Yes, Odoo 17 or 18 can be used for the slaughtering industry with minimal customization. You can manage livestock procurement, slaughtering, inventory tracking, and sales using built-in modules. The MRP module helps convert livestock into meat cuts using Bill of Materials (BoM), while lot tracking ensures traceability. The Inventory module manages storage, expiry dates, and stock movements. Sales & PoS modules handle wholesale and retail orders. For easy customization without a developer, Odoo Studio allows modifying workflows, and automated actions streamline processes. Barcode scanning and reporting tools ensure compliance and efficiency. Let me know if you need setup guidance!

Quite sure you can use Odoo for Slaughtering industry.  Manufacturing app would support your process with the inventory app give you full traceability and expiration dates.  Together with Quality app for documentation of testing.  Would that be the basic?

 And you would always start with the latets version.  V18 currently.

To know if you need a developer or not, depends on what demands you have.  For any implementation of an ERP system, it is important to adopt the standard routines in the system.  They are based on experience from thousand of businesses.  I recommend invest in an Odoo success pack that would help you get started.  

https://www.odoo.com/pricing-packs

Or find an Odoo partner to assist you.

https://www.odoo.com/partners?&country_all=True