As I hold up the razor sharp knife to the bird presently inverted in the ‘kill cone’, I pause for but a moment, second-guessing my recently acquired skill-set as an on-farm butcherer. Too aggressive of a cut and I’ll sever the trachea, resulting in drowning in their own blood… cut the spinal cord, and the chicken will thrash around uncontrollably as the nerves fire throughout the body. Conversely, too weak of a cut, and the chicken will not bleed out in short order, resulting in a delayed death accompanied by panic, pain and stress.
The bird has now become light-headed due to its inverted position, so with a deep breath, I run the knife along and into the side of the neck. Challenging as the feathers can be in bleeding out a chicken, I execute a slightly angled cut on each side of the neck, severing the jugular vein resulting in a heavy flow of blood from the bird. Performed properly, the poultry that will grace our dinner table in the near future, is rendered lifeless in less than 30 seconds.
I wish I could say that each kill performed went as smooth as I would have liked. Though performed properly time and time again, life always shows us that not everything goes as planned. As a person who cares about animals, this is a tough pill to swallow. I am more than a farmer… more than a grower of fruit trees… I am a steward of the land and the animals that call ABC acres home. We care about our animals from birth to plate. We work around the clock to insure their health and happiness.
Chicks, calves, kids and the lot need a heightened level of care to insure a fast start out the gate. A fast start boosts the immune system, develops a trusting farmer-livestock relationship and insures quality growth into adulthood. Throughout their later years, lush pastures, nutritious fodder and clean quarters, insures bright personalities, healthy coats and quality products (meat, eggs, milk, etc). When it comes time to harvest the animals, we offer a reassuring atmosphere for their comfort. We butcher the animals on-site at the farm… they were born here, were raised here and will die here… in surroundings they know, around faces they recognize. No stress and no fuss; just a clean, comfortable atmosphere in a quiet, respectful manner. That’s how we handle it at ABC acres.
The freezer is now stocked. The processing station and commercial kitchen are all cleaned, the knives all sharpened, and the equipment put away for another time. But until that time comes, it is business as usual. Morning and afternoon feedings, seasonal births, fist steps, childish antics, and the chorus of the animal calls reverberating around the farm. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
