Quote:
I hope that you are a darn good marksman to the brain of each hog or you will have lots of fun dealing with a couple hogs that sees little humor in your gunplay. When I worked in Vet Pathology, we had a farmer and brother ( covered in blood) bring in a bloodied hog in a back of his pickup ( with plywood sides),that he tried to kill with 7 shots and the hog was still in ill humor. I couldn't get close enough for a shot with a captive bolt pistol and the hog saw little humor to attaching electrodes for an electricution. So, It took me about a half hour to finally position myself to place a proper shot to the brain. Not fun at all, being on campus and all. Cut the throat crosswise just like a chicken to properly bleed out. (Jeff, take note). I would also recommend that you gut the hogs right after the kill as leaving them in for a day or two, the guts will stain the bacon for a putrid green bacon and eggs. Scald and scrape off the hair or skin( leave the skin on the ham areas. Since you want to butcher as economically as possible... Buy a 2 handed cleaver, while the hog ( sheep, goat, beef ) is now hanging by it's hind legs and gutted, this will alow you to split the hog down it's backbone into two halves by using numerous light swings like you would do spitting a piece of firewood. Use a set of long handled pruning sheers to cut the ribs crosswise to size. And/or Use a good sized pruning saw with fairy small teeth to also cut the ribs and the backbone for chops after you first cut the back muscles to the chop thickness that you prefer ( use a good sharp boning knife). Then make the cuts for hams, ham hocks, shoulder blade, etc. with the pruning saw. The pruning saw will cut the bones about as fast as cutting a tree limb. If you use a electric saw, use plenty of caution or you could electricute yourself from moisture or fat/ muscle making a bridge contact to your body parts or shorting out the motor. Have fun.
