Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Much better ROI

I think Id rather spend $120 on .243 rounds and take home 5 ton of kangaroo.

Yep... I can see the logic in that. I'm in the process of getting my A&B licence ATM

I'm with you Charlie. Take as long to skin that 5 tonne of Roos as it would to skin about half a dozen fiddly GPs too I'd say!
I'm still not sure how I feel about eating them myself as I'm a big softie when it comes to fluffy animals, and I don't know how the animal rescue that I foster dogs for would feel if they found out (they rescue GPs too)... But I certainly don't begrudge anyone else giving it a go!
Watching this thread with interest!


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GP's should be a few cuts and then one good tug to skin, a lot quicker for each than even a kangaroo arm, never skinned a large animal, but the bigger the harder?
I think the meat quality is the most important factor, ive had some really nice smoked roo when i was a kid, ive bought steaks from woolworths, etc since and they are just not good, most of the time almost inedible.
If the GPs tasted better i would certainly rather the GPs, you are not guaranteed to find a roo, you must go at night, you must live in the bush, you must be a damn good shot, you must know how to prepare the roo properly, you must have the room to store the meat, too many musts for my liking. Any suburban slob could do GP's, just like fish, grow, kill, cook, eat - you dont neccessarily have to skin them....

Harder yes in total but per kg of useful meat not so much. Its all about scale. Slaughtering and butchering a cow is a huge job but it is also a LOT of meat.

Really ... I wouldn't expect it would take much more than a minute to gut and skin. I think most small animals, rabbits , chooks, G.Ps , without saving pelts, couple of minutes. Wild rabbits I'd do a pair in two with a knife and a meat axe. With all small animals I chop legs at the haunches , cut skin across the back mid way , grip each side firmly with each hand and pull removing skin . Cut up the gut cavity and flick the contents out. Chooks take alittle longer. Butchering would depend how far you want to go , I generally leave small animals whole.
Lamb 15 -20 min to skin and gut , and about the same to butcher into chops and joints. Again with basic equipment, meat axe , knife, hand meatsaw and a gimble and hoist
Beast , I've never done one , too much to deal with ,too much gear , some where to hang em , cool and freeze and the waste to deal with , big job. With all the different cuts butchering requires some skill and knowledge. Not really a job for the backyarder
5 ton of roo I think I'd leave that to the pro's...but a nice weber 'roo

Yep.

I've done lots of rabbits and chocks and a few pigs and sheep and one cow.

We grew steers to 750kg. Pigs to 100kg. How long would it take you to skin 750kg of rabbits or 100kg?

Guess I was lucky growing up on a decent sized property that both Roos and rabbits were in plentiful supply. Consequently I'm not a bad shot, but favouring a shotgun over rifle probably meant that rabbits became more fiddly to dress than they otherwise would be! Too always felt like more bang for you buck time-wise, as well as economically. One shell per animal, whether roo or rabbit.

That brings me to another point and I'm not sure if it has been covered on a page of this thread that I've missed - but how does one dispatch of a GP in a suburban backyard?
I could handle shooting because it was an instant kill so long as you were a good shot, but the up close and personal stuff still makes me a little squeamish.
Fish excepted.


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Breaking it's neck would probably be the quickest way, that's the way I've seen it done the most when prepping GP's to eat.

For rabbits either wring or jerk the neck.

I think GPs have a thicker neck though

The other way I've seen it done is cutting it's throat, I guess if you didn't have the strength to break it's neck quickly that'd be another way to do it, but you'd want a nice sharp blade to get it done as quick as possible. I suppose if you weren't going to keep the head on like they typically do in South America you could lop it right off, but once again you'd want to do it quickly and cleanly.

Matt:

What could be a nice way of cooking them is same way they cook "Filipino Lechon", if you've ever tasted Lechon you'd know what I'm talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rIL4tUBAhk

http://www.lovelyphilippines.com/recipe ... rk-recipe/

That's what I figured too, but I've never done it before and it doesn't seem like much fun. Just holding a pet GP to pat them seems to make them squirm enough, so trying to cut the throat seems like it would probably lead to a more drawn out experience for the animal (and me).
I think all 50kg of me probably doesn't have the strength nor the stomach for the task unfortunately.


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