Please don't laugh at me!

[dewey]

It can take a bit to get used processing your food, but you may also surprise yourself and find that once the dispatching is done, the rest comes fairly easy and gets easier with experience.

I've field dressed many deer & elk and plenty of other wild game, along with virtually countless rabbits and plenty of chickens and turkeys. 2 things for me -- dispatching is never looked forward to, and rabbits are the easiest to dress, by far! Always felt that way and still do after 35 years or so. My days of processing birds are pretty much over if given the choice.

So agree with RG on the breed...having other than family pet raised cutie-pie breeds would be the way to go. I think all buns are adorable (including whites) so I have other pets to set my affections on. The one here and there that might capture your attention can be kept for breeding or sold if it's not what your program needs.

Do you cut up store bought whole chicken or rabbit? If not, that'd be a good place to start, too. When you're ready, you could buy a meat rabbit to process or have the seller process it while you observe. Also, maybe someone can process them for you at first in exchange for meat. You could watch and assist as you felt more comfortable.

I once befriended one of my hogs and couldn't eat the meat. He was processed on schedule and I cooked the meat for the rest of my family. Nobody gave me a hard time. Stuff happens, lol.

 

[rockdoveranch]

I do prefer to buy whole chickens. It is cheaper and I love the meat on the back, and even more, I love the skin. Years ago I had a butcher tell me I cut them up wrong, but I still do it the way my mother did it. Can't remember what the butcher said was wrong, but I think it had to do with the breast bone.

I have never eaten rabbit, but I have seen it at times in the rural grocery stores.

Thanks for all the information!

 

[a7736100]

I have no problem cutting up a dead rabbit. It's killing it that bothers me. I've found shooting it in the back of the head with a pellet rifle the easiest for me. It just drops dead with no fuss unless your shot is a little off.

Wow. Didn't know chickens were good mousers.

 

[terri9630]

Fast broilers are ready at 8 weeks. Slow broilers are ready at about 12 weeks. They are bred to grow faster. The other breeds "egg breeds" take much longer. Broilers are what they sell in the grocery store.


If you have one "cute" little field mouse you have a million and they aren't so cute when they are ripping open bags of feed or you go to fill feeders and find they have mouse poo in them.

 

[PattySh]

Don't name the ones scheduled to be eaten. I find that all white rabbits work for me. We had lops originally but they are just too cute and too friendly. Rabbits are easier to learn on than chicken. They dress far easier. Plucking chickens is messy nasty work. I will do it but much prefer to pluck a turkey, goes so much easier and faster. We process our own pigs and steers and male goats. I am pretty used to it. Some people can't do the killing thing tho, I have a friend who will help clean rabbits after I get the job of dispatching them. The first one is the hardest, but knowing where your food comes from makes it worth it.

 

[20kidsonhill]

Kow that you are caring for the animal as humanly and with as much respect as possibly, and when butchering use the most human way possible.

 

[justin]

If you really want to feel better about killing and butchering your own animals just watch a documentary on the large slaughterhouses and see how badly the meat animals you buy steaks from in the store are treated. I remember seeing a live cow being pushed around with a front end loader and watching its legs break. All my animals are treated like animals until they are ready to be butchered and then killed as humanly as possible. I'm an animal lover and will never enjoy killing but I accept it as a part of life and take comfort knowing that I'm not supporting the company's I saw in that documentary. I try to be as self sufficient as possible and when I can't I support small farms as much as possible. Also don't name them!

 

[rockdoveranch]

If you really want to feel better about killing and butchering your own animals just watch a documentary on the large slaughterhouses and see how badly the meat animals you buy steaks from in the store are treated. I remember seeing a live cow being pushed around with a front end loader and watching its legs break. All my animals are treated like animals until they are ready to be butchered and then killed as humanly as possible. I'm an animal lover and will never enjoy killing but I accept it as a part of life and take comfort knowing that I'm not supporting the company's I saw in that documentary. I try to be as self sufficient as possible and when I can't I support small farms as much as possible. Also don't name them!

I have seen that documentary, or a similar one, and will never ever watch it again as it haunts me. There is a large chicken processing company in our county, I think Pilgrim, that was investigated for abusing the birds before killing them.

I have found a butcher in a small town west of us that has been recommended to me by several people. I AM going to bring our wether to them in about 6 weeks. When I look at him I try to see cuts of meat instead of a cute little ram lamb.

I would eventually like to learn how to kill them myself and do the processing myself, but we will see.

 

[Okie Amazon]

How much will they charge you to process your wether? The place we are going to send "Goatburger" said they charge $75.00 for slaughter, butcher, cut up and wrap/label cuts. I thought that soundedn pretty reasonable.

 

[rockdoveranch]

How much will they charge you to process your wether? The place we are going to send "Goatburger" said they charge $75.00 for slaughter, butcher, cut up and wrap/label cuts. I thought that soundedn pretty reasonable.

I am going out of my mind! EEEEEERRRRRRR! I cannot find my notes on the butcher we are going to use. If I cannot find them over the weekend I will call on Monday and post then.

I do have my notes on the butcher we are not going to use. He charges $65 to "kill them", and then 57cents a pound dressed. Not sure if I am using the right terminology, but that is what I wrote down.