# Dealing With Hair during Butchering - Suggestions?



## brentr

I butchered another batch of rabbits this past Saturday.  Seven rabbits, just shy of 3 lb. carcass weight average.  13 weeks old.

Anyway, I found myself (as when I've butchered before) picking a lot of hair off the carcasses during cut/bagging.  I got to wondering if others have this same challenge, or if I am inadvertently doing something that is causing this problem for me.  I notice most of the hair on the hind quarters and saddle. Three kind of related questions:

1 - do you find yourself having to pick/clean a lot of hair off your rabbit meat when you home process
2 - what is the easiest method of removal of hair from the carcass
3 - what tips/tricks do you employ in slaughter/skinning to minimize or eliminate hair getting on your freshly skinned rabbit?

I'd be grateful for any advice or suggestions.  I am pretty basic in my process:

-break the neck
-hang by hind feet
-cut off head/bleed out
-cut hide around hind feet, strip down to vent (I think this is where most of the hair causes me problems - cutting around the feet & getting the hide loosened off the legs)
-work hide free around vent/tail, pull whole hide down body to remove
-remove guts, etc.
-Cut off feet


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## hydroswiftrob

I used this video as a reference to butchering mine and the hair was very minimal.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iali_mkReYA

You may have already seen it. The scissors helped a lot more than my knife.


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## redtailgal

my hubby said "Nair is a wonderful thing".    He is a dork.

Honestly, when we clean a rabbit (we dont raise them, they are wild), we clean them and then give the a good hose down.  Water takes care of it perfectly for us.


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## smiles-n-sunshine

White fur doesn't show on meat as much as colored fur does, so you should switch to New Zealand Whites!  

My rabbits shed their fur now and then, so I get more loose fur some times than other times.  I get less if use a boning knife rather than shears, and slice up through the skin from the meat side, rather than down from the fur side - but as you mentioned, it's hard to do that around the feet.  Maybe cut anus to feet, not feet to anus?  Young rabbits (8-10 weeks) I can usually tear the skin with my hands instead of cutting, as long as I'm not saving the pelt for anything.  

Like *redtailgal*, I also use *lots* of cold running water after gutting.  Even without loose fur, this washes off surface-dwelling bacteria like E. Coli, and starts cooling the carcass down to a safe temperature.  If you have any doubts from fur being on the meat for a few minutes, you can do as the factory slaughterhouses do and dip it in a bleach solution.  (I wouldn't.)

Thanks for sharing that video, *hydroswiftrob*.  The man definitely has a good technique, and I'm looking for some para cord (sp?) myself.  A couple thoughts:  I'm curious how he gets a good bleed-out from a pellet-sized shot to the head?  (I puncture the jugular vein with a sticking knife after clubbing with a piece of rebar.)  And, not to brag but my rabbits dress out much better than his.


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## AZ Rabbits

Spray off with hose.


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## CocoNUT

I rinse off with cold water as well.


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## secuono

Water washes off hair..


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## jakeinkalispell

Something I've used with good success on deer and other animals is a plain copper scouring pad (the ones that look like a ball of copper wires), after skinning out give the carcass a good rubdown with one and it removes all hair and mucous, I didn't think it would work when I first heard about it but it's pretty amazing (haven't butchered rabbits yet, expecting our first litter today or tomorrow)


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## sawfish99

What I do with deer, and plan to do with rabbits, is singe the hair off.  I take a propane torch and just barely touch the meat with the flame.  It singes the hair without cooking the meat.  After you are done, use a solution of vinigar and water to wipe down the carcass.  This will remove the singed hair and clean the carcass.  Air dry and package.


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## Hutch

I am new at this and have studied it more than I have done it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpDmHG_8pwE

I just saw this video for the first time a short while ago.  I got some good tips from it.  One was to hose the rabbit before you remove any skin.  Helps with hair.

A few things I did differently or in addition to video:

Whack head, with point of knife, cut past windpipe for carotid/jugler, leave windpipe intact
Express the bladder
Remove head, feet, tail
Slit skin across back and pull toward ends
Cut pubic part of pelvis with scissors/shears

I have to include this video too.  I look forward to the day when I can debone like this.

Deboning video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6ud68Qmdyc
This guy is an artist.


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## hoodat

I start with a handfull of coarse salt like kosher or sea salt and rub down the carcass with it; follow that with a hose down with cold water and you should have a reasonably clean carcass. A few stray hairs will not be noticeable after cooking.


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## Stratmoore Farms

Hutch said:
			
		

> I am new at this and have studied it more than I have done it.
> 
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpDmHG_8pwE
> 
> I just saw this video for the first time a short while ago.  I got some good tips from it.  One was to hose the rabbit before you remove any skin.  Helps with hair.
> 
> A few things I did differently or in addition to video:
> 
> Whack head, with point of knife, cut past windpipe for carotid/jugler, leave windpipe intact
> Express the bladder
> Remove head, feet, tail
> Slit skin across back and pull toward ends
> Cut pubic part of pelvis with scissors/shears
> 
> I have to include this video too.  I look forward to the day when I can debone like this.
> 
> Deboning video:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6ud68Qmdyc
> This guy is an artist.


Thanks for the link. Such a simple step as hosing down before skinning sure does make a big difference.


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## nerissad

Stratmoore Farms said:
			
		

> Hutch said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am new at this and have studied it more than I have done it.
> 
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpDmHG_8pwE
> 
> I just saw this video for the first time a short while ago.  I got some good tips from it.  One was to hose the rabbit before you remove any skin.  Helps with hair.
> 
> A few things I did differently or in addition to video:
> 
> Whack head, with point of knife, cut past windpipe for carotid/jugler, leave windpipe intact
> Express the bladder
> Remove head, feet, tail
> Slit skin across back and pull toward ends
> Cut pubic part of pelvis with scissors/shears
> 
> I have to include this video too.  I look forward to the day when I can debone like this.
> 
> That deboning video was SOO neat. I have 17 babies I want to turn into saussage but am intimidated by all that deboning.
> 
> Deboning video:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6ud68Qmdyc
> This guy is an artist.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for the link. Such a simple step as hosing down before skinning sure does make a big difference.
Click to expand...


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## lexibot

The only way to know is how your  butcher process goes. When i first did one, i laid it on a surface, cut off its head, drained the blood, skinned it, gutted it, the like a dummy, put the bugger back on the surface and all my meat got covered with fur!! So id rinse the surface before returning the fresh meat for quartering.


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