Tag: abattoir

What a day yesterday was. Most of all lit was long. We started at 4:45am to go to our friend's old farm. He was good enough to house our ten excess roosters at his place. So off we went to get our roosters, and help catch their chickens too.In total we caught a bunch of chickens in the dark or near dark. Tim and I didn't have headlamps so we had to put the light in the barn on. We then stumbled around trying to catch a few ducks. Catching ducks is like trying to run down a really angry two year old. Once held they flail and writhe for their life. Of course in this case it really is their life as they are going off on the final trip. Even getting the ducks into the crates was hard as they spread their wings as far as they can, trying to flap away and beat you simultaneously. Next was the turkeys. Luckily there were only 4 turkeys and they were quite easy to get. A dog crate was their home for the next little while, they were all far too big for the chicken crates. They were quite beautiful to see up close.  Neither Tim nor I have really seen turkeys up close and they really are lovely birds. Finally it was the pastured barred rocks. Luckily it was still dark so catching thirty only took a matter of minutes. Trying to determine size and sex was a challenge thought, they are black and white birds that visually read as grey in the dawn. Around 7:30 we left the farm for a small scale Mennonite poultry processor, one of a handful left in the area. We chose this one as it came highly recommended by other farmers. After seeing them we would have to agree. We arrived there just after eight and we were about 6th in line. Tim talked to some other people in line. We got our green slips and waited. Most people do a white-rock-cornish cross bird for meat. These birds are bred for meat and grow can grow to 10 pounds in around 10 weeks. At least that is what we are told. Most of these birds cannot fly and do not seem to care about much of anything around them. What they do do is convert feed to meat very well. Our birds took 28 weeks to get to 6 pounds.  After a while the inspector came round and said everything looked good. Actually watching the kill line was disturbing, but having said that...there was a person at every step of the way. The kids picked up the birds and flipped them around with ease. One, two, three, four, five into the stocks. The next kid with the electric knife would then grab hold of their neck and cut it. It wasn't graceful but it did appear immediate. The little chicken body was now stained red, it shook a bit and was done. The next step was the scalder to break down the proteins in the feathers to make it easier to pluck the birds, then into the Featherman plucker and onto the next stage inside the building. It really was, in many ways amazing to watch. The chances of a chicken getting injured and wandering around for too long is very low. Of course, that exact scenario happened while we were there. One of the chickens, not ours, came out of the stocks and landed on the floor. It was a bit dazed, but in no time it was picked up and killed. The sight really bothered me, but people are people and can make mistakes. Of course our birds were not docile meat birds and can fly. The Mennonite kids had to be told of this. They were very good about it and only had one, occasionally two birds in the stocks. They also kept a hold of the birds so they couldn't go anywhere. Once again it was all over very fast. Watching anything be killed is not a nice sight.  For us the entire process was somewhat traumatic. The thought of a mobile abattoir is wonderful because the worst part of the whole thing was catching the birds. Once they were in the cages they settled right down. The drive was okay too as they were well protected by the trailer and tarp. But, if we want to sell our birds legally this is what has to be done. After watching the entire process I can see a reason for having docile birds willing to accept their death. We left and went home to tend to the rest of our animals, have a shower, and get a bite to eat. We went back to the plant to pick up the birds in the afternoon. At the end of it all we have ten chickens in our freezer along with one duck from our friend. We have made another collective step towards knowing we can produce some more of our own food. Now we have to find out how much all of this cost!

Posted via email from All SortsAcre

The last three weeks have been incredibly eventful here. We are down two sheep, up 27 chicks, have 28 eggs in the incubator, and we actually went on a "holiday". Even beginning to put everything into a time line seems daunting considering all that we had to pull off. The beginning is usually the best place to start.

One of the biggest challenges for any new small-holder or farmer is when your animals have reached the end of their time at your farm. This time had come for our sheep, Scratchy and Mr. Tufts. This is something that both of us had debated about whether we were going to do or not. We went back and forth, do they go to the abattoir or do we keep them. There were good cases for both. We really liked Mr. Tufts and he was born here. The four sheep made up a flock and we wouldn't have to get more, Everyone got along most of the time. Scratchy didn't really have a good side except that Tim had a soft spot for her. On the other hand we had three black sheep, one was dangerous, one was a bully, and we couldn't have lambs without getting another ram.

The final decision was not actually made by us but by circumstance. We were going away Jeanne, my Mum was coming to look after our farm. We were scared that Scratchy or Mr. Tufts may knock her down.

If we wanted to go away then to the abattoir we go. Itchy and Scratchy arrived here in our Matrix so logic says that we can use that as our transport vehicle. On May 11 we loaded them in and off we went to the abattoir. Both were fine in the car once they were in. We had tried to make sure that we would arrive at the last possible minute so Scratchy and Mr.Tufts wouldn't have to wait around. Both animals were unloaded out of the car and into the abattoir. they were in there for no more than half an hour as there were not any other animals ahead of them. Neither Tim nor I could go in and watch.

The rest of the day was taken up with how it felt and could we do it again. Both of us cried at times but our final conclusion is that yes we could.

The next day we were able to watch the butcher's cut up the carcasses and find out how the entire process worked. It was really interesting to see how an abattoir worked. We were able to see the kill floor, holding pens, freezers, and we had a really good chat with all of the butchers. Each of them had years of experience and knew exactly what they were doing. It is amazing to see a good butcher transform a carcass into cuts of meat. We went home with 84 pounds of meat and now our freezer is full. We are so thankful to both Scratchy and Mr. Tufts.

That night we had a Scratchy roast. We cooked it in the slow cooker with our own herbs. It was the best roast we had ever eaten. Thank you Scratchy and Mr. Tufts.

Posted via email from All SortsAcre