26 CRITICAL to get it right


being able to hit an animal on the head hard enough to stun it sufficiently to be able to do a good job.” Today, there are bolt guns to stun


animals, but the job still takes time to learn. “Figuring out how to do it well is


really critical,” she says. “There are animals that I do not want to kill on my farm because I know I don’t have the skills; I don’t have the equipment. And there are good local people who do have the skills and the equipment.” Chickens require the simplest equipment – in some cases, an adapted traffic pylon or what are conventionally known as kill cones. “Putting the chicken in a kill cone is vastly superior to the log-head-chop method, the shoot-them method,” says Banwell. “It keeps the bird calm, and it contains them.”


While stunning the bird isn’t


necessary – a brief discussion of a chicken’s experience of dying occurred, noting that they lose consciousness in a matter of seconds – some standards such as Animal Welfare Approved, which certifies Spray Creek – require it. Kneen’s greater concern was that


those killing poultry do it promptly and effectively, taking care to part the feathers if using a blade so that the knife doesn’t dull. “If you can take the head off in one


stroke so you’re also severing all the nerves and the spinal column, there’s really not much going on. But you just have to do it properly, quickly,” she cautions. “You can’t discover a


Better than offal Most people associate livestock production with meat, but growers


speaking at the Certified Organic Associations of BC conference in Vernon earlier this year highlighted several other potential products. Rebecca Kneen of Left Fields Farm in Sorrento encouraged sheep ranchers to investigate the sale of fleeces, which take forever to compost. The market for these among fibre artists and others is worth considering. Horned cattle skulls are also in demand, noted Tristan Banwell of Spray


Creek Ranch in Lillooet, and another item that shouldn’t hit the compost heap. “If you have horned cattle, people want those skulls,” he says. Special handling requirements exist for specified risk materials (SRMs),


tissues from cattle 30 months of age or older that can harbour agents of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or “mad cow” disease). However most other animal tissues can be composted. One effective method showcased at the BC Association of Abattoirs annual meeting in Chase earlier this year is the Ecodrum, a commercial in-vessel composter from Tri-Form Poly Inc. of Manitoba. It features a roto-molded drum containing fins that ensures the regular turnover of contents, resulting in high- quality compost within 14 days. Standard bins, 12 feet wide by 30 feet deep, are also effective, but


require a good mix of manure and sawdust to ensure the breakdown of animal tissues.


—Peter Mitham


problem halfway through.” Stunning success It’s even more critical with larger


animals. “Anyone who’s handled large animals has had a bad stun,” says Banwell. “The most important thing is that you have a clean stun, and immediately render the animal irreversibly unconscious.” He recommends a Blitz-Kerner


captive stun gun, which costs about $300.


The bleed should follow swiftly, within a minute, but the butcher should always have a back-up method, preferably a single-action firearm. “Regardless of what you’re using,


you have to have backup method. If you’re using a stun gun, you should have a firearm,” he says. “If you’re going to slaughter large stock, you need to be proficient with a firearm.” The animals should also be calm. In


fact, Banwell will opt to slaughter an animal at his ranch rather than take it


COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • NOVEMBER 2019 nfrom pg 25


to the abattoir if he feels the trip will jangle its nerves too much. Kneen reminded listeners that the


kill floor should be a separate area downwind from the next animals, who shouldn’t be able to see or smell what’s taking place. And those doing the job need to be calm, too. “Just recognize in that moment how much of the feeling of the situation is coming from your own emotions,” says Banwell. “If you can stay very calm, that also transfers to the animal. You need to be calm so that the animal’s calm.”


But everyone agreed that slaughtering animals takes its toll on the emotions. “It’s kind of easy with chickens, but


way less so when you get into pigs,” said Brown. “I concern myself with getting a hard heart.” But crying is acceptable and even


natural, says Kneen. “We have an emotional bond with the animals,” she says. “If we are doing that in an emotionless way, there is something wrong.” But if the work is done with respect, and humble acknowledgement of the gifts we receive from animals both in their living and dying, then it becomes, in Kneen’s words, a “sacred” relationship. “I’m grounded in that relationship


from the animal born on the farm all the way right to the customer, and that feels amazing to me,” says Banwell. “The fact that all that slaughter and death is grounded in that respectful use is how I feel good about it.”


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