Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - [Market-farming] Butchering of Our Critters

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Dave Lilligren" <dave AT lilligren.com>
  • To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Butchering of Our Critters
  • Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2003 20:49:44 -0600

Marie:

We do process our own poultry. My wife and I do about 15 birds an hour, but
we plan to double that this year with a new plucker that I plan to build
this spring. We also butcher our egg layers after two laying cycles as
stewing hens. They are very popular. I think you'll be okay with killing
the birds once you start doing more than a few.

When people order halves or split-halves, we send our beeves to a custom
processor. We are debating whether to get a food handler's license in order
to sell cuts (which would be a more profitable route). In which case, we
would need to use either a state-inspected or USDA-inspected facility.

But, we did butcher one older cow this past year ourselves and ground most
of it as hamburger. Because our customers bought the ground beef "on the
hoof" (i.e., a percentage of cow), we didn't need to get it inspected. We
deboned the New York Strips and tenderloins for family consumption. The
taste is out of this world!

We raise mostly a cross between Angus (red and black) and Herefords. We did
raise a couple of Holstein steers, but they don't seem to finish off as well
on grass as a beef breed.

Hope this answers your questions!

Take care,

Dave L.







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page