Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Is butchering a cow much different than a deer?

Wife and I have been butchering our own deer for 22 seasons now... we have neighbors who raise cattle. Thinking about finding some other people interesting in stocking up their freezers with local beef.

Aside from finding someone with a lift to raise the cow up to work on what other road blocks might there be? We use a dedicated refrigerator to age the venison.... would need to find others that had room to age their beef. We maybe have room for a 100 pounds in our current freezer. Might be interested in canning some....

Thoughts?

I think you'd be better off having the neighbor take it to his normal butcher and splitting the meat with a couple other people.

They tend to be bigger

I say go for it. Steaks and roasts are steaks and roasts, right.

I mean they were when I did my first javelina, and elk quarters.

Squirrels and rabbits don't get butchered, but I bet if I wanted, I could get a little tiny ribeye out of one.

Good luck.

The last butcher that I know of closed years ago... health inspectors gave him a long expensive list of upgrade he would need to pass inspection.... he just shut the business down.

I think this story has been been repeated many times in rural America. Very difficult for a small slaughter house / butcher shop to survive.

That's a shame. We have several USDA butchers here locally that take individual beef and pork. We have a standing slot every year for one to do our pig and another that does my cousins beef and lambs that we get some from. Several other butchers as well that are not USDA inspected but are OK. I do my own deer though.

People used to butcher their own cows. Before electricity.
That also meant canning a bunch of meat. Before electricity, or gas.

Still a lot of moose and elk cut up with a handsaw and a knife.

Don't know where you are, but it's good to be able to hang it
for awhile. Refrigerators aren't going to work real well for
beef by the half.

Cows are bigger than deer...

I’ll add this....

Cows tend to be larger than deer

I’ve been butchering my own deer for 30 years( weird to say that out loud) and have done well over 100, probably close to 150. I’ve been raising beef for 12 years and had a particularly nasty steer last year that pushed me too far and caught a 12 gauge slug with his forehead. Had to cut him up myself.

They are really big, hard to manage and the cuts are different. I won’t be doing that again. Heck the hide was even hard to lift once I got it off.

MM

'Cow'?

A steer is bigger than an elk. If you've ever walked up to a dead elk in a steep draw 4 miles from the road and said 'what the hell have I done', remember that a steer is bigger although a lot closer to the road unless you're a complete idiot.

Otherwise, the anatomy is almost identical.

It only takes 12 minutes.

Find someone close by with a big real cold walk-in cooler. Cold meat cuts so much better than hot. You're going to need a good grinder and some willing help. Pick it up with a tractor front end loader while its still kicking and bleed it. Get the hide started off and then pull it off with a tractor or 4WD truck.

beef are just bigger, no chitt Rio7

Yes, cows.

It’s a regional thing, all cattle are called “cows” down here. I once had a buddy from Ohio that bragged he had roped a “cattle”, I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he roped a cow, it didn’t matter if it was a bull or a steer, heifer or a calf, they’re all cows here.

It’s kind of like how the word “coke” is used for any type of soda. Somebody can ask you if you want a coke, if you say yes then they’ll ask what kind. You then tell them you want a Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, etc.

I think it's a great idea besides it's a lot of work to butcher a cow and it doesn't sound like your really setup. I age deer using ice and keeping the water drained off the meat for 15 days and see no reason why beef couldn't be done the same way.

There is no reason that a beef can not be butchered on the ground just like an elk. Every mobile butcher I have ever seen did all the skinning on the ground with the beef's feet pointed at the sky.

It is entirely possible to completely bone out a 1000 lb beef on the ground, if you are young and your back can take the strain of bending over.

Or a battery operated "sawz all" can be used to cut bone. (use a new unpainted blade)

Dad used to drop beef quarters (or elk quarters, or deer halves) into the chest freezer. Then after they were frozen solid, he would cut all the steaks and roasts with a hand saw.

It just depends on how ambitious you feel.

I never knew of calling them anything but cows.
Bulls are bulls
Steers are steers...

But bovines of the domestic variety, are generically, "cows."



Unless you want to go with a Facebook post recently.
"Can we eat milk cows, or what do they do with the old ones?"

I couldn't believe a 60 year old man who grew up around here
would ask that.

And yes, some of the beasts killed are actually cows.
Some, are even heifers. Freemartin, or not.