Slaughtering a bull is a responsible business that requires experience and knowledge. The slightest mistake can lead to undesirable consequences – at least to a decrease in the quality of meat. Not knowing how to cut a bull, it is better to invite an experienced slaughterer or give the animal to a meat processing plant for the procedure. If this is not possible, then you should carefully study the instructions for slaughter and follow it clearly.
bull slaughter
When is the best time to slaughter a bull?
Experienced livestock breeders recommend slaughtering a bull at the age of one. During the first year of life, the animal quickly gains weight, while the cost of its nutrition is not too high. In the future, the weight gain increases not so actively. However, bulls born in spring should be cut later – closer to autumn. Such a recommendation is justified – in the summer, the animal receives a lot of plant foods, due to which it quickly gains body weight, while the quality of the meat improves.
Attention! Uncastrated bulls gain weight faster, so you should refrain from this procedure.
The slaughter procedure is carried out in the morning, when it is still cool enough and there are no flies. It is important to consider that cutting the carcass will take about three hours, and for an inexperienced person even more time.
Preparatory stage before slaughter
Having decided to slaughter the bull, the farmer stops feeding him a day before the killing procedure. During this time, the animal is offered only water. This helps to cleanse the intestines. Approximately 3-4 hours before slaughter, they stop drinking. It is important to agree in advance on the visit of a veterinary service worker – he will examine the animal and give a document giving the right to sell meat. His participation will also be required when cutting the carcass.
You need to kill a cow so that she does not feel fear. Therefore, before slaughter, the animal is taken out early in the morning, as if for grazing, trying not to scare him in any way. If the cattle does not want to leave the pen, it is forbidden to drag it by force. It is better to try to lure the bull with a bunch of hay or a corncob.
Necessary inventory
To slaughter a bull, you need to prepare thoroughly, taking care of the necessary tools. What will be needed during the procedure:
- sledgehammer;
- sharp strong knife;
- blood collection containers;
- belief;
- clean rags.
Sledgehammer for slaughter
Slaughter rules
Before slaughtering a bull, it must be fixed by tying it with a strong rope by the horns to a support, and then stunned. To do this, a person inflicts a strong blow to the frontal part of the head with a sledgehammer. Some slaughterers stun cattle with a dagger, aiming at the recess located on the back of the head, between the cervical vertebra and the occipital bone. After the impact, the animal loses consciousness. It is important to correctly calculate his strength – if he turns out to be weak, it is likely that the bull will become furious with fear and injure others. Pushing too hard can cause instant death, which will negatively affect the quality of the meat.
Now you need to act quickly, there are several minutes before the bull comes to his senses. The next step is the dissection of the cervical large vessels. If you plan to use blood, then immediately you need to substitute a pre-prepared clean container to collect it. After bleeding the carcass, they begin to remove the skin. Cows are slaughtered in the same way.
Reference. Blood will drain faster if you hang the bull by the hind limbs.
Skinning
Skinning starts from the head. For this you need:
- Cut off the ears at their base.
- Make a circular incision around the mouth and nose area.
- Cut the skin, moving from the right nostril to the ear area.
- Make ring cuts around each of the horns.
Now the skin from the head can be carefully removed, if necessary, helping yourself with the tip of the knife. Next, the bull’s head is separated from the body by cutting the muscles in the junction of the occipital bone and the cervical vertebra.
To remove the skin from the body, it is necessary to fix the carcass in a position on the back. For this, bars are used. Now you need to cut the skin from the neck along the entire carcass, moving along the line of the chest through the stomach to the very tail. An incision is made around the anus in the form of a ring. Above the hooves on the limbs, circular incisions are also made. From the inside of the thighs, the tip of the knife leads to a longitudinal incision in the abdomen.
First, the skin is carefully pulled off the neck and chest, then from the legs, then it is removed from the abdomen, moving towards the back and scrotum.
Advice. It is important not to damage the skin when removing it with a knife, but also not to allow fragments of fat to remain on it. This requires skill.
After the end of the process, the skin is folded so that the wool is on the outside, and it is allowed to cool for 2 hours. Then it is treated with salt and sent to a cool room.
Carcass cutting
Scheme of the parts of the carcass of a bull
Before proceeding with cutting the carcass, it is necessary to remove the internal organs. It is necessary to cut the chest area with an ax to get to them. First, the esophagus is tied up so that the contents do not stand out from it, and then it is removed. Then the intestines and stomach are removed. When removing the liver, it is important to be careful not to damage the gallbladder. The same recommendation applies to the bladder. If the contents of these organs get on the meat, the product will acquire an unpleasant taste and smell. The heart, spleen, kidneys are also removed.
Attention! At this stage, the veterinarian should inspect the carcass and internal organs to make sure the meat is fit. If he does not find signs of disease, you can continue to butcher the bull.
The next stage – at home, the carcass is cut with an ax along the ridge line into two parts, and then in half between 13 and 14 vertebrae. The tongue is removed from the head, considered a delicacy. The heart, liver, kidneys, lungs are put in a clean container, blotted with a cloth.
Then they proceed to further cutting – the meat is rolled, separated from bones, tendons, films, sorted. The intestines are often used to make homemade sausages, and therefore they are immediately thoroughly washed and sent for preservation.
Attention! Before laying the meat in the refrigerator, it must not be washed, otherwise the process of tissue decomposition will begin.
The sequence for cutting the carcass is as follows:
- First, they clean and roll the neck, after which it is cut into pieces.
- Remove the shoulder blades.
- Ribs are subjected to partial or complete stripping.
- Then they move on to the pelvic region – all the bones are removed from here.
- Proceed to the processing of the limbs. They are divided into several parts – the femur, drumstick and shank, tendons and bones are removed.
- Then cut the brisket.
- At the very end, the meat is separated from the humerus.
Store the product in the refrigerator at a temperature not exceeding 7 degrees. If necessary, it can be frozen, but do it gradually. Rapid freezing worsens the quality of meat.
Not knowing how to kill a cow or a bull, it is better not to take risks, but to entrust this responsible procedure to an experienced slaughterer. The slaughter of cattle carries the risk of incurring losses if not handled properly. This process is not for the faint of heart. It is important not only to kill the animal quickly and painlessly, but also to cut the carcass correctly. In the absence of experience, this will take half a day, and at elevated air temperatures, the meat may begin to deteriorate during this time.
