Re: [Blackbelly] band saw for meat
At 01:14 PM 5/24/2009, you wrote: Of course the ram lamb had to get himself killed Saturday evening of the three-day Memorial Day weekend. My custom slaughter guy wasn't home. The meat packer was closed. It's 6PM and I'm looking at the 60-lb lamb lying bloated in the pasture, soon to be a siren call to every coyote in the county. The other ram lambs are looking the other way, unwilling to fess up to who delivered the fatal blow. So I'm stuck with the job of skinning, dressing, and cutting up about 30 lb of meat for the dogs. I didn't mind the skinning and dressing because I'd not done it before, so there was a certain novelty to the chore. But I've had to cut up carcasses for dog food before and it is a long, not fun job. Nevertheless, I plugged my MP3 player with its Clive Cussler audiobook into my ears and got that carcass skinned and the legs and rib cage bagged in two hours. I stashed everything into the spare fridge in the garage, too pooped to deal with cutting up the meat. So today was meat cutting day. Because it's dog food, I got away with cutting everything into 2-lb chunks, bone and all. Even so, that's a lot of legbone and rib cutting to do with a small handheld meat hacksaw. Now that everything is packaged and in the freezer, the idea of buying a bandsaw is looking really good. I don't have many unexpected sheep deaths, so a bandsaw won't get a lot of use. Perhaps I could get good at cutting my own steaks and save on the $35 butcher fee. I Googled and it seems there are sportsman models available for $250 to $330. Do any of you know of less expensive options? I'm not really too familiar with shop tools, but I was wondering if there is a kind of bandsaw that I could look for in a farm auction that would work. Do any of you have experience using such a tool in lieu of an actual meat bandsaw? Carol I've got one word for you... Sawzall! They work great for cutting up meat and bone. I often use one to cut a hanging carcass in half(and quarters, depending on what I'm doing), it makes short work of the job. Harbor freight sells a pretty cheap sawzall that I wouldn't use for demolition, but is definitely up to the task of butchering. They even have cordless models, if you don't want to be restricted by a cord. It's much cheaper than a bandsaw. Julian ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] band saw for meat
I know this has probably been discussed before, and there are lots of different opinions on it - but do you feed bones and all to the dogs? Cooked or raw? There are plenty of folks who feed raw meat to dogs (and from my own sheep, I'd not worry about contamination anyway), but I have had it drummed into me never to feed bones - raw or otherwise - to dogs because of the risk of splintered bones or obstruction of the gi tract. Have you all been feeding bones to dogs for years and had no problems? I'd sure hate to lose one of my livestock dogs because of something I fed them. Stephanie On May 25, 2009, at 12:28 PM, Julian Hale wrote: At 01:14 PM 5/24/2009, you wrote: Of course the ram lamb had to get himself killed Saturday evening of the three-day Memorial Day weekend. My custom slaughter guy wasn't home. The meat packer was closed. It's 6PM and I'm looking at the 60-lb lamb lying bloated in the pasture, soon to be a siren call to every coyote in the county. The other ram lambs are looking the other way, unwilling to fess up to who delivered the fatal blow. So I'm stuck with the job of skinning, dressing, and cutting up about 30 lb of meat for the dogs. I didn't mind the skinning and dressing because I'd not done it before, so there was a certain novelty to the chore. But I've had to cut up carcasses for dog food before and it is a long, not fun job. Nevertheless, I plugged my MP3 player with its Clive Cussler audiobook into my ears and got that carcass skinned and the legs and rib cage bagged in two hours. I stashed everything into the spare fridge in the garage, too pooped to deal with cutting up the meat. So today was meat cutting day. Because it's dog food, I got away with cutting everything into 2-lb chunks, bone and all. Even so, that's a lot of legbone and rib cutting to do with a small handheld meat hacksaw. Now that everything is packaged and in the freezer, the idea of buying a bandsaw is looking really good. I don't have many unexpected sheep deaths, so a bandsaw won't get a lot of use. Perhaps I could get good at cutting my own steaks and save on the $35 butcher fee. I Googled and it seems there are sportsman models available for $250 to $330. Do any of you know of less expensive options? I'm not really too familiar with shop tools, but I was wondering if there is a kind of bandsaw that I could look for in a farm auction that would work. Do any of you have experience using such a tool in lieu of an actual meat bandsaw? Carol I've got one word for you... Sawzall! They work great for cutting up meat and bone. I often use one to cut a hanging carcass in half(and quarters, depending on what I'm doing), it makes short work of the job. Harbor freight sells a pretty cheap sawzall that I wouldn't use for demolition, but is definitely up to the task of butchering. They even have cordless models, if you don't want to be restricted by a cord. It's much cheaper than a bandsaw. Julian ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] band saw for meat
Hi Julian, Absolutely brilliant! Let me ask another question, though. Do you freeze or partially freeze the carcass before you saw it? If not, do meat and bone chips fly all around the room when you saw? Also, if I've already cut the legs and rib cage off the carcass and have them lying flat on a table, do you think I can hold the leg with one hand while I saw steaks with the other or am I liable to lose a hand that way? I need to be able to do this without requiring a second person to hold anything. What works for you? Carol At 10:28 AM 5/25/2009, you wrote: I've got one word for you... Sawzall! They work great for cutting up meat and bone. ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] band saw for meat
At 08:43 PM 5/25/2009, you wrote: I know this has probably been discussed before, and there are lots of different opinions on it - but do you feed bones and all to the dogs? Cooked or raw? There are plenty of folks who feed raw meat to dogs (and from my own sheep, I'd not worry about contamination anyway), but I have had it drummed into me never to feed bones - raw or otherwise - to dogs because of the risk of splintered bones or obstruction of the gi tract. Have you all been feeding bones to dogs for years and had no problems? I'd sure hate to lose one of my livestock dogs because of something I fed them. Stephanie RAW bones are perfectly fine. I've fed raw meat and bones for years without GI problems of any sort. COOKED bones on the other hand, splinter and can puncture the throat, stomach, etc. You do need to pay attention to choking hazards, but I know of dogs who've choked to death on kibble, so it's something to pay attention to anyway. Like I said a couple weeks ago, I almost lost a ewe to choking on alfalfa pellets! If you are interested in feeding raw, but are worried about consuming whole bone, I highly recommend the book The B.A.R.F. Diet by Dr. Ian Billinghurst. BARF stands for Bones And Raw Food, and relies upon grinding most of the meat and bones that you feed your dogs. I've switched away from Billinghurst's method, not because I found it lacking, but because it is a little too time consuming. Now I pretty much just feed whole meat and bones. Julian ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] band saw for meat
Hi there, I agree with Julian that a Sawzall works great. But I have even a cheaper way and that is to go to wall-mart or some like store and buy a cheap black and decker jig saw I got mine for less that $20. Then buy a long blade, about 5 inches with about 20 teeth per inch for it. The regular length blades or to short to go through backbone. mine cost about $4. I only use this jig saw for meat cutting, I have other better ones for work and metal working. If you are not to familiar with hand power tools it may be a little easier for you to use by yourself as some sawzall's have quite a little torque. I would suggest that you put a large tub under the end of a table. Hold the lamb tight to the table with the portion to be cut off hanging off the end of the table and over the tub. cut through the meat and bone and let the pieces drop into the tub. I do mine outside as, yes, you will have meat and bone splatter. I do not bother to par freeze the meat but you can if you want and the job will go a little easier as the meat does not tend to move around. Good luck which ever way you go. Garland In Oregon. - Original Message - From: Carol J. Elkins celk...@awrittenword.com To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info Sent: Monday, May 25, 2009 9:33 PM Subject: Re: [Blackbelly] band saw for meat Hi Julian, Absolutely brilliant! Let me ask another question, though. Do you freeze or partially freeze the carcass before you saw it? If not, do meat and bone chips fly all around the room when you saw? Also, if I've already cut the legs and rib cage off the carcass and have them lying flat on a table, do you think I can hold the leg with one hand while I saw steaks with the other or am I liable to lose a hand that way? I need to be able to do this without requiring a second person to hold anything. What works for you? Carol At 10:28 AM 5/25/2009, you wrote: I've got one word for you... Sawzall! They work great for cutting up meat and bone. ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
[Blackbelly] band saw for meat
Of course the ram lamb had to get himself killed Saturday evening of the three-day Memorial Day weekend. My custom slaughter guy wasn't home. The meat packer was closed. It's 6PM and I'm looking at the 60-lb lamb lying bloated in the pasture, soon to be a siren call to every coyote in the county. The other ram lambs are looking the other way, unwilling to fess up to who delivered the fatal blow. So I'm stuck with the job of skinning, dressing, and cutting up about 30 lb of meat for the dogs. I didn't mind the skinning and dressing because I'd not done it before, so there was a certain novelty to the chore. But I've had to cut up carcasses for dog food before and it is a long, not fun job. Nevertheless, I plugged my MP3 player with its Clive Cussler audiobook into my ears and got that carcass skinned and the legs and rib cage bagged in two hours. I stashed everything into the spare fridge in the garage, too pooped to deal with cutting up the meat. So today was meat cutting day. Because it's dog food, I got away with cutting everything into 2-lb chunks, bone and all. Even so, that's a lot of legbone and rib cutting to do with a small handheld meat hacksaw. Now that everything is packaged and in the freezer, the idea of buying a bandsaw is looking really good. I don't have many unexpected sheep deaths, so a bandsaw won't get a lot of use. Perhaps I could get good at cutting my own steaks and save on the $35 butcher fee. I Googled and it seems there are sportsman models available for $250 to $330. Do any of you know of less expensive options? I'm not really too familiar with shop tools, but I was wondering if there is a kind of bandsaw that I could look for in a farm auction that would work. Do any of you have experience using such a tool in lieu of an actual meat bandsaw? Carol Carol Elkins Critterhaven--Registered Barbados Blackbelly Hair Sheep (no shear, no dock, no fuss) Pueblo, Colorado http://www.critterhaven.biz ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
