Cattle farm husbandry – home killing of meat

Cattle, farming, husbandry, meat, killing, slaughter of stock, farm meat for home consumption, the law, good practice.
By Dr Clive Dalton

Home killing on the farm

• It’s very important to have your home killing done by a licensed “home kill service provider” Operators are required to be licensed under the Animal Products Act 1999 and can provide their service on their own licensed premises or on your property. The welfare standards for home killing must conform to those given under the MAF Animal Welfare (Commercial Slaughter) Code of Welfare 2006.
• Home killing of livestock is subject to legal restrictions because of concerns that home-killed meat which has not been inspected by an approved government inspector in a licensed slaughtering facility may get into the export meat trade and threaten market standards.
  
• Our export markets view this as a risk, and farmers who kill stock for home consumption need to fully appreciate this. The risk is not so much with those who understand and stick to the law, it’s the illegal operators who are the worry and those who are tempted to look for and buy “cheap meat”, some of which is of very suspect origin and without a doubt is a human health risk.
• “Home kill” is the slaughtering and butchering of your own animals, either by yourself or by a licensed home-kill butcher for your own consumption which includes your family and household.
• A “family” normally includes parents, children and grandparents and does not include an extended family living elsewhere. Great grandparents miss out!
• A “household” are the normal occupants of a house and does not include an institution or tourist accommodation.
• Only animal owners who are actively engaged in the day-to-day maintenance of an animal, or keep animals of the same kind for a period of 28 days, may use home kill. In other words – someone making a serious attempt to farm them and not just dealing in stock.
• Home killed meat cannot be sold, raffled, or bartered for goods or services. It would not even be wise to give it away.
• You can feed home kill meat to your staff if they are regular employees, and they can feed it to their families. You cannot feed casual workers or contractors or your vet, accountant or bank manager, and you cannot feed home kill to paying guests.
• It’s very important to use a home kill butcher with a good reputation for producing top meat. A freezer full of tough meat is not a good prospect, nor is the nagging concern that you may think you didn’t get all your own beast back from the butcher, or why you have so much mince!
• When killed on the farm, the beast is shot from a short distance in the paddock with or near its herd mates so stress levels are very low. This single shot should put the beast down and it should not need more than one shot to kill it.
• It is very important to realise that under the Animal Welfare Act 1999, all animals must be slaughtered in a humane way without causing any pain or stress to them or their herd mates.
• Cutting the animal’s throat is not acceptable as humane, and it must first be shot correctly with a rifle or captive bolt pistol before sticking (bleeding).
• Generally other stock in the paddock don’t realise what has happened to their mate that has suddenly dropped down. However, if you want more than one beast killed there could be problems if other stock then realise what’s going on and may smell blood.
• As soon as the selected beast has been shot, then quietly move the others out of sight and smelling distance, and give them some hay to occupy them.
• Some operators will bury the offal on your farm or will take it away for disposal in an approved site. This will be part of the charge.
• Check with MAF for the latest regulations on home kill and for regulations to provide meat for Marae and ethnic and religious groups.
• Realise the potential hazards with home killing of meat. You would do well to consider sending a beast away off the farm to a licensed slaughter facility to be killed and processed. Then at least you have no human safety concerns, animal stress or food safety issues to be concerned about.
• Before you fill the freezer, check it with a thermometer to make sure it’s reaching the correct temperature and tape the plugs into the sockets. Also lay some rat poison near the freezer as they love the plastic on the cable and you don’t want to come back from holiday and find a freezer full of nice pink water with your meat floating in it!
• And remember that not all of a beast is fillet steak! Just think of all that fatty mince the family is going to have to eat. Consider spending the money the home kill will cost you on prime steak when your supermarket runs specials.
• If you are tempted to get the beast’s hide cured to make a rug, then you’ll have to deliver the rather unsavoury skin to a proper tannery that will accept single hides if you want a proper job done. Don’t try to home-tan a cattle beast’s hide - they usually end up like a sheet of plywood with turned up edges! And how can you walk on the skin of a beast that may have been your friend?
  

Disclaimer
This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Cattle farm husbandry - euthanasia

Cattle, farming, husbandry, euthanasia, slaughter, the law, humane slaughter, head position to shoot cattle beast.

By Dr Clive Dalton

Shooting a beast in its home paddock for home kill is less
stressful than a trip to a meat works. It's claimed the beef is much better for it

If you have to slaughter (euthanase) a cattle beast of any age, it’s important to study the Code of Animal Welfare No. 19 on ‘the emergency slaughter of farm livestock’, because the process can be very dangerous and you may end up being prosecuted by MAF or the SPCA for causing unnecessary pain and suffering to the animal, or by DoL for causing injury to staff in the workplace.

• Rifles, shot guns and hand guns are dangerous weapons and you need a current firearms license to own one. There is also the risk these days that if someone sees you carrying one, they may ring the police and you’ll have the armed offender’s squad pay a visit.
• Captive bolt devices are now available without the need of a firearms licence and should be seen as a bit of necessary farm equipment. The commercially available model is like a metal tube with no pistol hand grip. The old models look too like a hand gun to be safe from public concern.
• Use the correct calibre blank bullet for the size of the beast and point it at the brain. Hold it lightly but firmly against the head when firing and be prepared for the bank and the jolt of the device after firing.
• If in doubt about the cartridge size, always use a heavier calibre blank.
• With a shotgun or rifle, hold the weapon at least 10-25 centimetres from the head pointing at the brain when firing to avoid blowback. A 0.22 rifle is generally not heavy enough calibre to kill a big beast.
• The shot should be aimed towards the brain at a point determined by the intersection of two imaginary lines each drawn from the middle of the ear base to a point a little above and behind the opposite ear (or the base of the opposite horn). In mature animals and bulls, aim slightly to one side of the intersection point (see Figure below).
• Cattle must NOT be shot in the poll (back of the head) as this may not cause immediate loss of consciousness.
• Immediately after an animal has been shot and effectively stunned, its throat should be cut to ensure it has fully bled and is dead.
• To ensure death you can also “pith” the animal by pushing a long piece of wire in the bullet hole to macerate the brain.
• Calves should be shot in the same position as for adult cattle.
• If a captive bolt instrument is not available, a very small calf may be killed by one firm blow to the middle of the cranium (top of the head) with a blunt instrument with sufficient force to fracture the skull and destroy the brain. It should then be bled immediately after stunning.
• The blood supply to the brain of cattle is markedly different to other farm stock, and this difference can result in prolonged consciousness after the throat has been cut. That’s why throat cutting alone is not an acceptable method of euthanasing cattle.
  

This shows the spot to aim for. Note how the brain is hear the front of the skull so a shot in that position will hit the target with accuracy. The main thing is to make sure the beast's head cannot move before you fire.

Disclaimer This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.