The Prepper Thread

BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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Beef is supposed to hang in a cooler for 2-3 weeks between being butchered and being cut. I have a neighbor who butchered a cow once but I don't know how it turned out. It's going to be a hell of a job too, especially if you're using a hand saw.

A pig you can butcher yourself reasonably. I helped with one a month or so ago. It's hard to cut ribs and chops etc. that look like they're from a butcher but we got it hacked up reasonably well.
 
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Gavinmad

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I don't think you realize how big a cow actually is and how much work (and wasted meat) would be involved in teaching yourself how to butcher one. Average slaughter weight of a cow is ~1400 pounds, which completely dwarfs any deer you've ever dressed. Leaving aside the walk-in cooler for the prepped carcass, you'd also need storage space for 4-600 pounds of beef after the butchery is done.

Hell even hog butchery is a lot of work and those are still nowhere near the size of a cow. I wouldn't butcher anything bigger at home.
 
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Bandwagon

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Kolohe
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Big Phoenix said:
This. Id invest the time into a garden growing vegetables you eat. Will be 100x more rewarding as theres a huge taste difference from anything you can buy at the store v what you pick from your garden.
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I got a gift card for a butcher shop for father's day a few years ago. I'll still get pork tenderloins from the grocery some times, but I almost never get beef from the grocery store anymore. I can't even eat the bloated tumor chicken breasts from there anymore.

Veggies from the home garden are definitely tastier pretty much across the board, but I can still eat grocery store veggies. Fresh ones just have a lot more flavor imo....the grocery store ones seem like they have about half as much flavor.

Differences in meat between a picky butcher and the grocery store is fucking massive, but at least the veggies are still edible.
 
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Bandwagon

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Kolohe
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Gavinmad said:
I don't think you realize how big a cow actually is and how much work (and wasted meat) would be involved in teaching yourself how to butcher one. Average slaughter weight of a cow is ~1400 pounds, which completely dwarfs any deer you've ever dressed. Leaving aside the walk-in cooler for the prepped carcass, you'd also need storage space for 4-600 pounds of beef after the butchery is done.
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Hey Tuco Tuco , how big is your shower just out of curiosity?
 
Sludig

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Flobee said:
Anyone have any book recommendations for traditional homemaking stuff? Wife is starting to get interested and I, being the good husband I am, like to encourage her urges in that direction! Thinking older books for like:

Housekeeping
Cooking
Homesteading
Canning

We're gunna be running a couple cattle next year its looking like, so anything related to that would be helpful/useful as well. Picked up a book on butchering which I plan on doing myself with the beef (God help me). Fully processed deer before, but this seems like a whole other beast. Basically trying to speedrun learning how to be real humans rather than pod-people.
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Youtube has a lot, supposedly FB has been randomly attacking groups on the topic lol. Video's you particularly like transcribe or otherwise get it downloaded if you are fearing non internet future.
 
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Sludig

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Bandwagon said:
I got a gift card for a butcher shop for father's day a few years ago. I'll still get pork tenderloins from the grocery some times, but I almost never get beef from the grocery store anymore. I can't even eat the bloated tumor chicken breasts from there anymore.

Veggies from the home garden are definitely tastier pretty much across the board, but I can still eat grocery store veggies. Fresh ones just have a lot more flavor imo....the grocery store ones seem like they have about half as much flavor.

Differences in meat between a picky butcher and the grocery store is fucking massive, but at least the veggies are still edible.
Click to expand...
My beef with a garden is also based on the land size you have, it's a lot of work, can have plenty go wrong, can be a challenge to furnish enough for any significant amount of the year, and with seasonality you get some fresh then need to can/freeze.

I guess in the apocalypse I'm going keto.
 
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BrutulTM

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Lanx said:
is that like a preference thing? have enzymes break down tissue for a bit?
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Yes. It's supposed to make it more tender and taste better. I don't know how much difference it makes but I think it's a pretty big deal because it's very expensive for butcher shops to have the cooler space to do it but they all do.
 
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Flobee

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Yea, I honestly agree that going with a butcher is the way to go. The reason I'm even considering butchering myself is due to the attack on the beef industry that is underway. So far as I can tell the most vulnerable aspect of the market is the USDA approved processing facilities. I know that locally where I'm at you're looking at 18 month lead time to get a steer butchered. I don't expect this to get better if things keep on their current trajectory.

I do expect that I'll at least try to get the first cattle I finish butchered if I can... however I do want to be capable of doing it myself if needed. The sheer size of the animal is obviously a big problem but what concerns me most is the aging process as pointed out. I don't have a walk in freezer, and maintaining sub 40 degree temps for a week will be near impossible to guarantee.

People were butchering cattle before freezers though, so I'm confident there is a way to do it.

RE: Garden - We have a plot ~40ft x 15ft fenced off we plan to use. Think we're going to try to no-till at least part of that... will see how it goes. We're basically drinking from a firehose in regards to learning WTF we're doing so I fully expect to do poorly the first year or two
 
Lanx

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Flobee said:
Yea, I honestly agree that going with a butcher is the way to go. The reason I'm even considering butchering myself is due to the attack on the beef industry that is underway. So far as I can tell the most vulnerable aspect of the market is the USDA approved processing facilities. I know that locally where I'm at you're looking at 18 month lead time to get a steer butchered. I don't expect this to get better if things keep on their current trajectory.

I do expect that I'll at least try to get the first cattle I finish butchered if I can... however I do want to be capable of doing it myself if needed. The sheer size of the animal is obviously a big problem but what concerns me most is the aging process as pointed out. I don't have a walk in freezer, and maintaining sub 40 degree temps for a week will be near impossible to guarantee.

People were butchering cattle before freezers though, so I'm confident there is a way to do it.

RE: Garden - We have a plot ~50ft x 20ft fenced off we plan to use. Think we're going to try to no-till at least part of that... will see how it goes. We're basically drinking from a firehose in regards to learning WTF we're doing so I fully expect to do poorly the first year or two
Click to expand...
i saw a thing on youtube for a usda licensed mobile butcher
 
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Bandwagon

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Kolohe
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Flobee said:
Yea, I honestly agree that going with a butcher is the way to go. The reason I'm even considering butchering myself is due to the attack on the beef industry that is underway. So far as I can tell the most vulnerable aspect of the market is the USDA approved processing facilities. I know that locally where I'm at you're looking at 18 month lead time to get a steer butchered. I don't expect this to get better if things keep on their current trajectory.

I do expect that I'll at least try to get the first cattle I finish butchered if I can... however I do want to be capable of doing it myself if needed. The sheer size of the animal is obviously a big problem but what concerns me most is the aging process as pointed out. I don't have a walk in freezer, and maintaining sub 40 degree temps for a week will be near impossible to guarantee.

People were butchering cattle before freezers though, so I'm confident there is a way to do it.

RE: Garden - We have a plot ~30ft x 10ft fenced off we plan to use. Think we're going to try to no-till at least part of that... will see how it goes. We're basically drinking from a firehose in regards to learning WTF we're doing so I fully expect to do poorly the first year or two
Click to expand...
Have you actually been into the butcher shop? Just out of curiosity, anyone under 40 years old working there?

I've been paying attention more and more to the age of people in ANY skilled job when I come across them in everyday life. Not a whole lot of young people in any of them. Plenty of them in the no-skill retail/hospitality fields though.
 
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Kolohe
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Lanx said:
i saw a thing on youtube for a usda licensed mobile butcher
Click to expand...
We had one in my hometown growing up. He slaughtered the neighbor's cow that my older sister thought was her friend right outside our back sliding glass door, lol. She used to feed it handfuls of grass over the fence before and after school.

I remember telling her "he looks like he's bungee jumping!" while it was hanging from the back of the truck and she was sobbing on the floor.
 
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BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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Flobee said:
Yea, I honestly agree that going with a butcher is the way to go. The reason I'm even considering butchering myself is due to the attack on the beef industry that is underway. So far as I can tell the most vulnerable aspect of the market is the USDA approved processing facilities. I know that locally where I'm at you're looking at 18 month lead time to get a steer butchered. I don't expect this to get better if things keep on their current trajectory.

I do expect that I'll at least try to get the first cattle I finish butchered if I can... however I do want to be capable of doing it myself if needed. The sheer size of the animal is obviously a big problem but what concerns me most is the aging process as pointed out. I don't have a walk in freezer, and maintaining sub 40 degree temps for a week will be near impossible to guarantee.

People were butchering cattle before freezers though, so I'm confident there is a way to do it.

RE: Garden - We have a plot ~40ft x 15ft fenced off we plan to use. Think we're going to try to no-till at least part of that... will see how it goes. We're basically drinking from a firehose in regards to learning WTF we're doing so I fully expect to do poorly the first year or two
Click to expand...


The butcher shop thing has gotten better here. There was money in the stimulus package for small scale meat processors and pretty much every shop in the area has expanded with grants from that and a few new ones have opened up.

That said, it sounds like you're pretty serious about this so maybe you would be interested in building your own walk-in cooler. You can do it surprisingly cheaply with a hacked window air conditioner and a shitload of insulation. I've actually thought about it myself. Do you have a tractor or a skid steer or something lift it with?

 
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Flobee

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BrutulTM said:
The butcher shop thing has gotten better here. There was money in the stimulus package for small scale meat processors and pretty much every shop in the area has expanded with grants from that and a few new ones have opened up.

That said, it sounds like you're pretty serious about this so maybe you would be interested in building your own walk-in cooler. You can do it surprisingly cheaply with a hacked window air conditioner and a shitload of insulation. I've actually thought about it myself. Do you have a tractor or a skid steer or something lift it with?
Click to expand...
Thats a really good idea, I'll look into it.

We don't have a tractor yet, but if things go as planned we should be getting my Grandfathers old tractor which should do the job just fine.
 
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LachiusTZ

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BrutulTM said:
The butcher shop thing has gotten better here. There was money in the stimulus package for small scale meat processors and pretty much every shop in the area has expanded with grants from that and a few new ones have opened up.

That said, it sounds like you're pretty serious about this so maybe you would be interested in building your own walk-in cooler. You can do it surprisingly cheaply with a hacked window air conditioner and a shitload of insulation. I've actually thought about it myself. Do you have a tractor or a skid steer or something lift it with?

Click to expand...


What the hell?...

How does a window unit get that cold?
 
BrutulTM

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LachiusTZ said:
What the hell?...

How does a window unit get that cold?
Click to expand...
That CoolBot gadget basically heats its temperature sensor and makes it think it's warmer than it is so it doesn't turn off. Pretty clever really.
 
LachiusTZ

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BrutulTM said:
That CoolBot gadget basically heats its temperature sensor and makes it think it's warmer than it is so it doesn't turn off. Pretty clever really.
Click to expand...

I got that, but those window units aren't exactly blowing ice when it's 100+ outside.

We have misters on the farm ones.

If you could chill the outside as well it would get it, but seems sketchy for southern summers etc
 
Big Phoenix

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LachiusTZ said:
I got that, but those window units aren't exactly blowing ice when it's 100+ outside.

We have misters on the farm ones.

If you could chill the outside as well it would get it, but seems sketchy for southern summers etc
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Just ignore your electric bill and how fast the ac breaks and you wont have any problems. That or they dont spec their setup using a run of the mill window unit you buy at home depot.
 
BrutulTM

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I know a couple people who have built them and they seem to work fine. Dozens of videos on YouTube about them.
 
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Borzak

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LachiusTZ said:
What the hell?...

How does a window unit get that cold?
Click to expand...

Walk in coolers for hanging deer all over south, TX in a pretty hot climate that used modified window units. Some of them quite large, big enough to hold a dozen or more deer for weeks at a time.
 
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