The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: Shropshirelass on February 22, 2014, 08:34:57 pm
-
Amazing modern way of how to process carcasses in a modern Australian set up their processing up-to 100 cattle a hour :o - ok I'm all in favor of small scale family run slaughter houses to but wow talk about efficiency - the 1st 5 are of the cattle process videos & the other is a sheep / goat 1 where they can process I think 940 animals a hour :o - The only think I don't like is their originally a halal slaughter company :-\ But in fairness they seem very good on hygeine & respecting the animals / carcasses - would be nice to see a few similar set ups in the UK. (Not that we don't have good systems though.)
Food Equipment Australia Cattle Slaughtering Equipment - Part 1 Knocking Box to Bleed Rail (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkwnKyUFPOE#)
Food Equipment Australia Cattle Slaughtering Equipment - Part 2 Dressing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1m_X6MhYpA#)
Food Equipment Australia Cattle Slaughter Equipment - Part 3 Dehiding (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlqQvLzmQt0#)
Food Equipment Australia Cattle Slaughtering Equipment - Part 4 Evisceration (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ju9J5nelUg#)
Food Equipment Australia Cattle Slaughter Equipment - Part 5 Carcass Splitting Trimming (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94ZteKmv2qE#)
Food Equipment Australia - Small Stock Slaughtering Beaufort River Meats (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da5RgVBSbVs#)
-
That's really fascinating - thanks for posting. I did have to mute the music though - just a little too chirpy for such a macabre subject.
If I had my way, all meat eaters would have to watch this sort of thing at least once!
-
I wouldn't make people watch it who didn't wan't to but I think a lot of people go into farming / smallholding & don't realize what slaughter entails & it is hard to watch & I think your in the wrong job if you don't have some kind of hesitation or conscience when it comes to it. But it's a large part of what the industry revolves around & has done for thousands of years. It's not a nice process but when done properly like this it I believe it causes as little stress as possible & produces a good product quickly & efficiently & in turn I'm guessing lowers slaughtering costs x
-
I see what you mean. My comment was really directed towards various friends of mine who "can't imagine anything more barbaric" than us raising our own turkeys and then killing them and plucking them for Christmas, yet happily eat intensively farmed chicken and pork as long as it comes to them on a polystyrene plate and wrapped in cling film.
-
Ah ok I always try to buy meat from the local butchers or eat our own - but some things are unavoidable. To be honest I don't think I could stick going into a abattoir & watching it done, but have seen our geese done before & it actually put my mind at ease x
-
hmm, i turned the sound off too! got to admit, I am glad I have my lambs home slaughtered, the thought of sending them to market or to a slaughter house fills me with horror. Calf number 1 due next month and if a bull calf, will be home slaughtered too when ready. I am just a big softy!
-
That's interesting - trish how do you get around rules & regulations for doing home slaughtering? As I though pigs, sheep & cattle all had to be vet checked prior to slaughter & stunned & rendered unconscious before slaughter? Except for halal & kosher meat.
Obviously home slaughter if possible for us to do would be kinder but when your sending approx 20-50 lambs or 3-15 beef cattle off at a time you can't rear them all just for yourselves & family & therefore have to be done through the normal channels at a good local small abattoir 20 mins down the road.
Also I can understand home slaughter being easier with sheep & pigs & no offence but how do you plan to do a cow on site safely? unless it's a dexter & then lift it up to drain the blood & gut it? Because I can only imagine using a winch of some kind & then there's the room to hang & carve & joint the beast. x
-
I only breed enough lambs for my family to eat and for replacements. Only legal to home slaughter if they are for you own consumption. Lambs are shot in the head and bled. I am now getting to the point of producing more lambs than we can eat so this autumn will be my first when i have to take some lambs to the abattoir, not looking forward to it.
Regarding cattle, they are stunned and bled on site, tractor and loader used to hang them, then they go in our neighbours cold store for hanging for however long we want before they are butchered. I am undecided at the moment as whether to sell calves later as stores or to keep them and sell for finishing or to finish myself and either sell or home slaughter. Serious lack of good beef around here for sale which is why i would like some of my own.
I am of the opinion that the meat from my home slaughtered lambs is so good because they dont go through the stress of transport and then going through an abattoir system. They come into one of my stable over night which they are used to, have 12 hours + of no food and on a straw bed, then i take a lamb out one at a time for my slaughter man to shoot and bleed. none of them have a clue whats going on and they are all chilled and relaxed.
And as far as halal and kosher meat is concerned - there is a law in this country that ALL ANIMALS SHOULD BE RENDERED UNCONCIOUS BEFORE BLEEDING how is it that religion can overide a law which is in place for the welfare of animals???????????????????
-
as far as im aware inviting someone else to shoot your stock on your land is illegal even for personal consumption, you have to shoot it etc yourself.
i may be wrong and am happy to be corrected...
-
That's fair enough & each to their own - & I wouldn't know about home slaughter as we send all of ours to the local abattoirs for the above reasons - slaughter is not a nice thing but a necessary thing in the farming & smallholding world. I am not one for "Pet cows & sheep ect" to me they are livestock bred for meat & produce & yes while they are alive we rear them with care & look after them as best we can & you do become attached to your livestock esp breeding stock, but both culling & slaughtering them when necessary has to be done & by doing your research & using small local abattoirs & support them you will get a quality product back, knowing your animals were treated with respect.
Where we take ours like I say is 20 mins away if that, they only process approx 200 sheep & the same number of pigs in a day or about 50-80 cattle & the animals are treated with care & you often have to book well in advance as they are soo well known for soo many good reasons.
We do have a local halal sheep & goat abattoir by us that not many locals use because of them being halal & I found out off a lorry driver who delivers there that they process on average 25,000 sheep a week & pretty much don't close down even on public holidays. I personally don't agree with halal or kosher slaughter & if they want that sort of meat feel they should import it. So will not send our stock there even though it is closer.
However the large abattoir in the videos if it was none halal & we sent large numbers of livestock there I wouldn't have a problem sending them there as it looked like a clean, tidy environment & they were respectful of the animals.
-
as far as im aware inviting someone else to shoot your stock on your land is illegal even for personal consumption, you have to shoot it etc yourself.
i may be wrong and am happy to be corrected...
He is a licenced slaughterman and they are shot with a humane pistol. Its not some lunatic with a 12 bore!! It is legal as I checked with my local defra office. He is in doubt as to how long this will stay legal, but as long as it is i will carry on using him.
-
as far as im aware inviting someone else to shoot your stock on your land is illegal even for personal consumption, you have to shoot it etc yourself.
i may be wrong and am happy to be corrected...
He is a licenced slaughterman and they are shot with a humane pistol. Its not some lunatic with a 12 bore!! It is legal as I checked with my local defra office. He is in doubt as to how long this will stay legal, but as long as it is i will carry on using him.
Hmmm, I have just googled the legalities of home slaughter!! Think my wee defra lady was telling porkies and you could be right bloomer!! Looks like i will be heading to my local abattoir in September or learning a new skill of slaughter and butchery rather quickly!! HOW can a defra employee give such incorrect information??
-
cant help with that one, i just have a good memory and the subject has come up on here many times before, many people would like home slaughter but can't face doing it themselves. but the rules don't allow for an itinerant slaughter man any more!!!
-
Grateful for your comment bloomer!! I could cope with the shooting, but its quite a skill to bleed, skin, gut and butcher a lamb!! I wonder if you can shoot the animal yourself, then get an itinerant (sounds a bit degrading) slaughter man to do the rest!! :innocent:
Thanks for putting me in the picture (and no thanks to my defra lady)!!!
-
nope that's still not allowed, your legal choices are abattoir and their cut/other butchers (this can be sold on with a few extra conditions met) or abattoir returns to you/you butcher for personal (immediate family) use only, or you do it all yourself kill/cut for immediate family only...
the exception for self kill is really for the remote places where they cant get to an abattoir...
-
yeh had a feeling you would say that!! Abattoir it is then. Actually will look into learning the skill myself, but realistically i dont know if i could physically do the skinning and gutting etc,. Have shot sheep of my own in an emergency for welfare reasons, only because i am confident with a gun as i game shoot. There is however a huge difference between putting an animal out of its misery with a 4.10 and killing, bleeding, gutting etc a load of healthy lambs.
thank you bloomer, very helpful comments.
-
For goodness sake just don't and say you did! Let them do it but say you did it under their supervision!
-
It's all detailed in this document;
http://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/guidancenotes/meatregsguid/home-slaughter-livestock/livestockguidance/home-killguide.pdf (http://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/guidancenotes/meatregsguid/home-slaughter-livestock/livestockguidance/home-killguide.pdf)
-
thank you bookmarked that link for next time it come up :-)
-
:thumbsup:
-
Trish there's a perfectly logical reason as to why you've had problems with DEFRA - It's simply because it's DEFRA & they are often useless & cause more problems than help like most government agencies x
-
Trish there's a perfectly logical reason as to why you've had problems with DEFRA - It's simply because it's DEFRA & they are often useless & cause more problems than help like most government agencies x
well I can only thank the dopey lady at DEFRA as it has meant I have been home slaughtering for the last 10 years oblivious to the correct legislation!! :innocent: