Rabbi Silber's Daf Yomi shiur on Chullin 20 works through the technical laws distinguishing shechita (ritual slaughter) from melika (the pinching method used for bird and non-domesticated offerings) — establishing where on the neck each is valid, what disqualifies each, and when a bird is rendered a neveilah. Along the way, he shares why the minhag of eating dairy on Shavuos may trace back to the fact that Klal Yisrael, having just received the Torah, did not yet know the halachos of shechita and so could not prepare kosher meat for their first Yom Tov meal. It's a striking reminder of how much of Torah life — even something as basic as how to properly prepare food — rests entirely on the Oral Torah transmitted to Moshe Rabbeinu at Har Sinai.
The minhag of eating dairy on Shavuos may trace back to the fact that Klal Yisrael, fresh from Har Sinai, did not yet know the halachos of shechita and so could not prepare kosher meat.
The detailed laws of how an animal must be slaughtered are not written explicitly in the Chumash at all — they are halacha l'Moshe miSinai, part of the Oral Torah.
Shechita and melika are governed by opposite rules: whichever part of the neck is valid for one is invalid for the other.
A bird becomes a neveilah, conveying tumah immediately, once its neck bone and the majority of surrounding flesh are severed — even while it is still convulsing.
