The cost of getting deer processed is going up around here and less bucher shops are doing it. My wife, daughter and I do the small ones ourself. Would like to do more and would like to get a grinder. I am considering lem or cabelas .5 horse. My son would use it also for 2 deer a year. Would like coments from people that have used them and other brands.
we have a lems #12 had that and a lems stuffer for years they work perfect we grind pork butts for sausage and the venison they work great
I have a Weston 22 have ground probably 500 lbs a year with it for over a decade, very happy with it.
I have the Cabela's Deluxe model I think. We have done 8 deer in 3 years and it works fine.
I only have a large and a small manual grinder and a Rival electric (which did not work for me on my last deer). I usually only grind 10-12 lbs at a time but did grind a whole deer (about 35 lbs of meat) in December.
I bought and used the Weston 5 lb manual press type (Not crank) handle stuffer to do my first ever link sausages out of it and I was well pleased with it. Good luck and let us know how it works out for you.
Buy one with a stainless steel hopper. Some models they sell are pot metal that in my opinion leaches into the meat as you're processing. Grind once with a coarse plate and a second time with a medium or fine plate. I buy chuck roasts and grind my own burger. :)
I have a Cabela's #8 Heavy Duty Meat Grinder, Model #54-0708.
My son got it for me for Christmas, I don't know how long ago. It really works nice and is an easy clean-up when finished!
I would not even guess how many deer have been ground up with it!
I'd still like to find a GOOD sage sausage recipe. I like the sausage you'd typically get for breakfast in a restaurant.
Here's a basic sage sausage recipe you may want to try.
https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/fresh/american/pork
I bought a LEM this fall, I think it is #8 size? 1/2hp I think. I'm very happy with it, it grinds the meat faster than I can feed it in. I did a deer and a bison (hehe) with it. One big bonus is it is really quiet👍🏻👍🏻
That's a quality unit! Once you have your own grinder you love it and you control the quality of product you put out
bought the lem #8 big bite tonight at fleet farm. They had it for $379 Store 30 miles east where my wife goes often had it for $349 and Fleet matched the price.
I just fired mine up tonight and ground up a couple large pork roasts that I bought on sale for sausage. It works great, you'll love it trapper👍🏻
I have the commercial Cabelas Carnivore grinder 1 HP. It's a beast and I love it. I've had it for a few years and it has processed 3 large hogs and a ton of deer. Never had an issue.
I ground venison for years with a big manual but finally decided it was more work than I needed. A couple years ago I bought an inexpensive generic electric one, seems like it was well under $40. Seems like it was advertised as 400watts but who knows.
So far it has worked perfectly but only grinds about 2 deer a year. It's far quicker than my biggest hand grinder. So far, so good.