The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: shygirl on August 25, 2015, 02:10:25 pm
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Does anyone know if the weight on the abattoir invoice is the live or dead weight? there is only one weight.
thanks
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Most likely deadweight. But you can apply probability to it... our butcher likes his bullocks no more than 350kgs dw; my 29-month-old Jersey heifer was 192kgs dw. Any animal you've sent for butchering is likely to weigh a heck of a lot more than those figures on their feet.
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300kg for 29 mth Shetland bullock.
butcher is wanting to use abattoir weights to price his butchering. so important :innocent:
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Sure to be deadweight :thumbsup:
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ta.
what are you all paying for butchery per kilo.
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Mine doesn't charge that way, sorry.
Is he charging on deadweight or on butchered meat? I got about 116kgs butchered meat back from the 192kgs dw Jersey heifer.
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we paid £1.20 a kilo which adds up to a considerable sum but it was done very nicely. if it wasnt summer and if I wasn't working fulltime id have done it myself though have only butchered pigs before. next time il do it though now I know what its supposed to look like.
sirloin all round for tea :yum: :yum: helps me forget about the hole n the bank balance a wee bit.
thanks sally
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DIY butchery on a beef carcass will be very large job.
We've DIYed lambs and half pigs for our own consumption - we bought a butchers saw (though you could use a hacksaw and throw away the blade) and have a range of knives that Steve keeps very sharp. Even so it took hours and every surface in the kitchen was covered in piles of butchered meat.
But I don't think we'd try doing beef - far too heavy for a start and it will be a huge amount of meat that needs mincing. Then there's the question of disposal of the bones, unless you get the abattoir to bone it out first.
Also, that's an awful load of vac-packing to do for a domestic machine. I think vac-packing is a good idea for beef - it will keep much better in the freezer if it's vac-packed.
Our butcher charges around £375 - we get labelled and weighed meat, vac-packed & ready for the freezer. He includes sausage making in that price. It is expensive, but he does a very good job, the packs are sized right for us. I'd rather pay for that service than have the hassle of doing the butchery ourselves.
Be interested to hear how you get on if you decide to DIY.
Sue
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Our boys were about 350kg dw last year, the bull heavier than the steer. Our butcher charges per kg deadweight and extra for processing sausages, burgers. Last year beef was £1/kg but I don't have thsi year's prices yet. That's vacpacked with our own labels.
Even a wee Shetland would take some butchering :)
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wev another year before we slaughter again, and then its only one beast.
it did cost over a £1000 to transport, slaughter and butcher 2 bullocks.
however the butcher did a fantastic job with cutting, vacuum packing and labelling with prices, cut and weight. and he hung them 2 weeks plus. very tender meat so we are very happy.
im used to butchering pigs but obviously a bullock is a lot bigger. it did cost us £650 for butchery though as he charged over £100 to make tons of sausages, which I don't remember asking for but maybe OH did without realising the cost implications. (argh as we have a sausage maker here). if I do butcher the next one, for home use only, I definitely will look at getting a refrigerated container so we can hang them at home and cut them at my own pace. I learnt the hard way by butchering a pig mid-summer at home - they go off quick and it takes ages. I have butchery tools already.
the meat is packaged in selling standard vacuum packs though we hadn't looked to sell any so its wasted on us a bit. but maybe we should sell some to recoup some money. hard decision as wev had an empty freezer for 2 yrs, and big family of 7 to feed and have waited 5 yrs to get some beef!! its very precious to us!!
the butcher did a fantastic job but id rather do it myself and have £650 in the bank. maybe?
we had 500kg (?) of boneless meat, which the butcher valued at £3500 if we sold it at his prices. interesting to know. I must have spent more than £3500 on the cattle since day 1 though, with livestock price and feed. just interesting to know.
he commented that they were fat so not sure how I can trim them back if they are out all year round??? and only fed in winter. however the fat will be used for soaps and dog feed so no problem to me.
for anyone who needs info - one of our bullocks was over-age as I couldn't get time off work this year to send him away on time. the abattoir charged £140 to be-bone him and the butcher charged 50p per kilo to butcher the boned carcuss.
he came from the abattoir in 4 vacuum-packed bags so it would have been easy for us to cut. and cheaper to diy even if I had took a week off work. I just couldn't have hung it.
also for anyone wondering - a bullock does fit in a chest freezer!
interesting though as its our first cattle to slaughter. next time il be organised to take the skins aswell - she says ::) ::) ::) thanks for your help xx
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You shoudl make this into an article for the SCBA newsletter if you have a minute, shygirl. Alan's always keen to document folks experiences with beef.