It really went well...except for maybe the rain. It rained the whole time. Totally unusual for Georgia. Normally we get rain--showers. Not today, it was just a steady rain the whole time we were butchering but maybe that kept the heat and flies away. My brother-in-law, Herschel, (well, not really but he has been with my sister long enough to become my brother-in-law) brought the gun. We decided to lure him through the fence to the chicken pen because it was less muddy. This was a bit of a problem when the other pig followed a few times but I had a dozen eggs ready so we were able to divert the not to be butchered pig back in the pen and then get the one pig shot. It was a good shot, he dropped, thrashed a bit and then I got a really good stick on him. First time I ever did it and it was perfect! I will explain; you are just supposed to insert the knife straight in and then move the tip of the knife just a bit to slit major arteries running to (or from maybe) the heart. It was perfect and he bled well. Ok, so I was proud of myself for getting a perfect stick the first time. (Phil was going to stick him and then handed the knife to me. I do not think less of him because of it and am kind of glad now.). The pig was then dragged out and washed off.
He then was hung on something Phil came up with. It looks like it couldn't hold him but it did well. It has a log from a tree he cut down green that goes between the trees and a come-a-long to the other piece of wood holding the legs.
Then the skinning started. In this picture you see Phil and Rob who started the skinning but all 4 of us did our fair share of skinning on this pig before he was done.
Almost done skinning. On the videos we had watched the guy did the skinning in like 10 minutes. We took a bit longer!
Then there was the cutting away of unmentionables. And we were ready to gut the pig. My brother, Rob, did all the gutting himself mostly.
After this the pig was lowered and went on the table that I showed in the last post. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the cutting up since I did all the cutting up and never thought to take pictures while I was doing it. None of us are butchers. I basically cut it up like I did the deer; back-strap, belly for bacon, ribs, shoulders, hams.I did skin the face and cut the jowls too.
Luckily both Rob and Herschel brought saws-alls. What did the pioneers do without saws-alls? Just another one of those instances that I would not want to do without electricity. It made short work of the cuts through bone and especially the ribs.
So everything fit in our big cooler except the big hams. They are cooling, one in the frig and the other temporarily in the freezer. The rest is in the cooler on ice..
except some of the fat which I cut off and put in the crockpot for lard making.
I owe my brother and Herschel some meat and they definitely earned it. We could not have done nearly as well without them.
It's a big job!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely!
DeleteGreat job. We always dipped our hogs in boiling water and removed the hair. We wanted the skin. Cracklings, don't ya know...but either way works. My fresh pork is low.
ReplyDeleteWe thought about it but that was a lot more work and we wanted our first one to be a bit easier. Skinning was hard enough, lol.
DeleteLOL I'm just trying to picture how big the tub would have to be to dip it in boiling water. And the amount of wood and length of time to make it boil. Luckily I'm not a fan of cracklins!
DeleteWe wouldn't have been done at 10:30 that's for sure, lol. I guess we will have to do without the cracklins but I still think we will skin the next one too.
DeleteWhy would you want to skin the pig? I've been a slaughterman for 20 years and have worked in abbattoirs all over europe and have prob been involved in the slaughter of several million pigs and I never saw anyone ever skin the pig. You just use boiling water, scrape off the hair then tighten the skin with a blowtorch. Can you explain why you skinned it? Thanks
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind we are doing this in our back yard. We don't have the perfect equipment.
DeleteWhy would you want to keep the skin on? You don't eat it. So why take all the time to boil LOTS of water and pour it over the skin and then scrape it (with what? we don't have any scrapers though I am sure we could come up with something) if we didn't need to? A lot of extra work for no reason.
Just because that is all you know, does not mean it is the only...right...way. Have to open your mind to other ways of thinking sometimes.
We went to YouTube watched videos and this seemed the easiest way for someone in the backyard to do a pig.
I've seen quite a few cuts of meat with the skin on (mostly smoked). I wonder if it is traditional in other parts of the world to not skin the animal?
DeleteOkay, now I know why I don't want to ever do this myself, but thanks for showing us how!
ReplyDeleteIt really wasn't that difficult and I am quite proud that we did do it. I am sure it is not for everyone though.
DeleteGreat post! Really interesting seeing a different way of doing it - looks much easier than scalding the pig and you could prepare a bit of the skin for crackling if you wanted to! what did youdo with the guts and skin? Over here the bin men might get a bit funny about it!
ReplyDeleteWe dug a hole in the woods and buried it.
DeleteAhh.. In England there's laws against that - which is complete madness!
DeleteI'm impressed that you had time to read and comment on another (mine) blog when you tackled this all day long! But I'm a little confused as to where you stuck the pig - was it in the neck? Chest? Forgive my ignorance but it's not something I've even been remotely near before, so I have no clue...
ReplyDeleteYou stick the pig just above the breastbone with the knife going down into the chest so that you can cut right above the heart inside the chest. This is a good video to show you how (it is the one we watched).
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkh5yp70OdA
Oh and it wasn't all day long. We started at 7:00 a.m. and were done by 10:30 a.m.
Deletemy dad and uncles used to butcher pigs, sheep, cows,goats, and chickens...always in someones yard. and it always seemed like there was a family reunion of sorts going on at the same time cause there were cousins galore running around and moms, grannies, and aunts in the kitchen.....now i know they were doing their part of the butchering party. a lotta meat got put up and alot of food and meat got eaten up too.
ReplyDeleteYes, we definitely enjoyed the company and the kids had fun inside too.
DeletePretty Cool. Nice job. I bet it taste so good.
ReplyDeleteWell, right now the meat is mostly (what would fit) in the cooler. I'll start cutting some up today and getting some of it ready to be cured etc.
DeleteGood Job!! I don't think we will ever raise a pig but it's good to know that it can be done. Just in case I get my hands on a deer. I really don't know why I paid someone to cut up the deer that my neighbor gave me. I realize now that is was a waste of money.
ReplyDeleteThanks Paula. I am glad it is done. The next pig won't be as hard.
DeleteNot pretty; but interesting. I hope no vegetarians were watching!
ReplyDeleteI hope with a title like "The Pig Butchering", they won't want to come check it out. If they do....well maybe they shouldn't be vegetarians, lol.
DeleteActually I used to be vegetarian (lapsed quite some time ago) and whilst I wouldn't be able to kill a pig myself I do admire you for doing it - not the violence of it but the simple fact that if you eat meat you kill animals all the time. Killing it yourself strikes me as somehow more honest. I suspect that it is meat eaters who might be more comfronted by the realities of butchery, vegetarians, if they are upset by it can comfort themselves that they don't eat it anyway.
ReplyDeleteYou are probably right. I can tell you this. When we butcher ourselves, we waste a whole lot less. When we buy things from the store, the leftovers tend to go in the frig and if no one eats them, they just get thrown away. When you butcher yourself you tend to not let anything get thrown away. You find ways to use it because you know the hard work that went into it.
DeleteGreat Job Becky! Any idea on the weights? Hanging and
ReplyDeletebutchered? In any event - great job - and enjoy the fruits of your labor! I can't imagine how satisfying the bacon, sausage and chops are going to be for you!
We tried measuring him after we hung him and we came up with 215 lbs. Not sure if that is accurate or not, not real sure where to measure from on his back. He seemed a good bit heavier than that. It took 4 guys to move him out to the pallets so he was pretty darn heavy.
DeleteI will be working tonight (after work) to get some of the bacon cured and trim up some things and get a sausage pile going.
Oh my God! that brings back memories of my childhood.
ReplyDeleteMy Father even made shoes with its skin.
Wow, we didn't go quite that far but I would love to see someone make shoes out of the pig skin. Neat!
DeleteHi Becky,going back to pig talk.
DeleteThe pig died we could not eat the meat,so my father decided to skin the pig,had the skin treated and made shoes for the whole family.
Well done! No chance of us ever doing it over here, of course. It's good to see it done well.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this pictorial-tutorial! We're hoping to raise hogs in another year or two, and also hope to butcher our own, so everything we read on it really helps.
ReplyDeleteNow this is fascinating! And of course after reading the comments, it makes me wonder about the virtues of skinning vs not skinning. Research!
ReplyDeletegood for you all, I've done it for many years now but have always purchased pigs and goats from other farms. I'm planning to start raising my own soon along with some chickens. Don't think it really matters which way you want to go [skin on or off] that is up to you. Here's just another way of doing if you want to keep the skin on, get a torch (http://www.harborfreight.com/propane-torch-with-push-button-igniter-91037.html) and you can just burn the hair off be careful not to burn the skin. Then using a razor blade you can to scrape in the crevices, all this before gutting. Ohhh, just a better way(my opinion only) of killing the hog/goat etc... is to cut the Jugular and let it bleed out completely.
ReplyDeleteenjoy.
I have heard of using a torch and we did cut the juglar right after it was shot so that it bled out good. Just didn't need the skin for anything so no sense in keeping it. The hams turned out just as good being smoked without it.
Delete