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

It's altogether different. Because of the size the cuts come out differently. Dad grew up in his father's meat market and I had him talk me through doing a big doe like a beef. splitting, quartering, cutting bones by hand. And what would be a nice roast for the family on a beef would be for two or three on a deer he said the cuts were more like how they would do a calf. So now all deer get boned. Much easier, cuts come out more the way you want, and you don't waste space with bones. Like Dad said quoting a popular song of his day, "Save the bones for Henry Jones 'cuz Henry don't eat no meat."

BTW, looking at the difference between the market price and the store price fantasized about going into the custom butchering business with cousins retired from Smithfield nee Morrerlls. Then came to my senses, way too much work for old farts. Bet the locker plants are keeping busy though.

Butcher a COW? AKA canner and cutter WOOF! Buy some of that designer dog food aimed at yuppie types.

Butchering a fat beef is WAY easier than a deer.

We have done as many as 8 bull moose in one steady run, about 6 quarters a day. We usually have a caribou or several in there, too and they get done in rotation like the rest. We have multiple grinders set up to feed from first grind straight into the second. Multiple chamber type vacuum sealers and the room to run it all. In the field we have buggies with gin poles and serious winches. Cutting it hanging or on a table is the only acceptable way to go. We have also done some bison and they were harder because they almost always freeze before being fully processed due to the time of year.

OP ..... The muscle groups in beef are exactly the same as in deer. Once you get it broke down into the smaller pcs it's a cakewalk.


This is good advice, except one can do without the bandsaw and just fillet the whole animal. If you're only doing a bit each year it's not that much extra work. Taking out the bone really reduces the amount going into the freezer. I just use a 24" meat saw and a few knives. One of those white nylon butcher block boards is a good thing. I put mine on the tailgate of the truck and work in the garage. Needs to be the right height or you put your back out bending over the work. Overhead chain hoist helps with the lifting. I have a 1hp grinder.

Where to start? Video was for half a cow. It was boned out, instead of processed. The man had knife skills but the man that I learned to butcher from would have had me digging them bones out of the barrel and finish getting the meat off of them. He also would have thrown a fit the first time that I stuck a knife in a large piece of meat, using it for a knife holder. Owner, His wife, and me, would cut up, grind burger, She mostly wrapped and answered the phone, 4 beef a day, and then go out to farms and kill 4 more. Those, we would kill, skin out the head, and legs, and cut them off, then gut and load the beef. We got to where it would take less than 15 minutes from the shot, to driving off. He did most of this, but we also cold skinned (carcass looked better to the customer) and split the beef between processing other animals. Also took in deer during season and killed hogs on Saturdays. That beef He had laying on the table still had a lot of work trimming and cutting and wrapping before it would be called processed. miles

Skin it. Dig a big pit. Roast it in the pit. Filet off the cuts you want. Already cooked! Invite some friends over for a big dinner. Vac seal and freeze the leftovers.

You would need a winch set up to handle one.

Over the past 62 years, I have done all types of construction work. Comfortable framing, roofing, electrical, plumbing. However, have never done flooring. Every time I have needed flooring, I have hired it done. And watched in amazement as the "pro" did the job far faster and neater than I ever could have. Money well spent.

Same with processing animals. Have done squirrels, rabbits, ducks, turkeys, and several dozen deer. However, have never butchered a cow. And do not intend to. Do I have the wherewithal to do so? Yes. However, like flooring above, I would consider it money well spent to have a "pro" come in and do it quickly and cleanly.

Butchering Beef and cutting meat is not a religious experience and it is not rocket science!
What it is —is real hard work—messy—dirty—slippery—smelly—real hard work.
That eliminates 90% of people even attempting it. Out of the remaining 10% —90% of them will only do one.
Then there’s guys like me and Miles who laugh at these threads.

No different than a moose and yes moose are technically deer. Growing up we put a couple hogs and a steer in the freezers every fall. Same process as butchering deer - or anything else. We would walk the steer up to our "butchering tree" which had a sturdy horizontal limb with a chain and multiple pulley tackle in place. Give him some grain to keep him where you want then a bullet to the brain, cut the throat and gambrel through the hocks. Hoist him off the ground head down and let him drain out. Now the work starts. We used a 55 gallon barrel to catch the HEAVY guts so we could move them away. Save the heart and liver of course. Take the head and feet off. Then skin and quarter. Carry the quarters inside to the dining room table that has been prepped with a sheet of plywood covered in clean washed plastic stapled to it. Debone and freezer wrap. Grind everything that doesn't look like steak or roast..... Buy lots of zip lock freezer bags before you want them.....

Having done it with my father when younger a good band saw is your best friend.
We always had one cutting two wrapping, worked out fine.
Making sure the beef is finish fed properly makes all the difference.

Osky

Meat will freezer burn in zip lock bags if not 1st wrapped in plastic wrap. We use plastic wrap to wrap individual cuts and put as many in a 1 gal ziplock as we can get in. Each time you take one out, me sure to squeeze out as much air as possible. They'll keep for 2 years or more that way. The best and easiest way I've found to remove air from a plastic bag is with a soda straw. Suck it out as you zip the bag shut.

On a related note, if you need to freeze a large odd shaped piece of meat like a turkey or goose, those heavy trash compactor bags work great. They're kind of expensive for this job but you don't use all that many of them. Again, removing as much air as possible is the best but almost impossible with large stuff.

Growing up we raised and butchered calves, dairy close by would charge 5 bucks or free sometimes for just dropped males, we had to get them before they sucked on mama and bottle feed, we would usually get 7 at a time, at 10 to 12 months sell 6 at the auction and butcher 1. Long time ago but I don't remember them being bigger than some of the biggest bull elk I've butchered, probably because they were younger than most butchered steers. I was about 15 the last time we did a full beef, dad and mom divorced, my brother and I picked up 4 calves from the auction, the dairy was gone, and they ended up having the scours, I remember my brother holding the head of the last calf alive and crying trying to save it but it died. I've butchered half a beef and a ton of elk deer since... it's just a time equation.

Kent

Sure, have at it.

Personally, I wouldn't try it without a walk-in cooler to hang it in, a good grinder and a good electric saw.
You'll want to kill it right where you can get it on a gambrel and get it lifted off the ground. Cut into quarters, it shouldn't be too hard to get to and hang in the cooler.

Whatever the final thought here is, having the local butcher shop do it in my neck of the woods is OUT. Every one that folks have checked on are booked up. Best case was one that was booked till late August, worst case was booked till deer season.

Folks need to realize they may be needing to deal with as much as 500# of bone in meat. Few have the freezer capacity. We figure we'd need at least one pardner for a whole beef,

Anybody tried to buy a freezer lately? The local Lowes are out, & have been for weeks.

Hand saws are old school. I use a cordless sawzall.

Deer and elk are very clean as compared to a cow, skining a cow can be a sh~tty job .

One other thing that hasn't been mentioned is getting rid of all the waste. Between the guts, hide, head, bones, and extra tallow, there is a lot that needs to be disposed of. Not going to make anyone happy if you just throw it in a dumpster.


Jerry

One advantage of living in the sticks. Coyotes and black headed buzzards will take care of the scrap...

I was never very good at it. Once the hide is off I could never find the dotted lines to go by...