Guides

Practical help with getting your own animals killed and butchered, from booking and paperwork to cutting lists and selling the meat.

Private kill, step by step

New to private kill? Start here: how it works from booking the abattoir to collecting the meat.

Booking and costs

Booking private kill: questions to ask the abattoir

The questions to ask an abattoir before you book private kill, from kill days and paperwork to hanging, cutting, prices, offal and collection.
How much does private kill cost? Prices for 2026

What abattoirs and butchers charge to kill, hang, cut and pack your own lambs, pigs, goats and cattle, taken from nine published price lists, with worked totals.

Taking cattle to the abattoir: passports, age and hanging

Passports and movement reporting, TB rules for moves to slaughter, what changed for over-30-month cattle in 2025, carcase weights, hanging and splitting a beast.
Taking lambs, sheep and goats to the abattoir

Lamb, hogget and mutton, ear tags, movement documents in England and Wales, the over-12-month spinal cord rule, clean sheep, transport, skins and hanging.
Taking pigs to the abattoir: paperwork, weights and timing

Porker and baconer weights and ages, the eAML2 movement licence, ear tags and slap marks, fasting, transport, and what you get back from a pig private kill.

Cutting lists for pork, lamb and beef: what to ask for

Worked cutting lists for a half pig, a whole lamb and a side or quarter of beef, with the choices to make, how to pack it and how to share a carcase.
How much meat do you get from a pig, lamb or cow?

Killing out percentages and take-home meat yields for pigs, lambs, cattle, goats and deer, from AHDB and other published sources, with worked examples.
How long should beef, lamb, pork and venison hang?

Recommended hanging and ageing times for beef, lamb, pork, venison and game birds, with chiller temperatures, weight loss, dry and wet ageing, and typical charges.

Home slaughter in the UK: can you kill your own animals?

The rules for killing your own livestock and poultry at home in England and Wales: who can do it, where, stunning, TSE and by-product rules, and why the meat can't be sold.
Selling meat from your own animals: UK rules for meat boxes

What you need to sell meat boxes from your own animals: registration with your council, approved slaughter and cutting, temperatures, labelling, markets and online sales, and what's different in Wales.
Mobile abattoirs in the UK: where things stand in 2026

Where mobile abattoirs and on-farm slaughter stand in the UK as of November 2026, what has been done about small abattoir closures, and what smallholders can do now.

Deer processing and game dealers: where to take shot game

Your options for shot deer, wild boar, game birds, rabbits and hares: your own table, selling direct, approved game handlers, trained hunter declarations, larder hygiene and the lead ammunition rules coming in 2029.