SaratogaNZW
Active member
I have had a lot of emails from people I have sold to, once it is time to start butchering. I put this together and thought I would share, as there are a lot of these types of questions here.
Please feel free to tear it up, or add your own opinions or ideas, that's why its here =)
Keep in mind its a process for processing several, like 8 or more.
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Butchering bunnies
Setup:
Find an area you can power-wash if you can.
Setup a place to start the process, hang them by their hind legs to bleed out, a place when you can sit and have then hanging in front of you. Setup 2 buckets with heavy duty plastic liners for blood and entrails. Setup 3 more large buckets of clean fresh water, these can be replaced with a deep sink if available. Setup a cooler full of ice and brine if desired, to immediately cool them if desired.
Processing:
I start with a pellet gun to the brain stem, which works 99% of the time, I also keep a 22 on standby.
I then hold them up by their hind legs until the kicking calms down, because it tends to flip blood around.
Once the kicking has subsided, I decapitate with a large cleaver or machete and chopping block, then hang to finish bleeding out over the lined buckets. I usually start 2-3 at a time like this, so I have 2 bleeding out while I'm processing and skinning the first.
I then move to the skinning and gutting station. Again hanging by loops of twine around each hind foot, belly facing me, head down.
Clip the front feet off at the wrist joint with the garden clippers.
Carefully Make a VERY shallow cut, just through the skin in each hind ankle. It is easy to cut too deep here and cut the tendons that hold the meat onto the bone, and it becomes a pain as you continue.
Using just your fingers, work the skin down around each hip, it tears easily so be careful not to tear the legs up as you work it down. Eventually you will just have a loop to cut at the tail, and another at the belly. After you free those 2 areas, you should be able to pull the skin off like peeling off a sock, that's why you cut the front feet already. Try to leave the 2 fat deposits on each shoulder blade on the carcass, not on the hide.
Turn it around, and grabbing each hip, put your thumbs in the middle if the back and pull the hips back, until you think the pelvis is split. While it's turned around, carefully clip the tail, just through the bone, but not all the way through to the front side, just enough the tail will flip forward.
Turn it back around, flip the tail back and split the rabbit down the center line from genitals to the sternum, or all the way to the neck if you desire.
Grab the tail, pull it down through the split pelvis, making sure the anus and genitals come with it, carefully not to rupture the GI tract. Cut away from hips and pelvis as needed. It should pull down and out easily to about halfway, the kidneys. This is the largest fat deposit you can choose to remove or leave on the carcass.
Pull each of the kidneys out, if desired, and continue down, by scraping 2 fingers down the back, until the liver is visible. Check the liver it should be deep red, and uniform in color, no spotting or sores. Separate this mass of stuff from the chest cavity and drop in the bucket.
Separate the kidneys and liver and save out, if desired. If you do save the liver, carefully pluck the small green sack of bile from it, and discard.
With the knife again, cut the diaphragm out all the way around. Again with just 2 fingers, rake down the back to get under the lungs and heart, and pull them up and out, making sure you get the windpipe also with this mass. There is usually another difficult to remove deposit of fat at the bottom of the chest cavity at the neck. Scrape it out, you can also push up on it from the other side in the neck. Clip the back feet off with your garden shears, as high on the ankle as possible.
Move to the buckets or deep sink and rinse the carcass well, sure to rinse off any blood, fur, etc. If you did not split the sternum, tuck the hind legs up in the chest cavity, stretching out the saddle. Pull the bellyflaps out and wrap them around the hips.
Put on ice in a cooler while you do the another. Dry Age in fridge or in icy brine 3 days or until rigor releases. Package as desired and freeze.
Please feel free to tear it up, or add your own opinions or ideas, that's why its here =)
Keep in mind its a process for processing several, like 8 or more.
=====
Butchering bunnies
Setup:
Find an area you can power-wash if you can.
Setup a place to start the process, hang them by their hind legs to bleed out, a place when you can sit and have then hanging in front of you. Setup 2 buckets with heavy duty plastic liners for blood and entrails. Setup 3 more large buckets of clean fresh water, these can be replaced with a deep sink if available. Setup a cooler full of ice and brine if desired, to immediately cool them if desired.
Processing:
I start with a pellet gun to the brain stem, which works 99% of the time, I also keep a 22 on standby.
I then hold them up by their hind legs until the kicking calms down, because it tends to flip blood around.
Once the kicking has subsided, I decapitate with a large cleaver or machete and chopping block, then hang to finish bleeding out over the lined buckets. I usually start 2-3 at a time like this, so I have 2 bleeding out while I'm processing and skinning the first.
I then move to the skinning and gutting station. Again hanging by loops of twine around each hind foot, belly facing me, head down.
Clip the front feet off at the wrist joint with the garden clippers.
Carefully Make a VERY shallow cut, just through the skin in each hind ankle. It is easy to cut too deep here and cut the tendons that hold the meat onto the bone, and it becomes a pain as you continue.
Using just your fingers, work the skin down around each hip, it tears easily so be careful not to tear the legs up as you work it down. Eventually you will just have a loop to cut at the tail, and another at the belly. After you free those 2 areas, you should be able to pull the skin off like peeling off a sock, that's why you cut the front feet already. Try to leave the 2 fat deposits on each shoulder blade on the carcass, not on the hide.
Turn it around, and grabbing each hip, put your thumbs in the middle if the back and pull the hips back, until you think the pelvis is split. While it's turned around, carefully clip the tail, just through the bone, but not all the way through to the front side, just enough the tail will flip forward.
Turn it back around, flip the tail back and split the rabbit down the center line from genitals to the sternum, or all the way to the neck if you desire.
Grab the tail, pull it down through the split pelvis, making sure the anus and genitals come with it, carefully not to rupture the GI tract. Cut away from hips and pelvis as needed. It should pull down and out easily to about halfway, the kidneys. This is the largest fat deposit you can choose to remove or leave on the carcass.
Pull each of the kidneys out, if desired, and continue down, by scraping 2 fingers down the back, until the liver is visible. Check the liver it should be deep red, and uniform in color, no spotting or sores. Separate this mass of stuff from the chest cavity and drop in the bucket.
Separate the kidneys and liver and save out, if desired. If you do save the liver, carefully pluck the small green sack of bile from it, and discard.
With the knife again, cut the diaphragm out all the way around. Again with just 2 fingers, rake down the back to get under the lungs and heart, and pull them up and out, making sure you get the windpipe also with this mass. There is usually another difficult to remove deposit of fat at the bottom of the chest cavity at the neck. Scrape it out, you can also push up on it from the other side in the neck. Clip the back feet off with your garden shears, as high on the ankle as possible.
Move to the buckets or deep sink and rinse the carcass well, sure to rinse off any blood, fur, etc. If you did not split the sternum, tuck the hind legs up in the chest cavity, stretching out the saddle. Pull the bellyflaps out and wrap them around the hips.
Put on ice in a cooler while you do the another. Dry Age in fridge or in icy brine 3 days or until rigor releases. Package as desired and freeze.
This is similar to many processing applications and similar to what we do here. The only real difference for us is the dispatching of the livestock. We don't use a pellet gun (although I am not opposed to that method), but I am confused by "...which works 99% of the time..". The way I read this is 1 out of 100 rabbits gets shot in the head only to run away and live a mangled life. I would like to presume that your success rate is 100% accurate, 100% of the time.
