Low cost to start out hah!OR it is alright to be alright. Not everyone is built to be at the top. Butchering animals at your house seems pretty low cost for overhead. Like mowing lawns, pretty low overhead to get started. Play around or able to make a career out of either. These jobs should not be looked down on and are both needed. Neither come with student debt either!
Basic stuff for a straight simple cut.
- hoist (electric or hand)
- multiple gambrels
- cooler for hanging (I priced out a handmade 8x8x8 with a coolbot at $7-10K) and that was over an established concrete slab
- meat saw
- knives
- butcher paper or vacuum bags
- sealer (inexpensive food saver style or expensive but MUCH more durable chamber vac)
- grinder i would suggest at least 1 hp
- meat trays
- gloves
- aprons
- freezer(s?)
- cutting boards
As you offer more items
- mixer
- vertical stuffer
- buffalo chopper?
- smoker
- bandsaw?
- chemicals/ seasonings
- casings
- slicer
- commercial freezer
What are you going to do with all those skins, and bones and trim?
Do you have a source for beef or pork trim/ fat?
Set up an LLC to help shield liability from idiots?
Not to pee in anyone's cheerios but that's just off the top of my head.