I’ll have an electric hoist, and a hanging rail, that will hold up to 4 deer. The bench/workstation area is in flux right now. Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I would think "butherboy" would be a good one to chime in on this.
I'm not sure if that type of table is still available today though? Seems like everything I see these days has a complete poly top. Wish I had room in the garage for such a table. As it is, I just use a three foot section of that 12" poly board on my work bench....or wherever I'm processing. Have poly board - Will travel!
...and a beer fridge. ;-)
Yes, I did put a floor drain in, and I will also have a sink with hot and cold water available, but the sink won’t be located in the immediate work station area. I will most likely, run a water line overhead from the source, over to the work area, (approximately 30’ away) instead of having to string a hose out for cleanup. I also plan on being able to switch from hot to cold on that line through a manifold. I’ll definitely have a fridge as well. Might steal Ziek’s hanging bar idea from the other thread, for the fridge as well. Good lighting is definitely a priority, too. I’ve got a couple of 24”x36”X2” poly cutting boards that work great. I’ll have to keep an eye out for a stainless steel top. Not a bad idea about the hole in the table for scraps, either.
I’ll have to decline on the coffee/cordial drink holders, though. It keeps your mind sharp trying remember where you set your beer down (or if this one is your’s or your buddy’s)! Nick....I’ve got plenty of parking available, plus I’m putting in a window facing the driveway, so we can see who’s coming. Hopefully we can keep the riffraff to a minimum that way.
I’ve already got the exercise floor mats.
If only doing deer then keep the rail height about 8-9 feet. Anything bigger will be fine as quarters. If you skin and hang the animal outside then your hoist needs to be set up in a way to transfer to your hanging rail. Build a small cooler in the shop with the rail running right into it. You don’t want to use the hoist on the same rail that runs into your cooler unless you use a second hoist inside separate from the rail. That hoist moves back and forth towards the rail and should be about 3 feet higher. This hoist can also be stationary but it needs to be close to the rail so you can swing the carcass over and above the rail then lower it down. It’s a good way to get the carcass off the rail too. With the right height, you can pull quarters off the carcass while it’s hanging, remove backstrap, tenderloin, then the rib cage. Only thing to lift off would be the hind quarters.
Don’t really need a table with a hole in it for waste. Just losing table use. Put a 55 gallon barrel with a contractor bag inside next to you and just throw the waste in there. Put a bungee cord around the rim or the weight of the waste will pull your bag right into the barrel.
Get a double or 3 compartment sink for washing knives, totes, grinder parts, etc.
Look for auctions for used meat processing tables with poly tops and stainless steel tables. Make sure and have good knives, sharpening stones, and steels. Boning hook and get a knife scabbard. It’s easy to have an accident with knives laying on the table.
Sorry this is long. I could go on for a while but I think this will give you a pretty good idea. It’s a lot but not difficult to set up and you will have a nice shop!
We have a refrigerator, stove, double sink, and a deep sink
My sons are contractors and did a lot of work inside a processing plant where we were able to buy their old stainless tables with poly tops. We took one section of poly out and put maple boards in it to mount the stuffer. The processing plant also sold us stainless portable sinks (6' long) that are useful for grinding into and mixing sausage.
By hinging tables to the wall we gained a lot of space when they fold out of the way. We also put a stainless steel table top on kitchen cabinets on a rolling frame, provides a lot of portable storage and workspace for vacuum packing meat.
I told my sons the shed is paid for in what we saved in processing since 2006. Last year we did 24 deer, 5 elk, and 3 hogs. That's our usual numbers except for the elk, it's usually just 1 or 2 (if we're lucky).
Future plans include building a block smokehouse outside the shed.
The only thing I would do differently is either have double doors for the outside door with the rail extending outside. Or, a sliding door on tracks for the door to slide open on the outside with the rail extending out. Another option most don’t think about is adding a switch or two here and there on the rail. This would allow having multiple rails going different directions. One rail coming in with a switch to turn it into the cooler. Comes out of the cooler and flip the switch to go onto another rail that could run straight by a cutting table. Could also add multiple rails and switches in the cooler if you really wanted to be fancy. Lol
An additional upgrade is a power stuffer. Everyone is wore out after cranking for several hours.
Most of our deer are taken from the property where the shed is located. We usually don't field dress the deer, we haul it in with quad & trailer or with the tractor bucket. The guts can be dropped into a tub while the deer is on the rail, it's a whole lot cleaner, and we can be at the shed within minutes so we don't think quality suffers.
I added a trench drain to the cooler, much better than the 6" circle drain.
Also the walls behind the hanging tables and inside the cooler are covered with FRP. Makes cleanup easy.
The invite to come hunt whitetails on your land is enough. You don’t need to build a butcher shop for me. :)
JK
Another suggestion would be to to skin the back legs down to below the tendon, break the legs off and then hang it on the gambrel. Skin it all the way down then eviscerate after the hide is off. Makes skinning the belly and flank a little easier if done before opening the belly. That’s just how we do domestic animals and it keeps everything cleaner.
You definitely have a nice processing shop and an electric stuffer is the way to go. Next you will be wanting a bigger grinder! Lol if you did get one I would recommend a mixer/grinder. My stuffer only holds 40 lbs and we do about 400-1,000 lbs in a day. We are looking at getting a vacuum stuffer that will hold 150-200 lbs at a time.
Thanks guys! Lots of great ideas, so far. Keep em coming!
I think the best part of getting this shop built was my wife's happiness in getting it out of the garage and basement kitchen where we did all the cleanup.
We have a few ideas to speed things up next year.
1204 pounds shouldn’t take more than a couple hours. Sure hope you work out those shortcomings:). HA HA.
Be certain you install a check valve in each line, or you will have unwanted mixing problems upstream.
