# Question re: butchery trades



## Nao57 (Oct 2, 2020)

So I wanted to ask this to the others to see what you think.

In my area chicken is about 5 bucks a pound. Ground beef is nearly 6 bucks a pound.

Would it be fair to trade out, asking to neighbors or someone in the community for asking them to be the 'knocker' and butcher of ducks or rabbits in exchange for a certain number of pounds of meat, in lieu of money? 

And what would also be the right exchange ratio of meat? 

It doesn't take a lot of time to do ducks and rabbits. So I think this should be fair. People did this during the great depression and we're pretty much there all over again. So I think it could be fair.

But I don't know if there's already a standard rate for cash free trades like this? 

And how you'd screen for someone? (What you'd look for.)

Ordinarily my dad does this, but he's been dragging his feet on it. (And to some extent I can't blame him, because animals are cute. But on the other hand, he helps my other siblings more than me, and thinks I don't know about it, which is quite frustrating sometimes.)


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## Beekissed (Oct 2, 2020)

Uh...wouldn't it be cheaper, less troublesome and more expedient to just butcher your own animals?  

For folks around here who don't have the time, don't want to or they have more money than sense, they hire the Amish to do their butchering for them.  You could try that if you have any in the area.


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## Baymule (Oct 2, 2020)

It's usually on halves, such as, you have 10 ducks. Someone butchers them all, you get 5, they get 5. Why don't you do it yourself? 

what area are you in that chicken is $5 a pound? 

I have been butchering chickens this week. I also taught a neighbor how to butcher chickens. He was thrilled to learn how. If your Dad knows how, get him to teach you.


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## Beekissed (Oct 2, 2020)

Yep, what she said.  It's not hard to butcher chickens, ducks and rabbits....just fiddly work but you get a rhythm and a system and it can go pretty fast after that.


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## Mini Horses (Oct 3, 2020)

Finding people who WANT to be, or know how to be, self sufficient is more difficult now (than say 30 yrs ago)...a lot depends on where you live.  As @Beekissed mentions, some ethnic groups have never not been accustomed to this lifestyle.    It is "how it is". 

Butchering.  It's messy and emotionally hard, at first.  But after your first couple of sessions you just "get the job done".     It takes planning.   

You are correct in that the smaller livestock are generally easier to raise and handle....beginning to end.  But each has their own "issues" with getting to harvest size.   The CCX will grow fast and large but, can't live but a short life.  They need daily care to keep them in a clean environment.   A lot of good, tender chicken meat.  A laying hen will not get large like that, lays great eggs, lives nicely for several years and when butchered, less meat, less tender but, excellent flavor if cooked low and slow.   Know your animals and your desired purpose to be successful.


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## Niele da Kine (Nov 27, 2020)

Yup, pretty much two for one is what I've found to be the 'price' to get folks to process critters.  They also usually don't want to do them in huge amounts, but will do up to four at a time.  But, that all depends on who you find.


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## Simpleterrier (Nov 27, 2020)

The Amish around us charge a dollar a bird for chickens.  If a dollar a bird means I have more money then sense then I should call myself rich haha yeah right.


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## Mini Horses (Nov 28, 2020)

I'd pay $1 per bird and raise more!  That's a super great price. To me, and most, the butchering is worst part of home grown.   Just a messy, stinky job...beyond the actual kill. 

I have not raised the CCX, always the xtra roos.   Gotta say, some are really pretty birds!   They are well feathered, shiny and healthy....a nuisance, lol.   The unbelievable gain and growth of a CCX is astounding.  Think about it -- they are table size when a heritage chick is still following the hen around, huddling under her wings.  Almost scary how they have been engineered for this "mushrooming" rate to grow out.


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## Niele da Kine (Dec 11, 2020)

The Cornish x Rock cross are not really bio-engineered, just a standard hybrid cross.  It has been done long before any GMO techniques were around.  It was originally a standard Cornish rooster with a standard Plymouth Rock hen, but they've been selecting the parent breeds now for over half a century, so they've selected for some pretty specific traits in the original stock currently used for the hybrid cross.

It's somewhat similar to crossing various rabbit breeds.  If you cross an angora breed with a non-angora breed, all the offspring will not have the long wool.  Cross two different angora breeds and all the offspring will have the long wool.  That's just genetics, not engineering.

They selected two breeds for fast growth rate, bred them together and have been refining the selection process for half a century.  That's how we got to this current level of Frankenchickens.  They grow fast, but die of heart problems.  But, the selection criteria has been fast growth rate, not longevity.

Which could be a problem with meat rabbits, if a balanced selection criteria isn't used.  Only selecting for large litter size and ignoring the overall health could cause problems after awhile.


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## Fishychix (Dec 11, 2020)

Simpleterrier said:


> The Amish around us charge a dollar a bird for chickens.  If a dollar a bird means I have more money then sense then I should call myself rich haha yeah right.


How would someone get in touch with the Amish to do this?


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## Simpleterrier (Dec 11, 2020)

I don't know. I deal with them all the time on a lot of different things. I just make friends then ask them if they know anyone different types of Amish will be different. U ask the wrong ones and they might just get in their BMW and drive away. Just cause their Amish don't mean it's home made. Or better crafted. They play the Amish card sometimes for the money.


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## secuono (Dec 11, 2020)

Easy to butcher those, especially if you skin them.


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## Fishychix (Dec 11, 2020)

Simpleterrier said:


> U ask the wrong ones and they might just get in their BMW and drive away.


  That image is just too funny

Too true. Good reminder!


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## Alasgun (Jan 3, 2021)

A wise man once told me, “butchering is easy, you simply cut away the part you don’t want to eat”.
having worked at a packing house many years ago and butchering all of what we eat for the last 40 years, id say this isn’t far from the truth!
if all else fails, go to you-tube! You may not adopt everything you see but you’ll see enough to get you going, then you‘ll form your own opinion’s and style. It’s not that hard.

i know a couple trappers up here who were good at catching but then simply skinned the critters and sent the hides off to be tanned. Then after a couple years they had quite a pile of fur’s with no intended purpose. I pointed out to them “your missing out on what this is all about. Until you master the fur handling and sales you cant understand what being a trapper’s all about.” 
Same holds true with livestock, it’s not nearly as gratifying to simply be the care taker. Being there for the birth’s and the butchering will give you a greater sense of self sufficiency. you’ll get over the squeamish part in short order.


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## frustratedearthmother (Jan 3, 2021)

Alasgun said:


> Same holds true with livestock, it’s not nearly as gratifying to simply be the care taker. Being there for the birth’s and the butchering will give you a greater sense of self sufficiency. you’ll get over the squeamish part in short order.


Absolutely agree!


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## Beekissed (Jan 3, 2021)

Alasgun said:


> Same holds true with livestock, *it’s not nearly as gratifying to simply be the care taker.* Being there for the birth’s and the butchering will give you a greater sense of self sufficiency. you’ll get over the squeamish part in short order.


Amen x 1000   I think the people who don't understand how anyone can kill their own livestock are those who never have or have only done so due to putting down a suffering animal.  There's something incredibly touching about nurturing an animal throughout its life and even unto its death that I wouldn't trade for anything.  That last day is just as important and soulful as the first one.  

 I don't know that I would give that privilege to anyone else, especially anyone who didn't care for the animal like I had done every day of its life.  To someone else that animal is a number, something to merely dispatch and render into parts, but to me they are something I have loved, spent time with, observed growing and living their natural life.


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