Pig Butchering

[RhodeIslandReds]

Well im going to start this off by saying I have had a great time raising my own pork. I got 2 hampshire piglets a male and a female at 4weeks old in April and the time has come. The time has come for Mr.Porker to visit my family in other words time to butcher. This is going to be my first time butchering a pig and I just need some help before the day comes to kill him. I am looking for how to build a schalding tank for him and later on for her. But I need some plans or easy ways to scald him. He is about 215lbs but im not really sure. Any info or comments on butchering a pig will help.

Thanks,
Tony

 

[kfacres]

don't waste your time scalding... WAY too much work... skin it like you would a deer or beef carcass.

hang the hog
before gutting, gut from the bottom up- so you don't have to deal with the guts falling out.
gut, wash out, skin

let hang over night to cure..

next day, split the carcass, and work up... take off hams, take in for curing. cut off shoulders, cut into steaks. take loins off, cut into pork chops. take the sirloins, leave a roast. cut off the bacons, send in with the hams to be cured. stick the ribs right into the oven for dinner that night.

before you start butchering, cut off peices of jowl to fry up and eat as a snack...

I don't know where you live, but I love doing my own butchering...and would be glad to help.

I usually get in on doing about 6-8 hogs a year.

 

[quailmale]

Quote:
You can cut a metal 55 gal. drum in not quite half lengthwise, put one half up on cinder blocks-fill with water and heat with wood ( tough to keep temp) or put a couple turkey frier burners under it, kill hog, lift into water and roll around pull out and scrape repeat, repeat. If it has very little hair you can burn it off with a torch rosebud tip . Yea it's nice to have the hide on but it's a pain if your not set up for it. I used to scald now I just skin everything, to lazy.

 

[EggsForIHOP]

When we did ours, we froze it in the more primal hunks and then used a band saw for the "intricate" cuts (like the loins we froze in one long piece, then cut with the band saw into chops) - SO much easier that way! I too vetoed the scalding part - I choose instead to focus on turning stuff into tamales and sausage

We did however freeze the skin in chunks for the dogs to chew on and gave them the feet and the ears - no one felt like messing with that when it came down to it - but the dogs LOVED us for it!

Plan several days around it - one for butchering, one for making sausage with trimmings...we did one day making tamales too...it's a time consuming thing beyond belief! But it's the best pork EVER! I had the added bonus of my husbands knowledge from doing this growing up - see if you can find someone local to come help that knows what they are doing - maybe trade them out some of the meat for their time? That way when you get to the next one, you'll be all set! Plus, the extra pair of hands REALLY helps!

OH! And ribs that haven't been trimmed down to nothing are the best! Just remember to cut them into manageable portions

Like, cut in half lengthwise...as a joke, my husband left one rack whole...then we cooked them up for my friends birthday party - I wish I had gotten pictures of my 7 yr old 'niece' eating her "jurassic ribs!" It looked like a scene out of the Flintstones! But yeah, we season the ribs and cover them in sliced onions, bake 'em a few hours real low and slow at like 250 degrees...then toss over the BBQ coals with sauce just to crisp up a little and add that BBQ flavor and they are the BEST ever!

Good luck with it! It's not that hard to figure out - just very labor intensive!

 

[RhodeIslandReds]

Well if skinning is easier then that the way i will probaly go. I am in Naples Fl and this time of year the temps are droping into the 60s and 50s at night but during the day its still 70ish. So is that weather good enough for curing or should I wait till a little further into winter? I am planning on having 3 older men that have butchered hogs help me and will be paying in some meat. I also want to know what type of knife I should use to skin him? Just cant wait to eat the first home grown pork.

Thanks,
Tony

 

[wsmoak]

Visit your local library and see if they have any books on the subject. I happen to have "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" checked out right now, and there's a chapter on hog killing and processing, including what you can do with all the parts. http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Country-Living-Fashioned-Recipe/dp/0912365951

If anyone's planning to be in Georgia in February, here's a neat event I just read about in the Market Bulletin (GA Dept of Ag newspaper): the annual Old Fashioned Hog Killing School. http://www.oldsouthfarm.com/gallery7.htm

-Wendy

 

[kfacres]

If you have three helpers coming, that are experienced.. then just wait, watch, listen and learn... If you come in blabbing about this, and that.. and whatevere else your 'learned' online... Most likely, they'll not return to help you in the future... You'll be best off, just learned from them, on that day. Take a chill pill.

The methods used, vary slightly.. but each get the same end result.

 

[EggsForIHOP]

If you have helpers already lined out - don't worry. If they are like the friends we have, they'll bring their own cutlery, probably even bring their own gun, and they'll know what to do! Just take notes, pictures if you can because I love having pictures to refer to later for myself being a visual learner, and enjoy it for the team effort it will be! Ask questions if you aren't catching something - politely of course

and let them do their thing while lending a hand as need be!

Don't be afraid to ask ahead of time if they need you to set anything up for them - just ask, they'll probably tell you "Nah, don't worry" or "Yes, please have x, y and z set up as such". That should help some too!

Good luck with it, let us know how it goes

 

[RWD]

Have you got your pig plucker?????????????

 

[WVDan44]

skinning may be easier, but you need to consider how you will cure the meat or process it. About the only time I skin a hog is when I have a young one for the roaster. Scalding and scraping is the traditional method I use, and yes it is work. I sugar cure hams, so the skin is important in keeping in the moisture and providing a preserving wrapper for the ham meat. To each his own, but scalding is the method I would use. RE: a tank, if all else fails, go to Tractor supply or Southern States and invest in a metal water tank that is large enough to hold your hog and enough water to sufficiently scald. We always use an open wood fire but you can do charcoal, gas, or whatever. There's just something satisfying about a clean-scraped hog.