How to Kill Steers

Slaughtering a steer for meat can be a cost-effective way of securing your own beef for consumption. Killing your own meat assures you of what you are eating, because you know exactly what went into that animal and where it has been living. Knowing how to kill a steer effectively, swiftly, and humanely is a must for those who wish to do it themselves.

Things You'll Need

  • Butchering Knives
  • Meat Axe
  • Hoist
  • Block and Tackle
  • Meat Hooks
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Instructions

  1. Killing a Steer

    • 1

      Begin by keeping the steer as calm as possible. If you can kill it in its own pen where it is comfortable and relaxed, that is the best option. Stressing the cow can cause it to have a rise in adrenaline and, in some cases, make it harder to kill.

    • 2

      Shooting the cow with a large caliber rifle is probably the most humane, efficient, and effective method of death. By imagining an "X" going from each eye to opposite horns, aim for the center of the X and fire the gun point blank into the animal's head. Stand aside to avoid being hit when the animal collapses.

    • 3

      Stunning the steer is another method that is used in larger slaughterhouses. There are two kinds of stun guns: the penetrating kind and the non-penetrating kind. The steer is confined in a squeeze and the stun gun is lowered and placed in the same spot that a regular gun would be fired. The trigger is pulled and a high pressure rod is shot into or onto the steer's skull, knocking it unconscious or killing it outright. When the animal falls it is hoisted and its throat cut to complete the slaughter and bleed the animal.

    • 4

      Cutting the steer's throat is an option that is used in many cultures to kill the animal and if done properly, can be an instant and painless death. A large skinning knife or meat axe sharpened to razor keenness is quickly and forcibly drawn across all the major veins and arteries of the throat, severing the windpipe and in many cases the spinal cord in one sweep. The body is then hoisted to be bled out.

    • 5

      Overdosing the cow with euthanasia medicine is not the choice for meat animals as the medication will infuse the flesh and blood and make it unsuitable for consumption, but can be used for an animal that is suffering or sick. This is done by injecting a large amount of sedative drugs into the animal's bloodstream, where it effectively stops the breathing and heartbeat of the steer, causing it to fall "asleep" and die without pain.