# Butchering heartbreak



## Gary (Aug 12, 2019)

Butchered my first rabbit Sunday and did one today. Is it normal to feel real bad and have a tuff time with it at first or am I just a wuss?


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## AmberLops (Aug 12, 2019)

Don't worry, I felt the same way when I raised meat rabbits.
You're not a wuss, It just means you care


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## B&B Happy goats (Aug 12, 2019)

That  is the reason I stick to the pink eyed all white NZ...no color and they all look the same....easier on the emotions


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## Hens and Roos (Aug 12, 2019)

It's normal, it means that you care


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## Gary (Aug 12, 2019)

Thanks guys. I feel a little better.


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## Baymule (Aug 12, 2019)

No, it just means that you have a heart. I say a prayer over the animals I butcher. Then I apologize to them when I kill them. I've slaughtered rabbits, chickens, ducks, hogs, wild game, but I can't bring myself to kill a lamb. I take them to slaughter.

Saying a prayer over the animal, giving thanks, makes me feel a little better and I feel gratitude.


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## goatgurl (Aug 12, 2019)

truth be told Gary if it didn't bother you then you might have more of a problem.   I've raised rabbits for several years and it bothers me every single time but I just put on my big girl drawers and get it done.  and I always thank them for feeding me and my family and thank God for the many blessings.


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## Pastor Dave (Aug 12, 2019)

It is normal and shows you care. I used to use a hammer. Claw end in hand and handle for the business end, but now I use .22shorts thru my rifle and it is quicker and more humane I feel. I agree going with NZW with red eyes makes it easier and less attachment. They are a food source and I try to wrap my head around that and not that I've killed for nothing. The more times you do it, the more it becomes a chore to process a food source.


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## frustratedearthmother (Aug 13, 2019)

I raise meat animals and have a neighbor who helps me with the bigger hogs.  They hunt a lot and even their 12 yo daughter is a hunter and brings down a lot of meat.  However, it really bothers me when she comes to my house begging me to let her shoot a hog.    If it makes you happy to kill something - that bothers me.


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## Beekissed (Aug 13, 2019)

Gary said:


> Butchered my first rabbit Sunday and did one today. Is it normal to feel real bad and have a tuff time with it at first or am I just a wuss?



Rabbits are particularly hard.  I've killed literally thousands of chickens, ducks, turkeys, squirrel, gutted deer, killed a cow and processed it at home, etc. but the first time I killed and processed the meat rabbits I was up at 3 am doing it, snot running down my face as I sobbed throughout the whole thing. 

It's normal to feel bad and I don't think we are supposed to feel otherwise when we take a life to live our life.  There's always that remorse, be it small and in the back of your mind as you get busy with the business of processing, or fresh and big like killing something soft and little for the first time. 

Real fortitude and courage is knowing it hurts to kill, but doing it anyway because you eat meat, because animals die at some time or other and you might as well consume their energy for your own life or the life of another, and that's why you have them in the first place.


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## Baymule (Aug 13, 2019)

Raising your own animals is a good way to keep heritage animals alive and breeding. I always go find heritage breeds of pigs to raise for slaughter, to support the farmers who raise them. Plus the meat is better than the lean, no-fat pork modern breeds. We need the genetic diversity that mass produced meat is leaving in the dust. If disease struck the inbred mass produced lines of meat animals, our food supply could disappear in a twinkling. The genetics of the heritage animals could then be used to breed new animals, but if no one is raising them, we'd all be up sh!t creek without a paddle.


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## GypsyG (Aug 14, 2019)

I have hard time with it every single time... But the reason I started raising my own animals for meat in the first place was because it just seems so wrong to me how most meat animals are treated like commodities and not given the love and respect that a living, breathing creation of God who's giving it's life to sustain mine deserves.   It is hard, but I know every single one of them has had the best care and have been treated with love, respect, and dignity that they deserve... and I take comfort in that.  

It surprises many of my friends that I am capable of harvesting my rabbits for meat because they know me as someone who puts a lot of thought/overthinks into everything, and a kind sensitive person who adores and dotes on my animals... But what bothers me worse would be sitting in a fast food restaurant with a burger in front of me thinking about the lifes of all the cows that are jumbled all together in that patty and looking around seeing everyone scarf them down without a second thought or a bit of appreciation.  That bothers me more.


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## Beekissed (Aug 14, 2019)

GypsyG said:


> But what bothers me worse would be sitting in a fast food restaurant with a burger in front of me thinking about the lifes of all the cows that are jumbled all together in that patty and looking around seeing everyone scarf them down without a second thought or a bit of appreciation. That bothers me more.



I agree.  When people act like I'm a murderer (yes, I've been called a murderer)when I kill and eat my own livestock, I always ask them about the meats they eat and every single one of them offer the same reply, "That's different...I didn't raise them myself!"   As if that makes it less cruel to eat them!   When I explain the life their meats had prior to killing, they say "I don't want to hear it" and shuffle off but will still remind me every chance they get how hard-hearted I am because I can kill my own animals.  

There are none so blind as those who choose not to see.


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## Baymule (Aug 14, 2019)

A person is intelligent. People are stupid.


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## B&B Happy goats (Aug 14, 2019)

I have to get ten rabbits done tommrow, I will thank them ,  quickly kill them , and kindly put them in the freezer...and I agree with the above posts......

Ya can't  fix stupid !   ................................


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## secuono (Aug 14, 2019)

Normal.

Some say practicing on evil roos or evil buns makes it easier. But in reality, a calm, friendly one is more likely to stay still. And that means its less likely that you will screw it up. 

I never got over culling rabbits nor birds. I tried to give them away instead, even though eating them was best. I quit all small critters, but have been struggling with butchering my sheep... I have too many rams this year, so I'll end up eating one this fall either way. 

Getting better at culling them does make you feel better, since you become confident and you're less likely to make mistakes that will depress you.


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## Baymule (Aug 14, 2019)

You just can't keep them all.


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## Mini Horses (Aug 14, 2019)

It's difficult.   But they have had a good life, well fed, not abused, humanely harvested, far better than those in the meat markets.   Those were NOT treated kindly.  We understand.  We feel it, too.   Sound off, we will listen and console.  We understand!


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## ragdollcatlady (Aug 14, 2019)

I used to have to fend off my ex when he would try to strong arm me into butchering some of our chickens for inlaws. I don't mind sharing for sure, I occasional gift a chicken to a friend or to those same inlaws, but every life I take, I feel it. I thank them, pray over them and do my best to finish as fast and humanely as I can. I refused to allow him to make me butcher for anyone else, because of the personal cost to my own soul. Feeding my family or myself is one thing. Butchering for someone that would not even remotely appreciate my own sting of remorse or the actual hour of effort one chicken requires, (especially for people that didn't like or appreciate me as a human that was supposed to be a part of their family) was just not worth it. So then he tried to talk my daughter into doing it. The problem with that was .... my kids really never killed the animals, they just helped me after I did the initial work. My daughter did do the actual deed just a couple times because she wanted to learn how, but of course, it was not pleasant and I typically ended up doing that hard part. 

Showing gratitude for the life and sacrifice before you and putting in the effort to create a pleasant existence and quick humane end is a wonderful thing we can strive for as stewards of this little part of our world. Especially for the animals that enrich our lives in so many other ways.

Keep feeling all the feels and know that we all feel your pain too.... The process itself usually gets a little bit easier with time and practice. As your confidence in your skills and your comfort with your tools and your routine grow, it does get easier.


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## Gary (Aug 15, 2019)

Thanks for all the responses. Really great


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## Baymule (Aug 15, 2019)

I would much rather eat meat from animals that I raised, loved and treated well, than mass produced industrial meat.


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## Ron Bequeath (Aug 21, 2019)

I know the feeling, have butchered cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, geese, ducks, chickens, and rabbits, and have a rooster to do today and have still put it off. The only time i really never regretted the taking of a  life was when I had a rooster that got loose when I was going to set up to take him. He ran around the barn 25 times and finally i got tired and went and got the 22 and chased him twice around the barn and then went the other way he took off across the corn field and I put one up the patutt. Needless to say i cooked him and fed him to my dogs. I'm 68 and it never gets any easier.


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## B&B Happy goats (Aug 21, 2019)

68 here..........but we do it


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## breezy2u (Aug 21, 2019)

I can't kill any of my animals and I have chickens and goats. I just can't do it. I even raise tilapia in my pond and the last time I tried to eat one it nearly put me off all fish. I respect those that have the ability to do it. I kind of wish I did. I think if I found a way where I could drop off an animal alive and pick it up packaged for the freezer, it might make it easier for me.


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## B&B Happy goats (Aug 21, 2019)

breezy2u said:


> I can't kill any of my animals and I have chickens and goats. I just can't do it. I even raise tilapia in my pond and the last time I tried to eat one it nearly put me off all fish. I respect those that have the ability to do it. I kind of wish I did. I think if I found a way where I could drop off an animal alive and pick it up packaged for the freezer, it might make it easier for me.



Look for a animal processor, phone book, online or Craigslist, they will do it all for you, some will even pick up the animals. 
Don't  feel badly that you don't  do it yourself.....it truly  is a mindset thing, I did ten rabbits on my back porch yesterday...I am a 68 year old woman....I made my mind up it had to be done and did it....and I do thank them first, they had a good life and ate well and were loved on.
 But they needed to be in my freezer for food and no matter how sweetly I talk to my critters, I just can't  convince them to jump in on their own.....so I learned how to get them there myself ...humanly


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## Georgia Girl (Aug 21, 2019)

AmberLops said:


> Don't worry, I felt the same way when I raised meat rabbits.
> You're not a wuss, It just means you care


I stopped raising quail because I just did not like slaughtering them so I understand your feelings.


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## Spokeless Wheel (Aug 21, 2019)

Gary said:


> Butchered my first rabbit Sunday and did one today. Is it normal to feel real bad and have a tuff time with it at first or am I just a wuss?


Yes Gary, Your a wuss ! We are all wusses. It always hurts to to it. But it must be done to feed our family good nutritious food. We try to kill as quick and as painless as possible.  In the wild rabbits die a much more painful and traumatic death. Slaughter houses and markets are much more traumatic for them than what we do. As others have said "cry". It shows you care and have emotions. That's good for your soul. Say a prayer and thank god you have food on your table. Many others don't. May god bless you


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## Simpleterrier (Aug 22, 2019)

Hmmm interesting. How old are you? I think a lot has to do with age. I killed a lot of sick cattle when I was 16-20 now it's harder. I didn't feel a thing untill the last one. Haven't done one in about 12 yrs. I did them cause the farms couldn't shoot their own cows. The older I've gotten the more I think about it. I've noticed lately it's gotten harder to put down animals but I understand why it has to be done and done right


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## cahooncustomcutting@gmail (Mar 15, 2020)

As a trained butcher I don't have uneasy feelings at the time of slaughter. My nerves get wound up leading up to a slaughter but I always steady my nerves pray my aim be true and do the job.  After the deed is done it is all about getting the meat processed to euthanize rabbits I use a .22 CO2 pistol into the braincase from behind quick humane and doesn't risk any spoiled meat due to bullets traveling. 

And like I have read above people have called me a murderer and inhumane and other such things but I know that the way I kill and was taught to kill is the best way to die rather than of old age or disese like these hippy vegans would like to see.


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## BarredCometLaced (Mar 26, 2020)

I am just starting my meat rabbit journey. I have raised them for 11 years, but we never ate them... they were kept because I genuinely like rabbits and they are compost machines. I know when the time comes it will be hard, but at the same time, I feel like I will be incredibly proud to help feed my family. I also know that the animals I raise will have had amazing lives and never know cruelty. THAT is why I am getting into this.


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (Mar 26, 2020)

@Grant ...we started raising rabbits for meat...we sell them now as pets.  We were only able to eat a few.  We had to cull one about a week ago, due to an abscess....chris ended up drowning him.  He said it felt easier??  I thought it would be much worse.  Terrible either way ....but, I suppose on a farm..it’s something we all face.  I know sometimes people pay to get the processed.  We figured that doesn’t save the money that we are putting into these animals.  Have to cull a pig soon.  It won’t be easy at all for Chris, as they are very attached.  But he’s a feeder.  When we culled our first pig, I made a thread and everyone cane to my rescue because I was all torn up about it.  They said say a prayer and thank God, give them a good life while they are here...we’ve been doing all of these things.  Perhaps someday it will be better..but, truthfully m I hopeit doesn’t. We love these animals.  I understand that we are raising many of them to feed ourselves and keep us healthy, but we can still feel a loss for them.  I know where you are coming from.


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## Grant (Mar 26, 2020)

Think you meant that for @georgiagirl.  I understand the thoughts.  I love my animals, but I understand why I have them also. To me, my dogs are pets, my cows are livestock.  Making that differentiation mentally is HUGE.  I grew up on an 1100 acre farm.  300 sows, 100+ cows + males, babies...we had a lot of animals.  They didn’t have names.  We regularly slaughtered them.  Many of the pigs we did ourselves.  They were raised for consumption, harvesting them is why they were there.  I would get in the habit of NOT naming animals you intend to sell or consume.  A name puts a different thought process to the animal.  

I’m not saying don’t love them, dont mistreat or ignore them, putting a name on them makes it harder for you, it’s no difference to them.  

It’s hard to eat a buddy burger. Easy to eat a hamburger.

When it’s time for them to be put down, do it humanely.  Fast and straight to the brain. Minimize suffering.


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## Niele da Kine (Nov 15, 2020)

I tried raising meat rabbits and they're so fluffy and soft and have big eyes and, well, we never ate any rabbits.  I'm a wuss!  Now we have angora rabbits and are yarn farmers.  They get harvested three times a year and always grow more wool, just like little micro-sheep.  There's the occasional cull, but I have a friend who eats them for me.  Now if they were roosters, that would be a different story!


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