What's the temperature where you are???

[kattabelly]

Oh wow! Are local folks allowed to process meat on their private property or are there rules that all meat animals need to be shipped for slaughter? (Also sorry thread i know this isnt weather related but I am fascinated by how all the different food systems around the world operate lol)

Livestock can be slaughtered on your own property, either by the animal's owner or someone who holds a certified of competence, provided the meat doesn't leave the property and is only used to feed the owner of the livestock and members of their household. You still need to adhere to Welfare At Time Of Kill regs, which include things like which stunning method can be used (officially only poultry that weigh less than 3kg can be stunned by manual cervical dislocation, and only if no other method is available; mechanical cervical dislocation is allowed for poultry up to 5kg and over that you have to use another method like electricity. Killing by bleeding without stunning first is technically illegal.) In certain circumstances there are additional requirements, like BSE testing.

In reality, in my experience, people try to adhere to the spirit if not the letter of the law regarding animal welfare but often share meat with wider family and friends. I remember one neighbour a few years ago had to home kill their bull when he had a leg injury that wouldn't heal and meant he wasn't fit to travel. They let a few folk know there was mince in their chest freezer and to help themselves if they wanted a bit. Another neighbour took some for her cats, much to the bull owner's horror (it was really good meat!)

Using a small mobile licensed abattoir to kill on-site would be allowed if you wanted to sell the meat, but there aren't many small abattoirs left - mobile or otherwise - because it often isn't financially viable to run them.

Edit - this is partly from memory and partly from very quickly looking up the guidance, so it's possible I've misremembered a detail or gone off an outdated version of the rules.

 

[Echelontheory101]

Livestock can be slaughtered on your own property, either by the animal's owner or someone who holds a certified of competence, provided the meat doesn't leave the property and is only used to feed the owner of the livestock and members of their household. You still need to adhere to Welfare At Time Of Kill regs, which include things like which stunning method can be used (officially only poultry that weigh less than 3kg can be stunned by manual cervical dislocation, and only if no other method is available; mechanical cervical dislocation is allowed for poultry up to 5kg and over that you have to use another method like electricity. Killing by bleeding without stunning first is technically illegal.) In certain circumstances there are additional requirements, like BSE testing.

In reality, in my experience, people try to adhere to the spirit if not the letter of the law regarding animal welfare but often share meat with wider family and friends. I remember one neighbour a few years ago had to home kill their bull when he had a leg injury that wouldn't heal and meant he wasn't fit to travel. They let a few folk know there was mince in their chest freezer and to help themselves if they wanted a bit. Another neighbour took some for her cats, much to the bull owner's horror (it was really good meat!)

Using a small mobile licensed abattoir to kill on-site would be allowed if you wanted to sell the meat, but there aren't many small abattoirs left - mobile or otherwise - because it often isn't financially viable to run them.

Edit - this is partly from memory and partly from very quickly looking up the guidance, so it's possible I've misremembered a detail or gone off an outdated version of the rules.

Thank you for such great info! That makes sense!

 

[kattabelly]

Thank you for such great info! That makes sense!

Is it much different to where you are?

 

[Echelontheory101]

Is it much different to where you are?

It's a little bit more complicated over here in the states because each state has state laws and then each county has county laws so what I'm allowed to do and what someone 2 hours away are allowed to do are completely different in a lot of scenarios. And even what i am allowed to do and what someone 5 minutes away are allowed to do are different. For example my property is zoned agricultural so I'm immune to noise complaints and things like that as long as they fall within regular agricultural noise, livestock Guardian dogs, animals, chickens, equipment, roosters Etc people can make complaints but there's nothing they can do about them(im a good neighbor though i tell all my neighbors to text me to shut up if im ever noisy haha), whereas less than 2 mi down the street those properties are zoned as residential and they have noise ordinance rules, flock size rules, fencing rules Etc so I get a lot of freedom being zoned as agricultural because I'm in a more rural part of town but literally two miles away down the road if they're zoned residential they have a completely different set of rules of what they're allowed to do on their property. In order to sell the meat that you slaughter it has to be at a USDA certified facility whether that's your own or somebody else's or a mobile processor similar to your situation they jaut have to have it inspected annually to keep the certification. For example in my town alone of only 1500 people there are atleast 5 farms or more selling beef and pork etc they raised. But with cottage laws I'm allowed to have a farm stand on my property where I live and there are certain rules around the way the food has to be labeled but otherwise I'm able to sell pretty much anything as long as I follow the canning rules for botulism safety(zero rebel canning which is fine I dont do that), if the eggs are labeled correctly, things like that so around here it's more about labeling than it is about what you're actually doing and I will say the enforcement is really not happening at least in my rural area outside of the USDA folks but my experience of it is going to be completely different than someone one state over so it gets complicated over here very quickly haha

Edit to add: this was also stream of consciousness so I'm sure there are some inaccuracies on the nitty gritty specifics as well haha

 

[Debbie292d]

17°F, cloudy, stopped snowing finally. Low 11°F. At least it's in the positive #s! Wind 11 mph. Hum: 70%

 

[McChooky]

Springs right around the corner so I set some eggs in the incubator tonight! Its 20 F ~ 15 mph Winds ~ 75% Humidity~ Snowing

 

[chrissynemetz]

27°F partly cloudy
10:31 p.m.