Information

Our service area is approximately 100 miles from our home base in Waelder TX. This is simply to keep travel costs to a reasonable level. Travel costs are $1.50/mile portal to portal, to cover cost of fuel, tire wear, and such maintenace as traveling incurrs. 

Ex: Travel cost to a town 50 miles from Waelder will incur a $150.00 travel fee.

Payment types accepted: Cash or Check

No digital transactions are accepted in an attempt to keep costs & prices down. All digital transactions have a percentage fee that we don't want to add to your bill. Thank you for understanding!

Services we offer are as follows

Please note: All prices are on live weight poundage.

We have no kill fee, no packaging fee, and no grind fee. If you know what your live animal weighs, you know what your end bill will be.

These are available on the unit for making pan sausage directly at time of butcher, but we also have them in ready-to-use kits for making sausage on the fly in your frying pan from whatever ground meat you have on hand at the time!

Breakfast sausage

Sage sausage (MSG free)

Sweet italian sausage

We have our own line of season-all and rubs for you to enjoy!

Classic

Five Dogs High

Raven

BEFORE WE ARRIVE: Please have your animal confined in a small space. An open field will not suffice. A livestock trailer, stall, or pen is good. 

*Note on Cows: they get twitchy when alone. Feel free to put your cow and 2 others in the pen. This will help keep them calm. Once the cow of interest is harvested, the other 2 will still have each other and can be calmly walked back out of the pen to the pasture. This can be especially helpful strategy if your cow in question is a fence jumper.

You will need: Enough cooler space to hold all of your meat, plus enough room to hold an equal amount of ice. You will also need ice. Cube or block ice is recommended. Hollow core, and pearl ice are strongly not recommended. These types of ice melt too quickly and will not be as effective in cooling your meat. With enough preparation, ice is easily made in your currently empty freezer! Fill 1 liter bottles, make bricks in tubs, fill & freeze flat vacuum or ziploc bags, whatever gets the job done, these methods are very functional. We do not recommend gallon jugs of ice, these are bulky and hard to maneuver in a cooler with large peices of meat.

The reason for this is you cannot put hot meat straight into your freezer. This much hot meat *will* defrost your freezer and everything else in it. Once the meat is chilled, it can safely be placed in your freezer for final freezing. Even if your freezer is empty, your freezer simply cannot handle this quantity of hot meat before it rots, and/or your freezer dies trying to cool it.

How we package your meat for freezing: We use 2 lb chub bags for your grind and pan sausage. Steak, brisket, and roasts are vacuum packed and double sealed.

Don't own any ranch land or livestock, but still want to be involved in your meat's process? Feel free to book a date with us, buy an animal and have us come do it right out of the trailer you haul it home in. No pens neccessary. We have a trailer and equipment, which we bring to your place where your animal is. We set up at your place. We will kill your animal, skin, and gut it. If you want the hide or head, be sure to tell us in advance and we can get that done! We have multiple product packages to choose from. Our most popular package is the Butcher's Choice, where the butcher determines the tenderness of each cut and what to do with it on a peice by peice basis. Have an animal with a cool set of horns? Let us know and we can save that head for you, ready to put to the beetles or ants for cleaning. Be aware that heads will have a bullet hole in them. Heads cannot be used for food purposes due to the head shot. We can also do caping and rugging if you want a mount or a hide made. We do not do any tanning, however. This does slow us down in the effort to not put any holes in your hide, as special care is taken to produce a quality product. All animal products from the slaughter are left at your place. Disposal of the inedible remains must be handled on site per state law. No part of your animal, edible or otherwise, leaves your property. You can go from live animal to dinner in a matter of minutes or hours! All services are performed where you can observe, and you can ask questions about every stage of the process. There are no secrets here, and we are completely happy to teach you anything you want to know! Questions are welcomed. There is no swapping meat out, no getting only part of your animal back, no meat glue or injections, none of the problems people often encounter with traditional butchery. Services are also performed quickly. 1000 lb cattle often only take a couple of hours. Smaller animals are done much more quickly! We DO NOT do hunted/dead animals. All animals MUST be alive when we arrive. 

What is the best time of year to slaughter an animal? Whenever your animal is ready. Summer time slaughter with us is not an issue, due to our speed at getting the animal on ice. Book us year round!

Why must an animal be alive to be accepted for slaughter? First, it's required by State law. Also, meat starts to rot right away after death. This affects not only the flavor of your meat, but also the health value. After an animal dies the bacteria within it start breaking down to body right away to help it rot, and to help maggots and such to decompose and dispose of the body. This bacteria can make you very very sick if you eat it. An animal that had been dead for too long is not safe to eat. So to make sure all the meat we slaughter for you is wholesome and good, we require that all animals be alive when we arrive so we know precisely how long that animal had been dead. Our preference is for your meat to still be visibly twitching when it is finished and resting in your ice chest getting chilled on ice. Now that is fresh meat! 

 How long does it take to get an animal processed? We have decades of experience in butchering animals, and have had lots and lots of practice. As a result, it doesn't take very much time at all. Prep and paperwork take longer! Once it's dead and hung, a 100lb animal quartered takes approximately 6 minutes, from first cut to last. Deboning takes a smidge longer. Packaging is by far the most time consuming part of the process! 1000 lbs takes approximately 3-4 hours from first cut to last package. Our fastest recorded time on 100lb sow was 4.5 minutes to skin, gut, and quarter. You are welcome to watch if you are so inclined. 

 What can I do with roasts? If you have any skill with a kitchen knife at all, you can easily turn these into a wide variety of cuts. Whole, they can be smoked, cured, or roasted. Halved they are smaller roasts for crock pot or smoking. Sliced thick they become grilling steaks. Sliced thin they become chicken fried steak, or jerky. Cross cut thick steaks and you've got stew. Cross cut thin steak and get stir fry ribbons. Or if you've run out of grind? Grind the whole thing for more grind! Roasts allow you delay decisions on what kind of cut you want or need until the moment you need it. The roast package allows maximum flexibility.

I have a hog I/my kids are showing, can I get it butchered?  Yes! However, do NOT wait until after show to call us to get on the books. By then, we are already 3-9 months farther out! If you know you are going to want to butcher your show pig, the best policy is to call us to book your butcher date either when you acquire your pig, or at the turn of the year depending on when your show is. Most folks show in the spring, and by the time your show is done, we're already booking fall/winter dates.

How far in advance do we need to book? ASAP! Our books run anywhere between 3-9 months out, depending on the time of the year. Do not wait to call us. We want to be able to help you, but we rarely ever have short-notice cancelations. This does mean that people are booking pigs on the pig's birth date, rather than when they're done feeding it.

What forms of payment are accepted? Cash or check only. We do not process credit cards, or digital funds. We don't restrict this to be difficult; indeed, we do this to keep our costs - and by extention your costs - lower. Credit cards and digital money platforms take a huge bite out of us, and we aren't willing to pass that on to you.

ICING YOUR MEAT IN YOUR COOLER IS IMPORTANT Once we finish packaging your meat, it is still hot! It just came off a live animal after all. This much thermal mass takes a LOT of energy to cool down, and it's not a task your freezer is up to. Attempting to load your freezer with hot meat is a sure fire way to kill your freezer. Then you're out your freezer and all your meat too! So please don't skip this step. Even once fully iced for 24 hours, it is STILL enough thermal mass that it will take a long time to completely freeze. Periodically rearranging your meat in your freezer is recommended to help assist it to freeze faster. 

It is also a two-fold process. Not only does icing the packages cool them down, but this time is also neccessary for the rigor to pass. It is a process that happens on the molecular level, and your meat does not need to physically hang to pass the "hang" process. Allowing rigor to pass (it only takes 24 hours from time of kill) will get you all the tenderness that your specific animal will have. Please remember that every animal is different and a lot of factors impact tenderness. Things outside our control like age, breed, gender/type, condition, etc. 

 AGING We do not age your meat - you get it back on day 1! This is a good thing. This puts you in ultimate control! 

 Typically, a custom butcher will hang your carcass in a cooler to "dry-age" your meat. Dry-aging can cost you a lot. You will lose weight to both dehydration and to trimming. Dry-aged trim cannot be ground up into hamburger - it is trash. Meat that has been dry aged is also at the end of it's shelf life. Once you remove it from your freezer, you best eat it or lose it. 

 Meat that you buy at the store has not been dry-aged. Instead, it has been wet-aged. This means it was allowed to age in the same cool space, but wrapped in packaging. There is no meat loss to either trim or to dehydration. This meat also needs used in 3 days or less.

 We mimic this process by packaging your meat right away with no dry-aging. We give you your meat back on day 1,  you let it rest on ice for 24 hours to accomplish "hang" (rigor mortis), and then you move it to your freezer. Ground meat and roasts don't need any aging. But for your steak cuts, remove the package from the freezer and place it in your fridge ... and wait. This gives you all the room to experiment and figure out just how much age you like! There's significant differences in flavor across the spectrum. Instead of being locked into your entire animal being aged to the same time, you can try different times with different cuts. 1 day, 3 days, 9 days, 21 days ... go wild! Not everybody likes the same amount of age. Some of our clients have reported liking 3 days. We personally prefer 7-9 days. Some clients report loving the 21 days. It's really that simple! 

 Logistically, it isn't that difficult. For our home, we manage this by doing a week's "shopping" in our freezer all at once. We pull enough meat for the week ... some hamburger, some sausage, some chicken, pork, a roast and a steak. All in the fridge at once. Then we eat the hamburger, sausage, poultry first, then the roast is ready, then the steak is ready! It also makes dinner very easy as everything is already defrosted. Since your meat went to your freezer on day 1, you have all this time to use your meat once you defrost it. You aren't limited to that 3 day window. Even the ground meat will stay good right there in your fridge for weeks! So if an unexpected trip rushes you out the door in a hurry ... don't worry. Your meat will be just fine and waiting for you when you get back! 

 What's all that blood?! It's not blood. That runny red fluid that appears in your vacuum seal with your roasts and steaks is actually myoglobin. It is a natural, beneficial enzyme that aids you in the wet-aging process. It isn't evident in commercial packaging because they place an absorbent "diaper" in the bottom of the meat tray. We do not use these diapers. 

- Info for hunters processing their own meat -

How big can a wild hog be, and still be edible? Any size wild hog, any gender hog is edible. Remember, a wild hog is just a pig that has survived in the wild, and that wild hogs and domestic hogs are genetically indistinguishable. Also remember it takes a 700 lb or larger hog to make traditional bacon or pork chops. That said, there are a few differences between domestic and wild hogs. Wild hogs are generally very lean, so cooking them will require the adding of some kind of fat or oil to get tender meals. Wild hogs, left in their "red", or un-soaked state taste like beef, not pork. To get the pink, pork flavor some ice washing can be done to the meat. (See info on ice washing) Most folks run into problems with wild hog meat due to improper kill, dirty slaughtering, time frame issues, and cleanliness issues. Properly done, wild hog is awesome eating that does not need extensive spicing to be considered edible. This includes boars.

How long can meat be kept on ice? As long as there are copious quantities of ice involved, freshly slaughtered meat can be kept safely on ice for no longer than three days. Remember, on ice is not frozen, just at near freezing temperatures. Longer than that, and you start taking chances on rot/gamey flavors. However! Do NOT submerge your meat in icewater! Keep that cooler drained! Submerging meat in water, no matter how cold, will carry any surface bacterial contaminants deeper into the meat structure. This will actually make your meat taste much worse if you're doing this in an effort to account for dirty meat. This also applies to home-slaughtered chickens! Feel free to rinse those birds off, but do not soak them in water.

Which is better, ice or dry ice? It depends on what you are trying to do. If your meat is hot, ice is better. You can layer lots of ice inside layers of meat and get it chilled down fast. Dry ice, while very cold, cannot be placed directly on meat. It will burn the meat, so it has to be towel-wrapped to prevent burns. This makes it inadequate for cooling hot meat. However, if your meat is already cold or frozen, it is an excellent choice to keep it that way. If your meat is already frozen and you want it to stay that way, use dry ice. Be sure to wrap it! If you want your frozen meat to slowly defrost, use regular ice. Regular ice cools, but as it does so it melts, rising above freezing as it does so. Ice will actually slowly thaw out a frozen piece, while still maintaining near frozen temperatures. Another thing about regular ice; if placed directly on your meat, it will start a process called 'ice washing'. The myoglobin in your meat will be drawn out by the melting ice. It will water down the flavor of the meat as it is drawn out, also rendering the meat paler and paler until eventually it will become completely white... And completely tasteless. Some people use this technique in an effort to reduce "gamey" flavor in meat that was improperly handled (see info on facts behind the myth of gamey meat). A little of this technique will make beefy tasting wild hog taste more like domestic hog, as traditional pig is washed out. If this is not a desired effect, be sure to bag your meat in plastic to keep the ice and ice melt from direct contact to your meat, allowing the meat to retain its myoglobin, color, and flavor. Dry ice will not ice wash, as it turns into a gas as it melts.

The MYTH of gamey meat (important for all hunters!) Yes, gamey meat is real. Yes, it is nasty. But no, wild animals are not naturally gamey. Let's look into what causes gamey meat. Gamey meat is partially rotted, dirty meat. This is why it tastes the way it does. Gamey meat is purely a man made symptom. No animal is born gamey. Here is how it happens. First opportunity for gamey happens when the animal is killed. It happens to be a bad shot, and the stomach or intestine is ruptured. Bacteria are turned loose in the body, smeared all over the meat, and infiltrate the bloodstream in the last minutes of life. If not immediately addressed and properly trimmed, this can cause gamey. Second chance for gamey; the animal is handled wrong in the effort to clean it. Guts are ruptured easily in the skinning process, again bathing the meat in the contents thereof. Handling dirty hide and ruptured guts and then handling meat marinades your meat in musk, mud, guts, etc - no wonder it tastes so bad! Third chance, the animal isn't processed right away. Instead it is allowed to lie as a complete animal, hot and heating up. Even without a ruptured gut, bacteria slowly start working through the body to break it down to rot. Made faster by higher ambient temperatures. Fourth chance; animal is killed properly, and cleaned properly, but the process takes too long. Exposed to warmth and contaminants, not being chilled down, the length of time taken to cut that animal up dooms the meat to gamey flavor. How long? Specific time varies based on size of animal and ambient temperatures. The larger the animal, the hotter it is, the less time you have to successfully break down an animal before it becomes gamey. So how do you prevent gamey? Any of the above listed, together or alone can cause gamey. So to not get gamey, everything has to be done right. And quickly. Kill it with a clean kill, to vitals not guts. Skin it cleanly with no cross-contamination. Gut it quickly without rupturing the guts. Get it chilled ASAP. The smaller the pieces it is in the faster it will chill. Do not gut shoot it. Do not strap it to your hood and drive it around for six hours to show your buddies. Do not take more than half an hour to break it down and get it on ice. And while you are working, don't rupture the guts or get the outside of the hide on the meat. Musk in the fur will flavor your meat so wash your hands and knife often!

Collectively, the crew has over 98 years experience in handling the slaughter of animals!