Tanning a Calf Hide

[Sunny Citizen]

I know this is crazy, but...I am new to calf-raising -- bought my very first ones in January...5 pure Jerseys. I botched 2 castrations (by banding) and missed one testicle on 2 babies, so now I have an appointment with the butcher for these 2 calves (they are currently being fed-out). I don't want any experience dealing with a Jersey bull -- at least at this point. The butcher will return a hide(s) to me (at my request) -- I thought it would be neat to have it tanned and make a small footstool for posterity's sake.

Where do I take the hide to be tanned? How to handle it between butcher & tanner? Any good websites on doing it myself??? Any and all advice will be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

Your local taxidermist can handle it for you. I wouldn't reccomend you trying it yourself until you e tried some smaller hides. It's a fairly complex process.
Once you get it back from the butcher put it in a plastic garbage bag and in your freezer until you can get it to the taxidermist

 

[M.Magis]

Hooknline gave you the best advice. Don't try doing it yourself, it's just not feasible. I do taxidermy as a hobby and do all of my own taxidermy tanning, but this is beyond what 99% of the taxidermists out there can handle themselves. It takes machinery that only a tannery has, to do properly. Be prepared for sticker shock, tanning a beef hide is not cheap.

 

[Anonymous]

My taxidermist does all bass pro shops executives animals from around the world. He sends every hide out. He's a great taxidermist but even he knows his limits

 

[M5farm]

Rawhide it with hair on if it has some color to it. I've done several cow hides and for Chair seats, bull drums, etc! very easy to do rawhide.

 

[jerry27150]

curious! what were you going to do with them if you hadn't missed a nut. vet can take other nut out easily. i had bought some steers like that years ago & had vet cut other nut out

 

[Sunny Citizen]

Thank you, everyone, for your responses. I am so glad I found this forum!

Jerry, My plan was to grow them to about 500-600 pounds and take to the butcher -- for meat for my family and friends. This was really a project on my bucket list -- used to help my Grandpa bottle feed an occasional orphaned Hereford calf. I'm really not set up very good -- yet. But, I am working on it. I don't even have a cattle trailer! We are selling our 130 heavily wooded acres. I want smaller acreage and some pasture. I don't have enough pasture now (and it's in poor shape), but, I have planted hay on what I do have. We need rain here already. These calves are my introduction/education/tuition...but, I'm sure you really never stop learning.

 

[highgrit]

If you want to learn here's how to tan them hides. Take equal amounts of aluminum sulfate, salt, and water. 10lbs.- 10lbs.-10gal. Clean as much of the meat of as possible, and then soak for 5-7 days. Take the hide out and clean as much meat off as you can again. Rinse the hide and let the hide dry. Take a wire wheel to the meat thats left and then lightly to the hide. Take the hide and start working it back and forth, the more you work it the softer it will get. It's a lot of work but not very hard. If you want it really soft rub some neatsfoot oil on the hide. Have fun.

 

[M.Magis]

Actually, that's not the entire process to truly tan a hide. A garment tan requires even more steps than a regular soft tan, which in itself is extremely labor intensive. Also, alum isn't the proper tanning agent for a garment tan. Two major keys for tanning are thinning the skin that can be close to an inch thick, and having a tumbler with enough drop to actually soften the hide. I can't say that no one can do it at home. But, I can say that very few people could spend the required amount of time, and for those that can, the end result will likely still not be what was hoped for.

 

[bigbluegrass]

I tanned a few beef skins years ago (10+). It is a lot of work. I read several books on tanning and worked my way up from much smaller things. I am not an expert at tanning anything, just a hillbilly who likes to try new things. I tried the alum tanning solution on some smaller skins - fox, muskrat. The ones I did were not for show or anything like that. Just personal use. I still have a few skins I tanned. We used the beef skins for leather to repair tack and other odds and ends. It was all cut up and lasted for years. I never shaved it, we just used the thick stuff for what we needed thick leather for and the thin stuff for what we needed thin leather for. One beef skin makes a lot of leather. I got the supplies and tanning kit from: http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/

It can be done. Just be careful! Most of those chemicals do not mix well with some things - your skin and eyes included. You can't just dump most of it either. Read up on it. Store the hide in the freezer in a garbage bag while you figure out what you are doing. I would do it again! :2cents:

 

[Arkansas]

The way the indians done it bak in the old days was to score all the skin and vessles and any blood matter off it then cover the hid in salt completely and let it set for 5 days the hide should be completly dried out and usable, but like I said b4 thats the old way.