Cost to butcher livestock?

Question

How much did it cost you to butcher a cow, deer, elk, pig, or any other animal that you had butchered, and what part of the country are you in?

Answer 1

In Arkansas it cost to butcher, cut and wrap (& kill) approx 20 % of the dressed out weight of the animal...... a steer that dresses out to 500 lbs cost $100.00..... or 1000 lbs = $200.00

Answer 2

We mostly do our own in a neighborhood co op.  One person grows pigs, another lamb, another beef cows, and yet another hunts.  Some have really good knives, some have a grinder, others provide the manual labor or are expert wrappers, etc.  It may sound gross to some, but I like knowing how my meat lives and dies.  I know it didn't live in a factory farm, polluting the environment and standing in it's own waste , eating things I wouldn't put into a compost pile.  I know it most likely died without even knowing the blow was coming.  We did take a couple of sheep to the butcher for a restaurant once.  We had to drive them 60 miles (very scary for them) and it cost us a $15 kill fee, plus 45 to butcher them and wrap in paper.  It would have cost $10 more to shrink wrap.  I live in the NE.  Oh, we also had some chickens done once, and they had to sit out in cages all night, then cost $2.50 apiece to get them back whole, without the lungs and heart removed (blech!  I prefer to do them myself).

Answer 3

in texas they usually charge a kill charge and so much a pound to cut and wrap it

Answer 4

In Ontario we have lost most custom butchering other than in government inspected premises. That means that it is only the game hunter who might take a deer or moose to the abatoir.

But then it has to be sneaked in, and processed when the inspectors are not there, because it has to be killed in front of the inspector, not out on the grass.

This means that almost all game butchering is done only by those who will eat the meat. Well, we have the same situation for farm-killed and butchered livestock, except that we still have several farmers cooperate in a slaughtering.

It has become practically a federal case to take money for butchering outside of a government inspected abatoir.

In Canada we have different sized pigs. We grow pigs for market to a target dressed weight less than 100 kg, and that would be live weight about 160 kg max. We are docked as overweight beyond the 100 kg dressed weight. Only a pig that is going to be a grade C (too fat) will be raised to overweight. The discount for overweight is smaller than that for grade C.

When a farmer considers taking livestock to the abatoire, it costs them more than the difference between selling the animal and buying the meat. If they do not butcher their own, they sell then buy.

Answer 5

EW.

Answer 6

You're comparing apples to oranges. Deer are typically pretty small. Other than larger mule deer, the typical white or black tail will be under 200 pounds dressed. A hog can run up to 1000 pounds but typical is 500. A cow or steer can run 1500 or more.

A typical black tail here weighing about 180 to 200 pounds will cost about $240 cut packaged and frozen and giving you about 110 pounds of useable meat.

A cow or pig is livestock. Those usually handled by mobile butchers unless you live near a slaughter operation in Kansas City or like. They will slaughter and butcher. And the price can run from  80 cents to $1.50 per finished pound you get. TThey butcher also keeps the renderings. On the livestock it is required that the meat be frozen for 30 days before release. (USDA law since the 1930's)

I'm in Oregon. Prices don't vary too much across the country. I've seen many elk and deer rejected by butchers as the person ad botched the job of dressing.. And you might want to add another $100 or so if you were too lazy or squemish to skin the animal. When I dress an elk or deer, I require about 6 to 8 knives and also use a hatchet. Show me a guy that butchers a deer or elk with only one knife and it will be almost inedible. I do my own butchering, not professional but works. If I hired the butchering with travel costs and butchering costs it would be cheaper just buying beef steak at the grocery. I killed a buffalo in Arizona in 1970 with a .58 calibre Zouave (underpowered but couldn't get a replacement for a damaged barell on my Red River .50 Hawkins in time) rifle. The Navahos kept the hide, head and the best 3/4ths of the meat. I got the rest. They furnished the guide (who dispatched te buffalo with his .338 Winchester Magnum after I had dropped it to its knees with my shot) They also butchered it and I spent a night with them celebrating the hunt and giving thanks to the Great Spirit. Cost  $2800.  Worth every bit of it too. I did get two really good equivalents of buffalo porterhouse steaks. Best cut of all.

Answer 7

$50 for slaughtering a cow and $35 for a lamb and pig,  an additional 48 cents per pound for processing and wrapping. South West