[TheForge] OT deer

[Bob Ehrenberger]

Walt,

I work in a Locker during deer season and make about 30,000 lbs of sausage
each fall.  Thats about 1,300 deer.  I help clean deer opening weekend, and
then make sausage at night for the next 6 weeks. We can make 1,000 lbs of
sausage per night or 400 lbs of snack sticks.

We charge $8 to skin a deer and $60 to process it.  The sausage is extra
from $1.65/lb to $3/lb depending on what they want.

If they cary in cleaned deer meat we just charge for the sausage.  I don't
know what grinding and packaging of deer burger is, I'll ask tonight.   We
do about 200 deer for share the harvest each year and get paid $20 each to
skin, debone, and grind into berger for the various food pantries. But that
is for charity, so just looking to cover cost.

We sometimes have the same problem with our grinders and it usually is
because the head isn't tight enough and there is space between the die plate
and the cutter. We can usually tighten it while it is grinding and it starts
to cut better.  Sometimes it has to be taken apart and cleaned before
tightening.  The problem is worse if we forget and run a batch of pork
through first, the fiber in that is real tough.  We mix pork with the deer
for sausage because the deer is too lean.

Robert Ehrenberger
Shelbyville, Mo.

---Original Message ----
From: "Walter Mullett" <wmullett at bright.net>
Subject: [TheForge] OT deer

I just finished cutting up my deer from this year's hunt.  Last year, I
ground my meat with a hand cranked grinder.  Even though I stripped almost
all of the sinew out, I still had trouble with what was left wrapping around
the blades rather than being cut.

This year I had it done.  That was a rip.  The place said they charged $68
to skin, cut up and process a deer.  Since I had done most of that, I
thought it would be less.  Wrong.  They charged by the pound and it ended up
costing $70.

Looks like I'm going back to my hand grinder.  Has anyone sharpened the
"star" blades on one of these units?

Walt