My first Hog Killing
Winter is hog killing time around here. I hadn't planed on putting this fellow in the the freezer. I bought him and eight others to sell. The other pigs would bully and harass him, and only let him eat what they didn't want. He was the largest when I got them, but had barely put on any weight over five months. One day I heard screaming from the barn. I went to check and the seven had him down killing him. They were biting him and ramming his sides with there snouts. I beat the others off and got him separated. He couldn't stand on two legs, and looked pretty rough. I decided to cull him since the slaughter house wouldn't take him, and he was two skinny to sell. I called my good friend @chrismerritt and offered him half for helping me. You can see some of the bit marks in the picture. We counted over 100 bites. I don't know why the other pigs hated him so much, but it was enough to want to murder him.
Neither of us had ever butchered a pig, but we did this one from scalding to vacuum sealing. We let the carcass sit in an ice bath to get the temperature down and butchered the next day. We both ended up with over 50 pounds of meat in the freezer. It was the leanest pork I had ever seen. He barely had any fat on him.
I'm going to make a post about my pig raising experience before to long. I had close to 40 of 'em running around before it was over!
Very cool in the past hogs much leaner than now. Let me know the taste!
It was mild tasting, but actually pretty tough. He lived a hard life.
Perfect for the slowcooker I guess
I made pulled pork with the shoulder, and it come out good.
We will be working on pigs in the future and I know some about dressing and cleaning a pig as I helped my grandfather do it. We eat a lot of pork so pigs was a must for us. @goldendawne sent me over.
That was nice of @goldendawne to send you my way. I enjoyed raising pigs, but I had the advantage of working in a kitchen at a local university. I was able to off set my feed costs substantially, especially when they were small. I remember my family cleaning a huge hog when I was very small child, but this was the first time I cleaned anything bigger than a groundhog.
Wow, what an experience! That poor pig. Haha. Pigs are ruthless, I guess! I am glad that you were able to catch it all happening in time in order to make good use of him. How nice to have a helpful neighbor not too far away!
Pigs a pretty vicious, and blood thirsty. Definitely a far cry from Babe and Peppa! Really it's how you raise them. They can be a sweet as dogs, but I felt confident mine would eat me if they had the chance.
My grandfather used to raise pigs. Mom says he told her never to go around the pin if she had a cut and also to never get in the pin that they were that blood thirsty and dangerous.
Like you said, I wonder why they didn't like him. Are they usually like that with other pigs? All ganging up on one?
Pigs are very dangerous animals. I was nervous about raising them because I had a small child. I thought him to be afraid of the pigs just to be safe. Your grandfather knew what he was talking about.
I can't figure out exactly why they didn't like him. He was castrated, and not related to any of the others. Those are the only factors I can can think of that might have contributed. He was never aggressive toward the other pigs, which might have worked against him. I always felt sorry for him and hated to see him go they way he did.
Hahah, I think any pig would eat anything if they had a chance! Hahah. That's what I hear, anyway. ;) haha.
I feed them pretty much everything you can imagine while I was working as a cook and the only thing I found the wouldn't eat was whole onions and cantaloupe rinds.
Good to know!! Haha. I'd be afraid of meat pigs eating onion, not sure if it might taint the meat flavor or be pre-seasonings... Hahhahaha ;)
I remember this well. I had a good time and the pig was delicious. We just finished it up last December, almost a year to the day. Thanks for the experience. I treasure it!
We'll do it again one of these days.
Poor guy it must of been terrible for the torture from the other pigs! On a better note I love ham! Haha Thanks for the upvote on my ribeye post today!
He tasted pretty good considering the hard life he lived. No problem on the upvote that was a a good looking supper.
yeap it sure was a good call to take him down, i wish was around to enjoy the fist.
I would sure share some with you If I had any left.