Butchering a cow (warning, graphic pics)

My 8 year old was upset I did not take him with me. When I got home, he asked why I left him. He came with me when we went to a ranch and rounded up 250 calves and tagged, branded/banded/injected/cut them. Though, he just watched from outside the corral. Things were very rowdy, with 8 or more cowboys roping, and dragging out calves, and about 25 people running around tagging, it was not quite little kid safe.
 
Been doing this kind of stuff for years, so no surprises. Usually just one steer at a time, but one night after some cows got out on the highway, a friend and I processed five steers. I do like the use of a recip saw for splitting: for years before these became common, everyone I knew used chainsaws. Cleaning up the chainsaw before, and after, took more time than actually dropping/skinning/quartering/hanging.

Jobs like this are a big factor in my selection of pocketknives. I want the handle to be big enough to hold easily even when my hands are greasy, have the blade be a decent length and hold a good edge, and still be able to carry it EDC without looking like a Rambo wannabe. (For processing from hanging sides of beef to packaging, it is all fixed blades.) As Farmkid wrote, small stuff--chickens, turkeys, geese, and small game--is almost always just pocketknife work.

It is really a good way to test blades, sharpening angles, etc. One afternoon I did five pigs by myself: drop/gut/skin (for a barbecue). I tried out several Imperial barlows, and was really impressed by the edgeholding on that grit-covered skin. I did steepen my angle a bit on the Imperials and similar knives after that, from an included 20 degree angle to 25 degrees.

I once even used a peanut to skin a steer. It took too long, had to be sharpened a couple times, and left my hand cramped for days, but it did the job. (Yes, there was a wager involved.)

Day in, day out, my preferred knives for this are a good trapper and a good sodbuster. Then again, those are my current EDCs. My Schrade trapper has been around forever, but after killing my favorite sodbuster (Boker Plus Rangebuster) a while back, I've been carrying a '70s vintage Case 2138. The Case doesn't hold an edge as well, but it will still skin a steer with no more than some steeling when I stop for a bit.
 
I had three modern outdoor style knives. (only the small black handled one got used for a few minutes to get into a hard to reach spot).

The Hudson Bay (by condor)got used most of the time, and a filet knife that I did not use.

Also in my pockets and bag were a #23 large two blade pioneer by GEC, with clip and spey blade. A queen Grandad Barlow with clip point, two opinels (#10 and #8), and an AG Russel large sodbuster, and a custom J. Oeser large gunstock (pictured), None of the folders got used, but I would have liked to try them out.
 
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That's the way - a fork lift ! Especially if you can get it into the woods. The Sawzall is a great idea too and you can us e a cordless one in the woods.More and more hunters are using them.
 
I don't see any gore, I see fist quality groceries. I can't even begin to recall the number of animals I have processed, both livestock and wild game. I have not done livestock in several years but routinely process close to 20 deer a season. I just finished skinning and de-boning a deer with a bone handled trapper minutes ago. I process mine and my sons as well as some for other guys that I work with or hunt with and even some of the customers from where I work as a mechanic. I think a person should at least have and understanding of where our food and leather goods came from. Meat don't grow I clean cellophane wrapping. Meat came packaged in the skin a live critter grew. Respect for the animals and what it takes to get it to the table have been lost by many and perverted by some extreme groups. Thanks for showing there is still some balance in the world.

Chris
 
Folks, this needs to be about using knives, not pontificating about the sources of groceries.

If you do your own processing, talk about what Traditional Knives you use. If you use a chain saw or a reciprocating saw, that needs to be commented upon elsewhere.
 
Great thread....we grew up butchering animals from an early age,I remember my uncle killing three sheep one day,and my job was to take the knife from him and give it back.He arched its neck backwards,cut its throat with a skinning knife ,passed me the knife then snapped its neck.He did this three times (Merinos) and then we skinned and gralloched them.Normal farm life in New Zealand when i was young, and the next time we did this it was my turn..(with uncles help) of course.
Butchering is hard work,butchering in the field is VERY! hard work..Heres a traditional butchers knife or two from a very old butcher friend...........................FES



And Splitters.


 
Nice that you got introdused to this.
This is one of the natural ways to get in touch with how food should be made. Nothing feels better to me about butchering than to have nown that the animal had a good life and a respectful death.
I started to look and help a little at age around 4-5 years old and little by little I learned what was nessisarry. In my parents little farm we butchered 2-4 stears a year and some pigs. Also some hens.
Nowadays the farming life is a memory in my homevillage Digerberget and the wast majority of my meat is from moose. We then just gut it in the forest and skin it, and parture it in our butchery. I also by 2 cheep and half a pig from my oncle but he then do the slaughter. I have good equipment in my garage for the partation. I hope you also get to take part in that part of the food process, very intresting to know how the different parts like fillet or beef, entrecote or hegh reef is found and cut out of the carcass.
I use around 15 cm long butcherknifes from frost, geisler and victorinox for the work, but gut and skinn with eather a mora 2000 or a brusletto.


For small game and fish i prefere theese or even slipjoints.

Bosse
 
December 2006, 2 1/2 year old bison cow. They are not large, unlike the herd bulls, which are enormous. This one is to EAT.



 
Did this, same, had a front end loader, too. Brusett, Montana four years ago on a bull. A lady* led the charge with a DeWalt battery reciprocating saw:) What rifle is that?

*she had an old .38 snubnose on her belt, all the bluing was worn off. One of us asked her why she carried it and she replied, "in case wunna you a-holes breaks an ankle".
 
gr8dismal said:
"in case wunna you a-holes breaks an ankle".
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I approve. I have hunted Brusett/Alzada, etc. for pronghorn--good memories. Grew up a little north of there.
Edit: "Didn't actually grow up, but came of age."
 
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Bigfattyt said:
I had three modern outdoor style knives. (only the small black handled one got used for a few minutes to get into a hard to reach spot).

The Hudson Bay (by condor)got used most of the time, and a filet knife that I did not use.

Also in my pockets and bag were a #23 large two blade pioneer by GEC, with clip and spey blade. A queen Grandad Barlow with clip point, two opinels (#10 and #8), and an AG Russel large sodbuster, and a custom J. Oeser large gunstock (pictured), None of the folders got used, but I would have liked to try them out.
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From the looks of the carcass, I'd have guessed you were using a large wide knife. Nothing wrong with that, it is more of a "butcher" technique. I grew up skinning a lot of furbearers and carried that over to large animal skinning: the hide is sort of "pulled" loose, and the integumentary tissue cut with the knife. A good butcher is much faster than I am, but my approach is still fairly fast.

One trick to avoid dulling knives as quickly is to make the initial incision with something like a boning knife or the clip blade on a trapper. From there, all the cuts are made from the inside of the hide. That way you don't dull your knife on all the hair and embedded grit. I always wanted to try D2 for a knife for this kind of work, just haven't found a decent knife for it.
 
Edm1 said:
I've only done deer. I am amazed at the amount of fat in the pictures.
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I can echo this sentiment. Never done any bovines, only deer myself, which are obviously quite a bit leaner. Looks like a heck of a job!
 
It is hard work. you really come to value a knife that fits your hand and doesnt slip, and therefore cause fatigue, when your half way through a job like that. I raise and slaughter the meat for my family, though its sheep and goats, so much smaller and faster im sure, but even so, my hands are tired after a butchering session.
 
We used to butcher several beefs a year when I was young.

I used a Deerslayer exactly like that one in the picture.

I still have it.

That old knife went a lot of miles with me.
 
That is a very cool opportunity. With the amount of beef I consume I would have loved to experience what it takes to get a piece of meat onto my plate.

Thanks for sharing!
 
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