Butchering a Heifer , any extra advice ?

[String&stick]

Yeah, she was born worth or at some point suffered displacement or some malformation of the hip. The cows just getting to big to live comfortably trying to get up and walk . Buddy says it’s time to end it for her before it gets worse.


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Gotcha that makes perfect sense! In that case proceed and enjoy

 

[Michael54]

One thing i havent seen yet is when you skin it leave as much of the fat on as possible when removing the hide. It will help big time with the aging process. Also wouldn't be a bad idea to purchase some lactic acid and a bug sprayer. Spray the carcass down after you are done quartering it for aging purposes. It will prevent mold from growing on the carcass.

 

[Michael54]

If the meat gets dirty cut that area off. If you try to spray it off its just gonna smear

 

[MT257]

We least put them in the trailer with the middle gate shut so they couldn’t move around much. Used 22 mag, then bled them pulled from trailer and then used bucket/ tractor for skinning and gutting.

 

[22lr]

Meateater did a podcast episode with a straight up meat scientist. Episode was called "Red Cutter." Talks alot about more ideal case situations like this where you have time to hang, bleed, age, then process. The guest scientist has done a ton of research on beef, and had tons of great insite. Was a fascinating listen (I've been told im easily entertained).

 

[Chordeiles]

Have done quite a few of them. Shoot to stun (22 is plenty and personally I would prefer it over something larger), cut throat immediately and get chains around the back legs to pick up with loader to hang to bleed out.

We then lay it back down on ground (belly up) and start skinning it. Skin down legs and skin down as far as you can toward the back. Go ahead and split the belly and chest at this point as well, much easier without pressure on it.

Then pick it back up and skin down the back and gut it. If using a loader please be careful, cattle aren’t light and things can happen in the blink of an eye (busted hydraulic lines, somebody bumps a lever, etc. Block the cylinders if possible.

Once cleaned go ahead and split and quarter. I like to age beef. A week at the least, two is better.

We do eight steers every spring. This is pretty much exactly the way we do it.

 

[fivebikies]

Homekill guys here stick a battery powered electric fence unit on them to help with bleeding out.

 

[roadrunner]

Gutless method on a beef, near equipment!?!? Heavens no! Doing a beef "gutless" is like boiling tenderloin until it is rubber.

Echo the response on stunning (with .22 LR,) and bleeding (heart still pumping) while on the ground. Beef will be kicking while it's bleeding. You won't be able to hang it until it stops.

 

[butcherboy]

Agree with what everyone is saying. Use a 22 rifle or a 22 mag. I prefer the mag. Imagine a line from one ear down to the opposite eye for each side. This makes an imaginary “X” across the forehead and that’s where you shoot them, right in the middle of the “X”. Definitely skin in the air. We skin first before the eviscerating. Don’t forget to cut around the bung hole before you pick the carcass up to high. Once it’s skinned then you can make a small slit in the belly up close to where it attaches to the hind legs. Pull the bung out through this slit leaving it attached to to to everything else. You can split the brisket pretty easily in the air with a saw. Once that is done, open the rest of the belly and everything will fall out. Reach in and pull the rest out when it reaches the diaphragm. Split the carcass in half then quarter it leaving one rib bone on the hind quarter if you can’t hang it as halves.

Definitely age it unless you are turning it all into hamburger. I doubt there will be a lot of fat on it with it being young and crippled. Have a water hose nearby to spray off the blood from inside and bone dust after splitting. Make sure to trim hair, dirt, fecal matter off of the carcass before it’s washed.

Have some buckets of warm water nearby to wash your hands and knives after first spraying the hair off with your cold water hose. Every time your knife comes out of the hide when making your skinning pattern it will have hair and fecal matter on it which will transfer to the carcass. Once you start handling the hide, don’t touch the carcass unless you have washed your hands first.

Some might think this is overkill but a clean carcass will age better and it will cut so much better as well.

 

[nrh6.7]

Found this guy a few years ago from New Zealand. Don't know if you can pick up any tips from this, but there is no doubt he's efficient.

Kill video

Butchering video

 

[robtattoo]

I've used these guys videos as a cut for cut, real time instructional.

 

[william schmaltz]

I wouldn't use a .22 unless you are able to walk up to her and shoot her from 12 inches away. Typically when we had to shoot an animal in the field we would bring the 222. Shoot it in the dome and bleed in. No need to take the extra step and hang it while it bleeds. You don't wanna be anywhere near the back end of her while she bleeds out.

1. hang it by a hook through the nose so the head is a few feet off the ground then skin the head back and remove the head. They're much easier to work with once the head is off.
2. Lay her on her back and remove all the hooves. Make sure you don't cut the back ones too short!
3. Make a cut down the center of the hide from entry to exit and take off as much hide as possible. At this point, the only point the hide is connected is along the spine but since it sounds like you'll be outdoors, I'd probably skin about halfway down the sides.
4. Take a saw and separate the brisket. Leave her closed from the bottom of her sternum to the pelvis. Then start working on her exit plumbing. Only open as much up as you have to back there.
5. After you split the pelvis hook up her back legs and work as you lift her a foot or so at a time. Keep skinning her down and cut back the insides as gravity makes everything accessible.
6. Once the carcass is about halfways off the ground and the only hide that's attached is on the front half of the animal, finish splitting the belly and take her up. Cut everything back as you lift, but the guts will just sorta fall out the bottom (which will be the neck). After that it's just skinning and sawing.

I've probably only done a few thousand, but that's roughly how we always did it. Family did it professionally for 100 years and after a lot of trial and error, that was the easiest method.

 

[flatlanderhuffandpuff]

Buy the beef butchering book by Adam Danforth. It's full of great information and some really helpful pictures.

 

[id450]

Thanks all of you for the time to respond and offer your assistance. Seriously appreciate all the insight. The entire process was enjoyable and educational. Killing and processing a cow has for sure got some stark differences than a field job. I see the importance of the tractor with all the other meat you can harvest off a cow. We ended up using the entire carcass , all but one trash bag. A local family came over and took all the organs, the guts , extra meat , the head etc... to Make dog food. Dogs are on a raw meat diet. I took the tongue and heart, my favorite parts.

Last question, this one was apparently a half dairy / half beef cow. So not a ton a fat on her but more than a wild animal. .I generally mix in 5% pork 5% beef fat into game. Should I do that here on the burger given it’s pretty lean?

Thanks
J


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[Michael54]

Thanks all of you for the time to respond and offer your assistance. Seriously appreciate all the insight. The entire process was enjoyable and educational. Killing and processing a cow has for sure got some stark differences than a field job. I see the importance of the tractor with all the other meat you can harvest off a cow. We ended up using the entire carcass , all but one trash bag. A local family came over and took all the organs, the guts , extra meat , the head etc... to Make dog food. Dogs are on a raw meat diet. I took the tongue and heart, my favorite parts.

Last question, this one was apparently a half dairy / half beef cow. So not a ton a fat on her but more than a wild animal. .I generally mix in 5% pork 5% beef fat into game. Should I do that here on the burger given it’s pretty lean?

Thanks
J


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See what it looks like after your first grind. If you need to add some do it before your second grind.

 

[TX_Diver]

Amazon.com

Good one for future reference.

 

[id450]

Amazon.com

Good one for future reference.

Thanks


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[id450]

I ended up buy the Butchering book. Very well done and a great help.


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