Customer Reviews

Basic Butchering of Livestock & Game

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Put bluntly; killing and butchering animals is not a pleasant business. Anyone who has hunted or helped slaughter on a farm can attest to this. You just have to jump in and do it.
Ironically, or perhaps most fittingly, this book was written by a veterinarian. I had a couple of chuckles about that fact.
This is a very "how to" book, so is really not meant to be casually read. The information provided is practical and well presented to make the process easier.
The author handles what some may consider a sensitive subject with honesty and straight-forward thinking. He also provides numerous tips and how-tos when it comes to handling and butchering several different kinds of animals.
While every hunter may not need this book, it sure provides a lot of help and suggestions. If you are going to be butchering a wide variety of animals (pigs, cows, deer, etc.), this is definitely the book for you.

Not just butchering, but recipes as well. Something that we will keep and use for many years. Worth every dime.

This is an excellent book. This should be a required purchase for everyone who takes to the woods in pursuit of wild game for the table.

No more wasting meat or spending big money by taking your wild game to a professional meat processor, all you need to know is right here.

I highly recommend this book, especially to hunters and outdoorsmen.

The only thing that could be better than this book is having an experienced butcher personally lead you through each step of the butchering process. If you do not have access to a personal butchering tutor, this is the Butchering Bible. Easy to follow, nice illustrations, does its best to make what can be a slightly upsetting task less so, and isn't clouded over with unnecessary verbiage. Best one out there.

After getting venison, we realized we had no idea how to dress it.
This book gave me all the knowledge I needed to get the beast in the freezer. It provides clear information and a great step-by-step.

The book is really easy to follow - I was able to alternatively pick up the knife to do a step, pick up the book, and do the next step. The book now has blood on it, and the venison is successfully in the freezer.

I would suggest this for anyone that has an inkling towards being more self-sufficient.

My experience with the slaughter and butchery of mammals is pretty much limited to chickens, turkeys, and a few rabbits, but I definitely want to go beyond this. Before attempting anything like a pig or a lamb, I might want to read several books but this particular publication has to be the best possible introduction. Th writing is clear and straight-forward and the text is amply illustrated with great hand-drawn sketches that are even more effective than actual photographs in my opinion. Kudos to the author for a great book for the beginner.

This is the most concise book I have ever seen on the subject of slaughtering livestock. My hat is off to this author who as I can tell has spent many a day around the slaughterhouse. I would recommend this book to anyone who has even a slight interest in slaughtering his or her own livestock.

It helped me expand my knowlege of butchering wild game, namely venison! I could recommend this to the somewhat seasoned butcher as well as the novice! He also included some great idea's I can't wait to try for preserving different meats! My only complaint would be that the author did not explain the different quality of the cuts of meat(ie. tenderness) as well on the wild game as he did with the domestic animals. However, overall this book is well worth the cost and should be in any self-suficiency minded person's library!

For any person living off the grid or desiring to do so, this book will provide invaluable information on how to slaughter when you can't just drive to the market or drag it to a processing house. I would have liked to have seen more information on "Walton" preserving, as I like to be able to live without all of the conveniences of city life. I like the idea of being able to fend for myself, and I would not hesitate to use this as a guide for my first steer. His rabbit method is quite similar to mine (I use two pegs).

I used this book to teach myself the basics of butchering many years ago and find it is a ready resource today. I butcher on a regular basis and would recommend this book to any man who has never put the knife to his own livestock before.

One thing to remember about butchering is this, no book will ever give you the skills, you have to kill and cut to learn them.