Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
imals you raise into pets. However, if you want to eat meat, and you want to raise it
yourself, slaughter will be a fact of your life.
If you have small children you'll need to very carefully explain your intentions for
the birds from day one. As a child I had a habit of making all of the chicks and ducks
pets and butchering was not something I wished to participate in; in fact, I hated the
thought of killing any of the birds and always convinced my parents to find homes for
the extras. Needless to say, I ended up with way too many roosters, and as I got older, I
realized the importance of flock maintenance and culling. I still dislike butchering, but I
recognize that if I want to eat meat, know where it comes from, and control the quality
of the birds' lives, I have only two options: doing it myself, or sending my birds to a
commercial slaughterhouse.
Slaughtering Choices
Some raisers have a harder time slaughtering their birds than others; some find that they
cannot even eat the meat produced on their farm! If either is the case for you, find a loc-
al processing center that accepts all types of poultry and have a professional process the
birds. At that point, the decision about whether to bring the meat home or sell it off is
yours.
Processing the poultry at your own facility can be done simply as long as you do not
have a large-scale operation with an immense flock. If you do choose to slaughter your
birds yourself at home, guidelines exist that ease the process. Once you have the basic
tools needed, decisions must be made about how to best slaughter the birds, and what
steps to take to clean, butcher, and package the meat. The following process has always
worked well for me and seems to be the simplest and most problem-free way to do it.
COMMERCIAL BUTCHERING
Commercial processing is an excellent home-processing alternative. It will save you
the hassle, and for some, the trauma of chopping the heads off of animals that mem-
bers of the family may have loved as pets.
Find a reputable facility with proper practices regularly inspected by state or fed-
eral agencies. This can be difficult in many areas; even here in the agricultural Mid-
west you sometimes have to travel 100 to 200 miles (160-320 km). Make an appoint-
ment to simply drop off your birds in the morning and pick them up later that day.
Or, in some cases, they may be able to quick-freeze the birds for you to pick up at a
later date.
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