Rawhide

[Outlaw68]

Alright, I'm new to messin' with cattle hides, but no tin horn when it comes to rawhide. I'm needing to get four or five green cow or steer hides or fair size so I can rawhide them and make a reata, a hackamore, a bosal, and have some leftover hide for reinforcing my tack and other odds and ends. Does anyone have any ideas on a good way to get that many hides in good condition for cheap or free? Also, is there a way anyone knows of to keep animals from messin' with the hides while they're curing out? Being that size I'll have to string them up between some trees to dry out and I've got mountain lions, coyotes, wild dogs, coons, and who knows what else runnin' around here.

[Dwight]

Hang em in the barn with a dozen steel leg traps below them . . . that's what I'd do.

May God bless,

Dwight

[roo4u]

well in my area i just found out that the company that buys by products, bones n trimmings n dead animals, wont pay for hides anymore.  so im going to call some of the local butchers n see what i can get hides for now.  ive paid 40 in the past. 

[chuck123wapati]

if you get that many at once you will have to salt and dry them or they will go bad before you can scrape them all. so critters wont bother them then plus after you soak them in lye or whatever to take the hair most critters wont want to eat them. Now if you let them go to stinkin you will have a critter problem. I would check local small meat processors. 

9 hours ago, roo4u said:

well in my area i just found out that the company that buys by products, bones n trimmings n dead animals, wont pay for hides anymore.  so im going to call some of the local butchers n see what i can get hides for now.  ive paid 40 in the past. 

Hershey has a big feed lot doesn't it? saw a show once where they were feeding the cattle old chocolate bars.

[DrmCa]

13 hours ago, roo4u said:

wont pay for hides anymore

I still can't wrap my head around two things: the amount of meat consumed around the globe and the increasing scarcity of leather. This blows my mind.

[roo4u]

well, feedlots ruin hides for leather.  cant remember where i read it but it said cattle fattened in feedlots dont produce good leather, animals gain weight quickly causes stretch marks.

[MarlinDave]

Tannery I visited said they would not buy southern US hides. Holes from insects (bots, wolves we used to call them ). I imagine labor is an issue. Hide work ain’t no fun. 

[Outlaw68]

Thanks for the replies. I know a couple guys with cattle, but it'd take a couple years at least to get enough hides...but yeah, when I do rawhide I generally work with smaller animals like squirrel, rabbit, deer, and such, so a sixty odd pound hide is pretty new to me. Generally I flesh and hair the hides, hose them off, and string them up out of the weather but where some wind can get to them to dry them faster. Oh well, who knows, maybe someday...

[Outlaw68]

Since it may take so long to get any hides and I've asked around and can't find anyone who has any or will in the next several months, maybe longer, does anyone know of some online store or website that sells natural cattle rawhide, maybe laces the right width and thickness for a reata? I'd prefer the right size for a four strand, but appropriate for six or eight would be nice also. I know there are a lot of people out there that sell rawhide online, but I'm wanting good natural rawhide for a reasonable price, so far I've found nothing.

[Elton Joorisity]

Randy Robert's on Facebook sells great rawhide and he will know exactly what you need for your projects.

[Outlaw68]

Okay, thanks, I'll have to look into it.