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.

i learned a long time ago that butchering a pig is a lot different than a deer when my buddy found a fresh roadkill hog. what an ordeal. got 'er done but it wasn't supermarket fare.

When I was growing up we butchered our own cows and pigs. We also butchered our deer and elk. Carcasses are carcasses. You can pretty much cut them all the same. The only one that is a little different is bison because they have that hump which you can use to cut what is called a hump roast out of while still getting the backstraps as well. None of the others have the hump.

I hadn't thought of it quite that way but pretty sure you are right.

2ndwind;
Good evening to you sir, I hope the day was a good one for you and this finds you folks well.

A few years back when we didn't get a deer the previous fall, I called up my rancher buddy who I helped with branding and as it turned out he was killing a steer and had a front quarter available. Like you, we've been processing our own game as well as helping friends and family do theirs here since '89 so we're set up with tables, cutting boards, knives, paper and tape dispensers and a fridge.

The way it turned out for us was that it had been hanging in one piece for 2 weeks already, so the aging part was done.

It took two of us to pop the front into the back seat of the pickup and when we got it home, we broke it down so the parts would fit into our fridge.

If memory serves, we did it in a couple evenings, not too, too bad at all.

We've done about 3 moose here, when I did my bull in September I ended up doing a marathon session on my own - wife and family were out of town as I recall - but had most of it cleaned up and in the freezer in 12 or 14 hours. A long day but certainly doable.

If you could get your hands on something like an 18 month steer that'd be my preference for table fare and size to handle, but as others have already said, other than size and the amount of fat, it's not that different than a big deer.

Hopefully that made some sense and was useful to you sir. Good luck with the meat cutting and stay well.

Dwayne

Deer are smaller than cows.

This.
That’s a lot of meat to cool down before butchering.

Are we talkin' angus or hereford here boys?


Cow has big feet, heavy.

Ask him for a 400lb calf.

I would reckon about 1400 lbs different.....

Thanks Dwayne, years ago an old farmer that had been letting me hunt his land told me one his cows had crossed over some kind of line with him and he just wanted it gone.... if I wanted to shoot it I could have it..... I thanked him kindly but it seemed like a bigger project than I was up for.... told him I would pass the word around to see if anyone wanted to take him up on his offer.... I can't remember what the offending cow had been doing. It must have been something big though because this guy was very easy going in general...

My wife and I only put 4 deer in the freezer this year because older age and gimpy body parts have resulted in us not shooting anything that doesn't have a high probability of falling over where we can at least get a rope from the truck tied to it....

My friend that taught Jayne and I how to butcher deer years ago used to have a contest for the best "trophy shot" A perfect score would have been shooting a deer on a steep hill side above where a truck was parked so that the deer just rolled down the hill and landed in the back of the truck.... never achieved that goal but we had fun showing off easy locations to retrieve a deer from. Last season I shot a 4 point that ended up on a forest road. There was a fairly steep bank I was able to back the truck up to and with the tail gate down it was dead even with the road way.... no lifting up involved... I was so proud...

I’ve got the walkin cooler, I’ve got a wimpy 800 winch in the ceiling of the cooler.

I’ve done a 100+ plus deer, I’ve got a front end loader, I’ve got grinders, slicers, stainless prep tables, triple since setup


*IF* I was going to attempt this, it would be with a smaller carcass or I’d wack the fugger up with a demolition blade in a sawzall. And hang it in quarters.

Then after the stress of getting it cooled off, I could let it hang for several days in the work on it a little at a time, a really focus on what I want.

I doubt I’d get any help, my walk in is tight, only 7x8 ft. I could get family to help wrap and pack but it would be a mostly one-man job.

That somewhat quells my ambition for such an endeavor.

I still think I’m able to pull it off, but I’d sure hate to be in a rush with some garage floor hatchet job at room temp.

I have a moose or elk alternating every 2nd year plus a couple of deer. Breaking down a large elk or moose would be similar to a yearling steer. The parts are all the same and if you are happy with the processing you do on a deer you would be fine on a larger animal. Larger means more ability to do things with ribs, flank etc. Generally for an elk or moose it takes me 3 days to cut, grind, get everything wrapped and put away.

Biggest I have handled is a bison weighed in at just under 1100 lbs fully dressed out no hide sitting in a cooler after a hunt in South Dakota. I got them to cut it into 9 pieces so it would fit in the truck to bring home. We aged in the garage for 21 days and then it took a week to process. So as one other person said bigger means longer processing time.

I like having a bigger animal broken down into more pieces as it is easier to handle by myself and I can take my time.

You will want a good grinder for burger as there is a bit of that on a larger animal.

If you know someone in the area that used to be a butcher that you could bring in for a day that would help out quite a bit.

When we sold feeder calves(back in Feb), it was icy and while sorting/loading a nice big steer calf slipped and bumped his eye.

Absolutely nothing wrong with him but he had a helluva puffy eye so we held him back.

Why let the sales ring steal him?

He is grade A healthy.

Anyway we have him(800lb yearling) and 3-4 two year old steers that will go anywhere from 800-1000lbs. Late calves, couple frozen ears, oddballs that didn't go to town.

They aren't fatty fat..

Maybe a touch lean?



And we've been buying beef for the last 4-5 months!


Half dozen lunker open 1500lb 3 year old cows. Good god that would be fine burger but they are gonna get bred back.

A cow fetus is smaller than a deer.

Sam what is purchased and processed at a smaller rural butcher shop going for down there? I was just quoted $4.40 per lb for a hanging 600 to 800 lb animal -- custom cut and wrapped.

It's always nice to have a bandsaw and good meat grinder, when butchering a steer. A couple large tables, with overhead lifting device are a must. Butchering was a yearly event growing up, from chicken, hogs, beef and goats! Take your time its not rocket science, besides you might discover a new cut of steak!

Never done beef but have done lots of elk all by myself. Used to be a lot easier, didn't hurt as bad but can still do it. Been lucky have had to do it. lots of times. I have all the stuff to do it. Don't use a saw much as I don't like bone meal in my meat, A good grinder is a must. Also make all my own sausage. We eat well. Freezer is full and give lots to the kids.

Best way I can put it is you cut up a deer and break down a cow. I wouldn't tackle it unless I was set up for it and had plenty of time and ambition to work it over.

Hang, cut, wrap and freeze around here is about $400 per cow, IIRC. 20 years ago, that was a lot of money....Today, I'm writing the check..

For not much money 2 guys come out with a reefer truck, complete with davit and winch, pop ‘em in the head, gut, skin, and quarter them. Then they drive the carcass to any butcher in the area you chose.

A couple 1400 pound steers takes them about 45 minutes from getting out of the truck to handing them cash as they drive off. Cost $150 or so.

Butcher will age 20 days and cut and wrap for $.60 a pound.

Could I? Sure. Probably be ugly, but we’d get it done.
Would I? Fugg no. Not when the meat wagon is a phone call away!

The biggest difference is that deer bones taint the meat when they're cut.

Some troglodytes will argue otherwise.

But they're troglodytes.

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...

Growing up on the farm, once a year we would butcher a cow. We would hoist the dead cow up with the loader on the tractor. We would skin and quarter the cow. My mom would take the quarters to the butcher shop and ask for a few roasts and have the remainder ground up into hamburger.

In later years, we had a friend open up a butcher shop. My parents would have him come to the farm with his special truck. In less than 30 minutes, he would skin, quarter the cow and leave only the stomach contents on the ground. I was amazed at what a professional could do.

Just larger. A helper to wrap seems to reduce work time by 2/3rds.

I would just throw all that chit in the same holler with all the wash machines and curtis Mathis TV sets here on our property

Doesn’t everyone on this forum have a few dozen acres?


Seems everyone has a 5000 sq log cabin and a private range.

😃

Six us did it in grad school. We had all hunted and processed deer. Some had killed and processed elk. We had a rolling aframe with a chain hoist. Bought a steer from a Lubbock feed lot in Jan, killed and cleaned it. Hung the quarters in elk quarter bags for 2 weeks in a warehouse. We then processed the meat as we would deer/elk.

I would do it again if I had a cool somewhere to hang the meat to age.

This video is long but interesting. Someone mentioned the equipment needed to properly do this. I couldn't see me ever taking on something like this. I took my deer to a processor because it is just too warm here during deer season to properly cool a deer.

We have a 40' Connex set up with hanging bars, lights, and fans. It is not refrigerated though it does stay cool. Hang moose for up to a month, caribou for two weeks or so.

This is an interesting step by step butchering video. I couldn't see me even thinking about this.

I butlchered my first deer ar age 16. Previous experience had been cottontails. I figured "how much different can it be?" It wasn't, antomically.

Some disassembly required....

Never butchered a cow, but I have done - the majority by myself, over 20 moose, and they aren't in a pasture with a tractor nearby.

Sam- the best beef I have ever eaten was a steer of my BIL's that had frozen his feet (we thought), and hobbled around the corral with curled up toes, from feed bunker to water tank only. As you said - why let the sales ring steal it? Farmers gotta eat too.

I dont know about you guys but around here the slaughterhouses and butchers are booked solid. Bunch of guys at work cant get animals butchered. Especially pigs I guess. One guy said his normal butcher told him hes booked through the end of the year..

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