OT putting down livestock

[iceman]

My BIL goes around the area putting down livestock for butchering for the local farmers. He has been using the lowly 22lr with no problems for quite a while now with no problems. Up close and personal between the eyes, then slit the throat. I was talking to him yesterday and he said "Can I borrow your 30-30? I had an issue the other day with a bull" It took 4 shots to put him down and like he said "I was getting a little nervous and he was down right mad"
I thought the 30-30 was a bit much, he has a 20 ga and slugs would probably be messy to. I thought maybe my 410 with slugs would be a good option or if he could find a 22 mag maybe the best. Remember we are in Canada and handguns are just too complicated for this application. Any thoughts on this? This is not my area of expertise.

[jhrosier]

A .38 Spl fired from a .357 lever gun or from an H&R Handi rifle would probably be the next logical step up from the .22.
Ammo is widely available and the noise from a long gun probably wouldn't be too bad.
The .22 mag, with solids would do OK if you cold find an inexpensive gun. The ammo for the .22 mag is not cheap though.
The 410 slug has pretty pathetic balistics.

Jack

[iceman]

The reason I mentioned the 410 was that range is measured in feet ,almost inches so the balistics is not an issue, just impact effect.

[Wes]

I've butchered a lot of beef with a 30-30. Works great. I have found one or two in the neck a little ways, but usually a 150 gr rn will stop and not mess up any meat. We used 22's a lot and every once in a while you just ran into a beef that was bullet proof.
Another great butcher gun was 22 Hornet, and 218 Bee. Have also used my 32-20 with great success.
Sometimes you can't get up real close to the animal you're butchering and a little extra gun is great.

[Don McDowell]

The local butcher here that comes to the farm and gets them, uses a Marlin boltaction 22 mag.

[fatoldfool]

We always used a .22 w/solids. I can truthfully say I never squealed a hog, and only one time had trouble with a beef. I went by myself to butcher a large steer and when I popped him, he went mad. Thankfully he was in a fenced lot and couldn't get too far away. When I fired the second shot he dropped. After I finished the butchering, I split the skull with an axe and the two .22 solids were laying within 1/2 of each other in his brain. How could that be, I don't know. I just know the first shot didn't and the second shot did.

[765x53]

Most animals can be put down instantly by taking them from the side and putting the bullet half way between the eye and the ear opening.

This is especially true for putting down a dog.
Shooting a dog between the eyes while standing over him misses his brain entirely.

[Nath]

Most animals can be put down instantly by taking them from the side and putting the bullet half way between the eye and the ear opening.

This is especially true for putting down a dog.
Shooting a dog between the eyes while standing over him misses his brain entirely.

This is true, I ain't done beef, but dogs and sheep yes. Between the ear and eye is best.

I do disagree with the 410 slug being no good, I think in this application it would excell.

Nath.

[Rusty]

A guy my son hunts with did the traveling butcher gig for a while. His boss gave him a .22 mag to use and he never had any problems.

[pokey]

could be using one of these.

boxedgreener 1.jpg

wonder if that's the same greener that built shotguns?

[Hobie]

could be using one of these.

boxedgreener 1.jpg

wonder if that's the same greener that built shotguns?

It is.

[BigSky56]

I usually butcher 5 to 6 beef a year and use a 22 mag cheap insurance, most of the mobile slaughter outfits use 22lr because of cost. Maybe an answer to cost and effect try those 30 gr copper coated 1750 fps 22lr that are out now Aguila? danny

[20cows]

I've only had to do it once (old horse) and the 45 Colt (SAA) was what I had.

It worked.

[Bruce Scott]

could be using one of these.

boxedgreener 1.jpg

wonder if that's the same greener that built shotguns?

Yes, that one dates from the time of W.W. himself, but Greener has one in current production that fires .32 ACP. The older model was in .310.

Good article here: http://www.nrvoutdoors.com/HUMANE%20KILLERS/BANG.htm

[AJMD429]

Good article here: http://www.nrvoutdoors.com/HUMANE%20KILLERS/BANG.htm

Fascinating article!

[rangerider7]

My dad worked for Swift & Co. after the WWII and then went to Neuhoff in Dallas around 1962. I worked for Neuhoff Bros from 1962 until 1966 in my summers. Sometimes I would help the guy that was doing the killing while waiting for my dad to catch a ride home (low on gas in my car) . He used a blank 32 caliber type powered mechanism to kill the animals with a large needle between the eyes. It was tough on long days for him to go and get the animals from the holding pen, run them in, climb the steps and kill a few then do it all over again. I would grab the hot shot and run them in so he wouldn't have to move so much. One time he miss hit a yearling steer and it rolled out on the kill floor near the blood pit dazed and mad. The guys on the floor started swinging their chains and pulleys at it. The yearling knocked the bleeder over into the blood pit, now that was funny but not so funny when the steer came up the steps toward us. He knocked the kill man over into the pit also and he was a 6' 4" black man. I decided not to try and stop the steer in the narrow walkway and took off running for the corner of the holding pen. I jumped just as the steer slide under me and busted through the wood fence. everybody was laughing at me until I pointed out how bad they looked soaked in blood and would have to stay that way until they finished for the day. I got the hotshot and ran that steer right back to its death. It went with no hesitation. I decided right then and there that cattle are the stupidest animals around. A horse or dog would have balked at going back in. I still don't trust cows today, when working them, to do the predictable thing but to do the opposite.

[Doc Hudson]

could be using one of these.

boxedgreener 1.jpg

wonder if that's the same greener that built shotguns?

Yep that is the same Greener Company that made the famous shotguns. W.W. Greener includes a short segment on the cowkiller in his classic book The Gun and it's Development.

I was thinking of that thing myself, but had no photo available.

I have no experience slaughtering livestock, having grown up as a town boy, but I remember my Dad talking about slaughtering hogs.

Dad said his father preferred an axe as the weapon of choice for most hogs (they rarely slaughtered cattle). Grandpa or one of the boys would walk up to the hog and strikey it hard between the eyes with the blount side of the axe. A second blow was seldom needed. Dad also said that it was a generally held opinion tha even a big hog could be killed with a properly applied "broom straw" but he admitted he'd never seen anyone try. Peersonally if find this theory HIGHLY doubtful.

For the really big and/or aggressive hogs they routinely head shot them with a .32 Short Colt Police Positive.

FWIW, I'll second the suggestion of using a .38 Spl in a .357 magnum ccarbine, if you can't get a revolver.

[76/444]

"Any thoughts on this? This is not my area of expertise."





I use the largest caliber I have had out of late and handy. On the rare, rare occasions I have had to put down a horse (mostly neighbor's who haven't the stomach) I prefer 12ga. slug. No muss, no fuss. For my small butcher/freezer animals like goats and lambs, I use 9mm, but prefer 44spl. I have used 44mag on old 250+lb. buck goats that actually woke up after the concussion wore off of one to the head. Roast chicken or chicken soup is started with 44mag CCI snake shot. Throw a little feed out, to bring them in close, pick the one I want and the 44 snake shot in the head is safe for everything else in the yard.


just one man's opinion