Taking out a beef steer

[creativetownsman]

Gosh, I've seen some videos on youtube that really offended my sensibilities re slaughtering cows - in the U.S.A. I don't mind the slaughtering-it's the inhumane way that it's apparently done in some places. The one that really bothered me was of a slaughter place in Iowa. I will not go into the details, but it was sickening.

In any event, after you shoot the beast are you supposed to cut its throat and immediately drain all the blood out? Or can you just bring it over to the butcher? Sorry, don't know about these things.

 

[harro]

G'day

The first thing you do is not cut its throat.
You approach the animal from behind and reach over and touch it's eye, if it blinks shoot it again.
Don't walk around it's legs , because even if it is dead they can and will thrash their legs around.
You will only get kicked once to learn your lesson.
You do need to bleed the animal out as soon as possible.
But cutting it's throat is not the way.
You basically need to puncture it's heart and major blood vessels surrounding it.
If you cut it's throat you will end up with a huge mess because you have probably also cut it's oesophagus (the food tube ).
You have a lot of work to do and do you want half digested grass or grain all over you and the meat you hope to get off this beast.
If you run your fingers down from your chin past your Adams apple and keep going you will find soft kind of hole where your throat meets the top of your chest and rib bones ( I don't know what it is called, and it's a kind of crazy way of describing it but ,it's the best I can do ) A cow and most if not all other animals have this .You need a good sharp reasonably long knife to enter here.You are trying to get under those bones and follow them along as far as you can.You are not trying to stab it's backbone but puncture along the inside of it's brisket.
You will know when you have hit the right spot.
This is what you do if the animal is on the ground out in a field and you are doing a killer as we call it here.
If you are in a slaughter house situation it is different because the animal is hung immediately.

Thankyou for your time

harro

 

[peterc]

CoRoMo's drawing/technique is spot on....that is exactly what they taught us when I was studying to become a veterinarian. A .22 long rifle correctly used (placed) is more than adequate - obviously in built up areas/confined spaces a captive bolt is used. Regards Peter.

 

[Sagetown]

Gosh, I've seen some videos on youtube that really offended my sensibilities re slaughtering cows - in the U.S.A. I don't mind the slaughtering-it's the inhumane way that it's apparently done in some places. The one that really bothered me was of a slaughter place in Iowa. I will not go into the details, but it was sickening.

In any event, after you shoot the beast are you supposed to cut its throat and immediately drain all the blood out? Or can you just bring it over to the butcher? Sorry, don't know about these things.

creativetownsman: After you put the animal down, let it thrash and kick for a couple of minutes, or at least until it quits moving. It may lay there dead still at first, and then make an exagerated kick with both hind legs.

Yes; cut its throat...... If you can hoist its hind legs up about 1/3rd or half its body length off the ground, it will bleed out cleanly, especially if the ground is unlevel so the blood runs away from the carcus, not back under it.

 

[creativetownsman]

Thanks for your comments and helpful suggestions-that applies to every one of you who has contributed to this thread.

 

[PBinWA]

Wouldn't you just field dress it like an Elk? I guess it all depends upon how long it is going to sit before you get it to the butcher.

 

[Big Bill]

I'll ask big bill a question have you ever seen anybody kill a steer that knew what they were doing.If your watching and you blink you'll miss it thats how quick it is...

Yep! I was with my son in a meat packing house on the kill floor (it was a small operation) dropping off two deer that we had taken with our bows, and we heard a loud bang. Then a steer rolled down the chute and it was kicking. The butcher took his knife and slit the steer’s throat and blood spurted from the animal's neck. Then he started skinning the animal as blood kept spurting from the animal's throat with each of it’s heartbeats. We were several feet away and had to move so that the blood didn't get on us.

BTW, it was good for him (15 YO) to see exactly how we got our roast beef for Sunday dinner.

PS, I've had to put down a dog or two (strays that the county wouldn't pick up) and a shot from a .22 LR to the head doesn't always do the job instantly.

 

[rondog]

At the little slaughterhouse I worked in, they would hoist the animal up asap with an electric hoist. I think they cut the skin covering the Achilles tendons on the rear feet, ran a chain through there, and hoisted 'em up. I won't say they "cut the throat", but they DID put a plastic barrel under the head and cut "something" immediately so the blood would drain out as quickly as possible, while it was still hot.

All in all, it was a pretty gross job for me as a young'un. I didn't do the slaughtering, I was tasked with all the nasty jobs around the place, most of which were VERY disgusting. A very good learning experience though.

 

[rondog]

Now, if you wanna see REALLY GROSS, go visit a rendering plant, where they process already dead animals, roadkill, and the blood and guts from the slaughterhouses! Ewwwww......

 

[Big Bill]

Now, if you wanna see REALLY GROSS, go visit a rendering plant...

When I was in North Georgia in the 60s there were some chicken processing plants that stunk so badly that you could almost smell them in the next county. I often wondered how people in that town could make love to each other with that smell everywhere and in everything?

 

[Sagetown]

Wouldn't you just field dress it like an Elk? I guess it all depends upon how long it is going to sit before you get it to the butcher.

Not necessarily. If you make pre-arrangements with the local slaughter house, they'll take care of that when it arrives. A large beef's intestines will nearly fill a 30gal bbl., and you wouldn't want to deal with that on your property.

 

[Big Bill]

A large beef's intestines will nearly fill a 30gal bbl., and you wouldn't want to deal with that on your property.

If you let them age properly, you'd have some good bear bait.

 

[BADUNAME37]

Now, if you wanna see REALLY GROSS, go visit a rendering plant, where they process already dead animals, roadkill, and the blood and guts from the slaughterhouses! Ewwwww......

That's funny, I thought all road kill went to the Road Kill Cafe.

 

[tango2echo]

I have dropped dozens with a .22lr in the ear. Then slit the throat.

T2E

 

[Loomis]

My great uncle(dead ten years now, at least) claimed in the old days he killed hogs by hanging them up by the hind feet and sticking an ice pick in the neck vein. The hog would thrash and scream and the more it did, the faster it bled. I never did ask him how he got a live hog hung up there by it's hind feet. But he claimed that was the way it was done back then because they believed a live hog bled out more completely than a dead one did...and they were scared of parasites in the hog's blood so they wanted as much of the blood out of the meat as possible.

Rendering plants are disgusting. THey don't skin or even gut the animal. They don't even wash the debris off the dead animal's hide or fur. It gets ground up whole as is. Then cooked. Bladders and bowels full of urine and feces get ground up along with it.

 

[Sagetown]

My great uncle(dead ten years now, at least) claimed in the old days he killed hogs by hanging them up by the hind feet and sticking an ice pick in the neck vein. .

Yep; you don't cut a hogs throat. You take a long bladed knife (butcher knife), stick it deep towards the belly in the "V" where its neck meets the breast, with the sharp edge to the inside. Then with a swift downstroke on the handle to pivot the blade on the "V" upwards slicing into the arteries , jerk the knife out and get outa the way of the flow.

 

[kbheiner7]

The pros I know all use a .22 mag w/ round nose bullets. The animals I've seen slaughtered this was were absolutely lights out.

 

[HB]

Never slaughtered an animal so large, but I figure use the 30-06, why not so long as it is a safe shot.... The butcher said it works so give it a shot, sorry for the pun Why is this thread so long!

HB

 

[Sagetown]

Never slaughtered an animal so large, but I figure use the 30-06, why not so long as it is a safe shot.... The butcher said it works so give it a shot, sorry for the pun Why is this thread so long!

HB

For starters, in these days, the old technique of processing one's own pork, lamb, and beef, have long been forgotten, and the information may come in handy during a time of economical necessity.

Sage

 

[bobby n.]

rembrant forgot a word...kine
a group of cattle . old fashioned yes just like me...