Bleeding Out

punk-a-doodle

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My guess is I'm only going to be able to stomach chickens for meat animals, but in case I ever work up to larger animals like cows...the bleeding out information I'm reading is confusing and conflicting. Some say you have to bleed an animal out while the heart is still beating or soon after. Others say that in animals such as hunted deer, you can't get to them quick enough to bleed them out, so you 'bleed out' the meat by soaking it. So...could you bleed out the meat of a processed cow by soaking it? If so, why isn't this done very often if at all? It just seems like it'd be a method that would be less bloody to watch, which I would prefer personally.

And I really can't find solid information on why you bleed out an animal. Some say taste, some say pathogens/contamination, some say color of the meat... :hu

Help a clueless person out here? :)
 

20kidsonhill

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The last deer we butchered, we soaked for a couple of days in salt water to draw out some of the blood in the meat. But my sister never soaks hers, she doesn't mind the blood in the meat, when she cooks it.

It really is a matter of personal preferrance.

Some cultures prefer to bleed out the animal. I had a gentlemen that would come to the farm and butcher a goat, and he kill the goat in a manner that would bleed the goat out, If it was us butchering the goat we wouldn't have bothered doing it that way. So our goat meat would have more blood in it.

good luck on your research, I am no expert.

There is someone on here that was giving advice about butchering, but off the top of my head I can't remember who that was.
 

Back to Nature

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I thought you just hang deer by the back legs to drain out the blood.
 

Straw Hat Kikos

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The last deer we butchered, we soaked for a couple of days in salt water to draw out some of the blood in the meat. But my sister never soaks hers, she doesn't mind the blood in the meat, when she cooks it.
We do both. Used to soak it in salt water but now just leave it in ice. Soaking it can mess the meat up and ruin flavor so lately we just throw it in ice.
 

goodolboy

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Over the years I've shot alot of deer. Only one this year, that's all my DW said we had room for. four last year, and six the year before. I always try to get them hung as soon as I can. Then I debone it and put the meat in ice water over night, grind it up the next day(w/some bacon for fat), and put it in the freezer. Seems to work great for us.

Done sheep the same way.
 

WhiteMountainsRanch

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I've never done anything bigger than a rabbit, but for poultry and rabbits we bleed them out after they are "dead" (no heart beat), some bleed out more than others, but I have never noticed a taste or texture difference in ones that have a lot of blood left in them. :idunno By the time you clean out the innards, rest them in the fridge and then cook them, there probably isn't much blood left anyway.
 

SuburbanFarmChic

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You can also let it "bleed out" on your counter as it defrosts. Stick it in a colander in a pan or on a cookie sheet. As it defrosts the blood will drain out. Since we aren't always processing during cold times of the year, I rarely have a chance to actually let something hang.
 

porkchop48

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When we butcher ( we do cows, pigs, deer etc) - They are shot in the head and then their throats slit.

after that they are hung up and gutted and skinned ( depending on which you are doing). Deer obviosuly are field dressed before getting here and then hung and skinned at the house.

Cows - Shot and the neck / jugular slitting. They are then partially skinned as much as possible while on the ground blocks. Then hung and gutted.

PIgs - Shot in the head and throats slit ( jugular) then partially skinned on the ground blocks and the hung to gut.

Deer are hung in the walk in for atleast a week. No soaking needed.

Cows are hung for 14-21 days in the walk in. No meat soaking.

PIgs are hung for 48 hours to one week. No soaking needed.



Just how we do it here.
 
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