Slaughter is not easy, or work for real men

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Slaughter is the killing of animals with subsequent processing of carcasses. That's what the dictionaries say. Let's put it into practice.

More recently, in villages and small towns, most people raised pigs and poultry for their own needs. Now people engaged in domestic animal husbandry has become much less. Life has changed and grocery shopping has become easier. Although the taste of domestic pig meat or chicken is incomparable.

Growing a wild boar or a bird is half the trouble. The problems start when it's time for slaughter. It is a physically and psychologically difficult process. In some places, the experts of this case are still preserved. And if one lives nearby, consider yourself lucky. There is someone to learn from. If there is no specialist nearby, you will have to take the animal to the slaughterhouse or study it yourself.

With a bird, everything is more or less simple. It is small, and with a little learning of theory, you can manage. Pigs are more difficult. Let's start from the difficult.

Slaughtering pigs at home

Firstturn you need to prepare yourself and prepare the animal.

• The animal should not be on the hunt. Boars are usually castrated at 1–2 months of age. And there are no problems with them. Pigs come into heat at 6-7 months. If the pig is already in heat, it is better to wait. Not long, usually 2-3 days. Signs that the animal is ready for mating: refusal to eat, frequent urination, reddening of the genitals, squealing is characteristic.
• Do not feed pigs in the evening if they are going to stab the next day. The intestines should be at least a little free.
• Prepare everything you need: tools, boards, rags.
• There must be an assistant. Better yet, two. The pig is a strong animal, and it is difficult to cope alone. If he runs away, then he will have to catch them in the forests and fields.

Tools

1. Knives with a long and sharp blade. Preferably at least two.
2. Axe.
3. A burner or a blowtorch (you can do without them if you grind the boar in the straw).
4. Plenty of clean dishes: buckets, basins, bowls.
5. Cotton cloth or gauze.
6. Hot water (more).
7. Rope.
8. Clean boards.

Procedure of actions

1. They knock down the shield from the boards.
2. They take the animal outside. The pig is hungry, and you can lure it with food. One person beckons, the second holds by the ears, the third directs from behind (pigs, as a rule, squeal and resist).
3. The legs are tied with a rope (in pairs on each side) and the animal is placed on the shield with a sharp jerk.
4. One holds, the other cutsanimal. Some pre-stun the pig with the butt of an axe. You can stab in two ways: cut the carotid artery or stab a knife (awl) in the heart. The first way is much easier.
5. Turn the carcass on its side, substitute a bucket and collect the blood. Everything is done very quickly.
6. Now the skin of the animal must be singed to blackness with a burner or a blowtorch (carefully with the underbelly, the skin is thinner there).
7. Cover with wet hot rags and wait 10 minutes. With knives or sharp scrapers, carbon deposits are scraped off - especially carefully in the folds. Wash clean.
8. Carcass cutting. Here the order of actions is especially important. Otherwise, you can spoil the meat and fat.
9. Checking the quality of meat. Be sure to take a few small pieces of meat, lard and liver to the veterinary station to make sure the animal is he althy.

Cutting pork carcasses at home

• Cut off the head with a sharp knife. If it doesn't work, you can use an axe.
• Very carefully, so as not to damage the internal organs, they cut the belly to the ribs. Two parallel incisions are made from top to bottom and one transverse at the bottom.
• They bandage the esophagus on both sides, cut out and take out the internal organs, internal fat and intestines. Carefully monitor that the gall and urinary bladders do not burst, otherwise the meat will be spoiled.
• The inside is wiped with a clean, always dry cloth and cut along the spine into two halves with a sharp ax.
• Each half of the carcass is divided into several parts: legs, shank, shoulder blades, ham, loin and brisket.

Should bean assistant who will carry the carcass pieces to a cool room. After the final cutting, they begin to s alt the bacon, cook blood and homemade sausages, jellied meat, and s altison. Pig meat is twisted into minced meat, frozen, smoked.

Slaughtering is hard work. It requires not only theoretical knowledge, but also constant practice.

Slaughtering poultry at home

Killing a chicken is much easier than slaughtering a pig. If the slaughter is done incorrectly, the taste and quality of the meat will not be up to par.

On the eve of slaughter, the bird should not be fed, but it should be given plenty of water.

Slaughter methods recommended for poultry

• Outdoor way. The first option: placing the chicken in a bag with a hole, you can cut off her head with a sharp ax or cleaver. The second option is to hold the bird's head with one hand and cut its throat with the other.
• Internal way. The bird is pre-stunned. Then a narrow and long knife is inserted into the beak, which goes straight into the veins and cuts them.

After slaughter, the chicken is hung on a hook and waiting for all the blood to flow out.

Plucking

In the cold method, the chicken is plucked immediately after slaughter. The feathers are pulled out as they grow. First the tail and wings, then everything else.

Hot plucking is the same, only the carcass is scalded with boiling water beforehand.

Evisceration

Before gutting, the bird must be removed from the litter by pressing on the stomach with a hand. Then soak in cold water for about an hour.

With a sharp knife, first an annular (in the back) incision is made, and then a longitudinal one. The insides are taken out very carefully.

After gutting, the carcass should lie down or hang for a day in a cold room. The meat will become much tastier.

Conclusion

For those involved in the breeding of domestic animals and poultry, slaughter is a normal process, a common job. And, like any job, it needs to be learned.