The Comprehensive Photographic Guide to Humane Slaughtering and Butchering

Surpassed all expectations. Definitely a must have for those looking to learn how to butcher from the ground up, the way it has been done for centuries. Step by step pictures are easy to follow and leaves nothing to the imagination. Not for the squeamish of faint of heart. A great reference book and instantly one of my favorites. Highly recommended as a culinarian.

I am thoroughly enjoying this book as I turn page by page and enjoy the great photography! The photos are very detailed and clearly show what the author is describing. This is a book I will keep handy forever! I'd really like for the author to write one on butchering deer/venison. That would finish off my collection nicely!

Right from the start I was impressed by the author's sensitivity to the need for respect and compassion in preparing to "execute" an animal being raised for meat. In addition, the many excellent color photos throughout the volume allowed a novice like me to witness experts butchering a variety of livestock. The text was clearly written with the practical details I needed to undertake butchering my meat chickens for the first time. As an added benefit, the book is printed on heavy paper that is likely to last awhile and gives the reader a subliminal sense of "weighty" information being passed along.

I cant find the right words to describe how happy I am with this book. I recommend it to anyone and everyone who is looking to get their hands dirty haha. Plus, the author is very respectful of animals, thats hard to find nowadays.

I would recommend this book to anyone who processes their own animals. Great detail, with color photos showing how things are done. We have been processing our own birds and lambs for years and still learned a few things on cutting up the lamb.

We're not novices by any stretch...having done hundreds of chickens and easily thousands of rabbits. However, we've only done a handful of lamb's, goats, and pigs.

I love the authors approach to pro/con slaughter methods, and the detailed, crisp photographs. This book is accessible to any level...from beginner to those accustomed to slaughter but want to refine their technique. The detail given on the different muscles on these larger mammals was exactly what I was looking for, and compared to other books on the market, it frankly blows them away both in pictorial and in commentary. I also have to say as someone who raises livestock I appreciate the obvious quality of the animals that are pictured. Dare I say meat porn?

This book will replace our previous recommendation of "The basic butchering of livestock and game" and it doesn't hurt that the price points are similar.

Adam Danforth has written the book every person who is interested in butchering animals needs to own. The photos and diagrams are fantastic and tie together the somewhat confusing skeletal system with the actual cuts of meat. I raise and slaughter all the animals in this book, and seeing the process start to finish, alone is worth the price of the book. Killing an animal is hard, the taking of a life should never be easy, but the subject is treated with respect and the photos are very informative. To be sure this is not a book for everybody, but those truly interested in the subject will find this book so complete and so informative, that they will wonder how they got by without it.

This book is great for learning how to butcher, what equipment is needed, and how to safely handle meat. My wife and I used it to process some aging chickens and an unintentional rooster and everything turned out great.

The pork section was extremely helpful when we went to a farm to assist in the processing and butchering of a half hog that we ordered. We are going to try the butchering of the next half hog from another farm ourselves next time.

(Disclosure: I was mailed a free copy for review)

Adam Danforth's two new butchery books are truly fabulous. They cover virtually everything from slaughter through cutting and wrapping the final meat. I appreciate his dedication to food safety, animal welfare, and visual illustration for each step. He also shows you American style and European style cutting, something I have not seen other butchery books cover in such detail. We butchered 4 pigs a month or so ago, using Adam's book to learn new ways of breaking down the animals. The plastic coated cover of this book is now smeared with pig fat. I imagine this book is going to be thoroughly used and beat up after a few more years on our little farm. A useful book for farmers, professional butchers, home cooks, chefs, and just the 'meat-curious'. Thanks Adam for taking the time to craft such a great series on butchery.