Important Safety Warning When Slaughtering Animals. Please Read.

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Rachen

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I brought this up in Dubious's thread, but I want to clarify this with everyone, whether you are hunting, slaughtering an animal, or simply eating meat.

WHETHER YOU SHOOT THE COW THROUGH THE TOP OF THE HEAD OR THROUGH THE EARS, DO IT WHILE STANDING BEHIND THE ANIMAL'S HEAD SO WHEN THE PROJECTILE ENTERS THE BRAIN, IT WOULD TRAVEL TOWARDS THE FRONT OF THE HEAD, INSTEAD OF BACWARDS, ENTERING THE NECK, AND POSSIBLE BRINGING BITS AND FRAGMENTS OF THE BRAIN INTO THE BODY. WE HAVE ALL HEARD ABOUT SPONGIFORM ILLNESSES, AND EVEN IF THE ANIMAL IS HEALTHY, EATING BRAIN MATTER FROM ANYTHING IS NOT GOOD. IT IS A SAFETY PRECAUTION, WE SHOULD ALL FOLLOW, AND DUBIOUS, I THINK YOU SHOULD TAKE THIS INTO ACCOUNT BEFORE YOU GO AHEAD AND SLAUGHTER IT.

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, and it's associated prion diseases such as Chronic Wasting Disorder are very serious and fatal, with absolutely no treatment. While the animal might be healthy and completely free from any spongiform prions, eating brain matter is still not good, since the neural pathways and neural organs such as the brain and spinal cord always carries a chance of harboring denatured proteins that may be infectious when consumed by another organism.
 
The way I always saw it done as a kid living next to a ranch was a small shotgun blast to the head at close range. There was little if any penetration beyond the brain area. I think you're asking for trouble using a hunting weapon for slaughter.
 
The way I always saw it done as a kid living next to a ranch was a small shotgun blast to the head at close range. There was little if any penetration beyond the brain area. I think you're asking for trouble using a hunting weapon for slaughter.
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No I just brought up the subject of muzzleloaders because I was talking about shots to the chest and heart area while hunting.

At such close range, a .45 ACP+P-JHP or a 9mm in JHP is sufficient enough. I believe Dubious is going to use a .44 magnum. The shotgun you are talking about, was it a .410 bore? Anything larger would cause significant damage, thus elevating the chance of brain or spinal matter getting into the meat.
 
I have finished off a few cattle over the yrs. Handgun in animals face. Make a ( X) from right ear to left eye/left eye/right ear. Shoot 1" below intersecting lines. Never had a handgun rd go thru back of skull/neck/etc. Instant/clean kill. Butcher uses .22 mag and showed me the shot.
 
Rachen,

If the animal is "free of any spongiform prions", then it by definition does not contain denatured proteins that can lead to spongiform encephalopathy, since the prions ARE the denatured proteins.

Cattle that are not fed animal products and which do not derive from lines fed animal products are not carriers of prion diseases. BSE in cattle resulted from feeding cattle scrapie-infected sheep byproducts. The spongiform encephalopathies currently found in farmed deer and elk likewise result from commercial feed which contained rendered contaminated animal products. Once the prions are present in the animals,they can be passed on to offspring, although this is not automatic.

Of course, if the cattle in question have animal-containing feed in their history or in the history of their lines, then avoiding marrow and nerve tissue is very prudent.

Just wanted to clear up the technical point. What can I say...I'm picky. :)
 
If the animal is "free of any spongiform prions", then it by definition does not contain denatured proteins that can lead to spongiform encephalopathy, since the prions ARE the denatured proteins.
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I understand, but with the sheer number of proteins that are present, there is the remote possibility of some of them deformed, and just laying there, dormant, and sometimes, the animal can live their entire life without these proteins doing any harm. However, if these proteins are disturbed........

During the 1980s, an outbreak of Chronic Wasting Disorder amongst deer in the west evidently points to previously dormant prions that suddenly became infectious and malignant for some reason.
 
The wasting disease outbreak in the west was caused by deer eating cattle feed that contained prions. That has been pretty firmly established.

Once the disease was established, it spread in the wild through animal to animal licking, since the prions shed from the tonsils.
 


During the 1980s, an outbreak of Chronic Wasting Disorder amongst deer in the west evidently points to previously dormant prions that suddenly became infectious and malignant for some reason.
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Deer will eat range cubes just as cattle will. At that time, little or no thought was given to mixing slaughter waste into the cattle cubes. Maybe that may have been the source.
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when i was a kid, my uncle used a .22 pistol at about 4 feet, right between the eyes, on a downward angle. if it would have exited, it would have come out about the front of its neck. but it didn't. it was the only time i have ever been a party to a slaughter. and as we all know, hunting is a whole different ball game.
 
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