think about this for a minute about what they are going to have to do to feed themselves when the worst happens. If you've tried and you can't, then you already know that you are going to have to trade for your meat or make a deal with someone to do it for you.

I've seen grown men, military men cry like a baby when they cut a chicken's head off or they simply walk away instead of putting a kill shot in the back of their goat's head. I know that when we slaughter here that it does affect me. I am the one that generally does the deed. My husband tried and found out that he just can't do it, but he does help in other ways.

Maybe you have to be raised on a farm and have grown up seeing the cycle to be able to get what I'm saying. It always amazes me when someone slaughters their first animal and then doesn't have a clue on what to do next, like the meat is supposed to just jump off the bones and into neat little plastic wrapped packages.

Yeah, I know I'm rambling and if I've said something wrong, then Clydesdale can pull this.

I think this is a great topic as there are many of us who have been sentenced to eternal damnation in the city.

I do NOT think you are rabling on!

ok, here's what I have done;
Hunted, killed, butchered an animal = a big fat goose egg, zero, zip, zilch
Raised, killed, butchered an animal = ditto

I live in the city.... sigh....
anyone want to teach me how to clean a deer? lol

 

[old_anorak]

I'd be honored to Clydesdale. Actually... are there any small animal auctions outside the town you're in? If so, go get a rabbit and practice.

 

[Roninsensei]

old hunters trick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMhhR3z8ehM

 

[old_anorak]

Thank you for posting those Roninsensei. One thing I would recommend to someone that is new to dressing out an animal is to put a smear of Vicks Vapor Rub under their nose to help cover the smell that a lot of people find overpowering. Learned that trick while working in a morgue, covers all but the worst stenches.

 

[Roninsensei]

Rosemary oil works as well.

 

[Dani]

I also name our animals on the farm, but I know which ones will go to slaughter and which ones are "safe" for now. The two steers we had/have are/were Ribeye and T-Bone. The pig is named porkchop. It makes it so much easier when, their time comes. I tend to be an animal lover, but I can also put it aside and do what needs to be done when I need to.

 

[Simple but effective]

Never been an issue for me. I guess like you said earlier is was just what happened growing up on the farm so it has a lot to do with how you grew up. I can remember as a child the first time we slaughtered chickens. We did 100 that day and it was horrific but after a while it just became business as usual and that's just what had to be done.

 

[Trapper]

We have raised meat chickens for years and never had an issue with butchering. As a kid we would get family together and butcher beef. Maybe I was desensitized to butchering animal at an early age. I recall watching dad shoot a beef when I was about 3 or 4 years old.
When it comes to hunting we do it all. We butcher 4-5 deer a year, small game, turkeys and geese. We rarely buy beef. My kids start helping cutting up venison about age 8. Any of my kids, all adults now, can butcher an entire deer on their own if needed. My 19 year old son and keep up to me cutting deer now. Its nice to have him to help with skinning!!
Now my son-in-law, thats different. He about passes out when he sees blood. He can shoot a deer I think if he had too, but beyond that its over. He has no problem eating venison we give him though.

 

[hightechredneck]

"Now my son-in-law, thats different. He about passes out when he sees blood. He can shoot a deer I think if he had too, but beyond that its over. He has no problem eating venison we give him though."

Is'nt that the way it usually is. Grab his ass and trow him in there the next butchering. If he passes out just prop him up in the corner and wait till he comes to. If hes gonna eat it hes gonna butcher it.