He schools us in Home Butchery (cow + sheep) | Farmstead MeatSmith

It is butchering day. I am nervous. It's all get out. Harvesting a beef and a lamb today. It's the beef. Once we get this in there and he drops right away and I don't slightly miss and he stands there looking at me, which is like my worst nightmare, or, you know, God forbid something crazy happened and we have a ricochet or something, just super rare, shouldn't happen with these. We're using a.22 Magnum and a full metal jacket and Brandon, the best— arguably, arguably the best in the nation— is here to show me exactly how it can be about angle. And he's here to show us and keep us all safe. And that's Brandon from Farmstead Meatsmith.

I don't—

I was trying to rack my brain how I found out about him, but he's pretty much— well, he's a meatsmith. He's pretty much a professional butcher. That's all— that's, that's what he does. That's what he does for a living. He's got a YouTube, he's got a member area. I would highly suggest checking those out. I'm gonna put a link down in the description. I mean, I'm trying to think, like, I think he's been putting out content longer than I have, which is 5 years, and I've known about him since— it's been so long, I don't even know about how long I've been following this guy. So he's good. Oh, that's nice. That's real nice. The electricians finished their job. We got lights on our sheds. We got lights in our people barn.

Papa?

Yeah?

When you first kill the cow, can I be there for that?

Oh yeah, I want you to be there for that.

I want to be there too. That's my favorite part of butchering.

Okay, why is that your favorite?

I don't know.

It's definitely the most exciting, I think. Papa, is Will gonna come soon? Yes, we've got Will, family friend, come help us with the kids because we are shooting, uh, for Abundance Plus today. We're shooting an episode for our TV show Rooted, and we're gonna shoot a master class on the on-farm harvest of a sheep and a lamb with Brandon. So it's gonna be quite busy. Boy, this is nice. Josiah, can you put Brandon's snacks over on the table? Here, the ammo too, please. Thank you. My only homework. I was set up good. According to Brandon, except for maybe this, which, um, here, I want to make sure. Is our water— yeah, our water's set up. I wonder if there's two hoses here. There's one hose with a nozzle. It's probably all, all that we'll need. Yes, Gideon, who's gonna butcher the sheep? No, we're just gonna do one. Somebody's here already. Somebody's on Lombardi time. It's 5:10. I bet it's Ben the filmmaker. What do you think? He's always prompt. Who is it? They get the Lombardi Award. Jason! Jason from Sow the Land on Lombardi and Lorraine and Penelope. Okay, kids, don't try this at home. You ever harvested a beef before? I was here one time with you. Is that right? The last time?

I think it was.

Okay, but, but that was it. Yeah. Are you ready for this? You guys ready for this?

Yep.

You got it. Super early, 5 o'clock. How early did y'all get up, Lorraine? 4. Penelope? 4. Hardcores here early. Have you ever seen this?

No. Okay.

Are you gonna watch? Yeah. Okay. You got it snug, Brandon?

I think it's good.

Yeah. So this is just another day in the life.

Yeah.

Of Brandon.

Uh, yeah, we— I do, I do harvest animals in every kind of situation.

Yeah. Yeah. So would you say you're a master yet? Have you gotten 10,000 hours in?

That's a good question. I've got 10 years. But I've never been trained, so I don't— I wouldn't call myself a master.

So you've learned this yourself?

Yeah, I am a starving person that has found bread.

Okay, good.

I like to tell other people where you can find it.

That's right. That's not a gambrel. This is a gambrel.

It's a big one. I use this even for little tiny No tiny goats. Goat kids.

Okay. And this has got the— is that stainless steel too? It is.

It's awesome. It's the best design for home slaughter because you can take one side off at a time. Yeah, you know what I mean?

Really?

Without dropping the other side in the dirt.

I like it. I can't wait to see what happens with this situation. That little Amazon thing ain't gonna cut it. Okay, I get it, I get it. I see what you're saying. Yeah, because Yeah, because that has happened where a leg slips off. Yeah, yeah, and then the whole thing drops.

Yeah.

So is this the— you said Full Metal Jacket, this is Total Metal Jacket. Is that just different? I'll do it.

That's great..22 WMR. Okay, okay, that's the precision culinary instrument.

And also hopefully the most safe.

Yeah, no, uh, no bouncing bullets.

That's right. Ruded. Bright and early. How y'all doing? Doing good. Okay, good. We ready for this? Okay, you have not experienced something this large. I know we've butchered chickens together.

We did chickens.

We've done deer. Okay, stuff. So it's actually not a lot different than that. Awesome. And pigs and all that, especially the— you two?

I've seen it done deer before.

Yeah, have you shot a deer?

Uh, I've never shot one, but I've been around hunting and stuff.

Yeah. Have you seen them being killed? Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right, so this is not going to be so shocking for you guys. Shot, and then I've been with my dad and Papa when they've killed deer.

I think the first time I saw it was like Jonah's age.

Okay. Got Eric here. Eric's an old, old friend. Can't remember the last time I saw you actually. Was Jonah even— no, I mean, more than 10 years. Well, it would have been more than— I feel like probably you were probably— we were probably hanging out. Yeah. So then, but we're having you here because you're the rookie. Yeah, you have not seen—

never in person. I've seen videos, watched, you know, watched.

You can do that all day long, but that's not the same thing. But when you harvest a mammal, large mammal, in person, it's next level. Well, thank you for coming and helping us with the children. Do you— have you ever seen a beef harvest? No. Yes. Have you ever seen a lamb harvest?

No.

You've watched it? Have you even seen it on TV?

I've seen a pig, um, okay, get slaughtered.

That's it. Oh, that's right, you were here for that. Yeah, yeah. Still working out? Yeah.

Okay, I think so.

Locking in?

Yeah.

You use my pulley system? I did. What'd they think of you when you put— I wonder if they inspected your bags at the airport.

Yeah, I mean, you know what, they didn't. Usually they put a little note in there.

What they would think?

Yeah, indicating that they've been rifling through my my bags, but not this time because I don't think most people are gonna know what the heck that is. No, no, I brought some S-hooks.

Were there saws in there too?

Saw and knives, yeah.

Do you like to use a hand saw to have, or should we get this? We've got a stainless steel blade on our Sawzall.

Yeah. Oh, do you? Yeah, we could do either one. I usually just do manual.

You're probably a little more precise manual, aren't you?

It is more precise.

Yep.

And it teaches you the zen of the saw, which is don't muscle the saw. You know, it's all about friction, not power.

I think it's a good thing to at least know how to do, use these hand saws, have these hand saws. Yeah, because who knows if the electricity in the battery is— yeah, you know, you have a backup. Yeah, keeps you sharp. Yeah, I'm just gonna warm up, make sure I've got a feel for the gun. Should be loaded and ready. This is why we're practicing. That did not reload. I want to be able to get another ammo in there real quick just in case I just miss. God forbid. I don't think I'm gonna miss. This is his advice: don't miss. No pressure. Yeah, no, we don't want to miss because that defeats the point of on-farm harvest.

It does. So that's one argument for a really stout corral.

Yeah.

Um, fortunately you've shot pigs before. Yeah, that is a much more difficult endeavor, I think. Yeah, than shooting a cow.

I've not yet missed a pig.

Yeah, so fortunately, yeah, cows are more docile, slow-moving head.

Take a new— take it straight in. Okay, I'll do a drive.

The best asset you have to get a good shot is, uh, patience.

I'm not gonna do it, but yeah, I would have— I was aiming Right there. Yeah, maybe. Yep, right where they— that good? Yeah, we want him to drop. If he doesn't drop, stay calm and then reload it.

Do you want me to do the cut?

So yeah, yeah, do the cut. You got your knife ready? We had a good harvest, went totally smooth, got him in one shot. He never knew it was coming. Very happy about that. Now we're, uh, we're skinning. That's a stomach, right? Yeah. Arthur, you've done this quite a bit. Are you learning anything? Learning a ton. Yeah. What, can you speak to anything? Yes, how to make it neat and clean. Yeah, because you, you get it done. I've gotten it done like me. I can get it done, but I've only done a steer once.

3.

One more.

1, 2, 3.

Good job, guys. What do you think, Farmer Henry? What do you think? Look at this stomach. That's tallow.

This is tallow, yeah. And there's a kidney inside of it.

That is a gigantic liver. Look healthy to you?

That's good. Yes, it does. So the thing about opal— that's perfect, thank you— is that it is effortlessly delicious if it's fresh.

Yes, I have heard that. Yes, that is when we freeze it.

Yeah, it loses its magic. It's still, you know, so with liver this big, you kind of don't have an option. You're going to freeze some of it, but as much as you can eat fresh, that's all the better.

Cook it.

Yeah, normally cook it, or try some raw right now because it's only after it's been frozen that it gets irony and grainy, mushy. It's springy and mozzarella squeaky and delicious when it's fresh.

We'll have you cook us some for lunch. How about that?

It's all about freshness.

Sure, come here, Jason.

It's gonna be— it'll be a little chewy.

You don't have to be so generous with me, but I wish it tastes like chocolate, but I know it's good for you.

Yeah, sorry, this is more tender.

Yeah, come on.

Mm, yeah, it's delicious. It's absolutely delicious. It's sweet and mild.

It is. That flavor is actually the best liver I've ever tasted.

That flavor is called sweetness. That's what that is.

Stop, don't describe it. We're gonna lay him down.

Yeah, we're gonna catch him, get it, or we're gonna keep his body up. No, we'll lay him down. Okay, well, just, uh, yeah, he'll be— he'll stop running.

We're gonna get his feet. Oh, okay, so we'll catch him like this. Yeah, we'll pull his head up.

Yeah.

And then, uh, and then we can focus on dropping.

Yeah, so you can grab, you know, the legs that are closest to you.

Okay.

And pull and kind of lay them down like that. You can— you, you also might find it as you catch him and pull his head up, if you take a few steps back, he'll start to sit.

Yeah.

And then you can kind of sit and then you can lay him down like that.

So you're going to be in there, so yeah, whoever doesn't get the head can also— can help with the legs.

Yeah. And you want his legs away from you.

Okay.

And then we're going to pull his head back. Okay, so that his— he's like this.

You want him looking up?

Yeah, not to the side.

That takes away his flight also.

Yeah, totally. Forehead flat on the ground.

All right.

Yeah, so what you would want to do is aim for his larynx.

Oh really?

Just go right on. He does go right on that.

Aim for the Adam.

Yep. And that will line you up with the back of the jaws and the, um, atlas vertebrae. So we'll be able to—

hard.

All the way to bone.

Don't worry about hitting your knife on your bone.

Yeah, go right, go right for it. Now this knife is super sharp.

What you don't want to do, for people watching, is no sawing and do— and do like you're canning it and not putting weight into it.

Yeah, there's no such thing as overkill when you're trying to kill an animal. There's no charity to the animal to be ready.

I'd rather go with my knife then.

Yeah, and so this one is really sharp, so you'll find it When you get them down, um, I— it takes 2 strokes to go all the way to bone. So 1, 2, all the way down. So I like to get his head up just like that, and now we can get back in the middle. So yeah, and then just sitting them down. I'll sit down and then he'll sit down. So as long as he can't get his 4 legs on the floor, I can control his body.

You gonna try it? I think, I think the bile. I've wanted to for so long. Oh yeah, there we go. Green.

Bitter? Super bitter? That's what I think it would be.

I've never tasted anything like it.

Yeah, I bet it would be. It's incredibly basic, as I understand.

It is so bitter. Well, tastes like medicine. Come on, take the medicine. Drink the Kool-Aid. Wow. I've never tasted this thing.

Yeah, that's like goldenseal.

If you like bitter, if you like bitter, you'll love that.

Yeah, that's gross.

Oh, Pete! Pete! It's good. Oh yeah, Jason, where were you at? You hide, Eric? You hide behind the trailer? I'm good. One thing we got to do now that we got Escalita out of there is get Buddy. One hamburger was okay. Yeah, Buddy got louder and louder as we got further away. Yeah. Do you notice that? You get more squirmy too. Yeah. All right, he's gonna bellow because he's away from Mom. He is getting weaned, but I think he'll be happy here with Nacho. Definitely got good green grass. Nacho's got a buddy now. Nacho's definitely not stressed out. Just took Brandon back to the airport. That was a whirlwind with him, but that was pure gold. The philosophical input he has Butcher is not— should not be the only word for Brandon. Thank you, Brandon, for coming. I encourage you guys to check out Brandon. He's got a podcast, he's got a YouTube. I'll put all that down in the description. Dan, help me out with that. Little man is sleeping. Mama is excited about that. Captured a lot of stuff today. Film for a TV show. Oh, it's gonna just be so— how would you say it— poetic. There's not a good one. Uh, it's gonna blow our minds. And then we filmed a step-by-step on how to do it, harvest on farm. And that will be something— both of those things will be with something we put in Abundance Plus. We did cook the lamb head, so this would be my first. It just totally came off the bone. That's going to be delicious. Cooked it with carrots, onions, beets, He threw all kinds of stuff in here. Dang. Greens. There you go, buddy. Is it good? Is it salty? All right, awesome. So the meat is pretty much off of there. Oh, there's some. Wow, wow, that chewy roast beef. Now this will be the most intense that thing I've eaten. That's an eyeball. That popped out of the middle. It's not bad tasting. It's too chewy though. I don't have teeth on this side, so it's like I'm not going through it. All right, take that thing, that the center. Oh man, it's like bread, dry bread. It may not have had a lot of meat, but it's going to be a rich broth. Oh yeah, that's very tasty. You'll like that. It's very tasty. There was so much in today's vlog YouTube will not allow us to show, and I respect that. We're putting it in Abundance Plus because I think it's important for you guys to know. This is great info, so if you want the reality version of today's vlog Look out for Abundance Plus. It's coming. The website is coming for sure the last week of June. We're launching that thing. I should get a date. Hang on, let's get a date. June 27th, let's open cart on summer registration. Abundance Plus, let's launch the website. You'll be able to get this vlog full version, no ads.