Baymule's Feeder Pigs 2017

[baymule]

Originally posted June 12,2017

We went to Gander Mountain today and bought a 22" meat/bone saw. Gander Mountain is going out of business, last day is end of August. Then they will remodel, rebrand and open up as Gander Outdoors. Everything is marked down. We were told they will mark down again either this or next Thursday. We'll go back for ammo.

Jennifer texted me this evening, she was making tacos with the ground pork. She said it was so tender and had such a good flavor. I'm really wanting to take a bite out of our hog, but he'd probably bite me back.

 

[baymule]

Originally posted June 16, 2017

Hog #2 is on ice. Can't wait to get #3 done-that one is ours!

Got pickles simmering on the stove and will be canning them in a couple hours. Then keeping grand daughters tonight so their parents can get some much needed sleep. Obviously, we don't need any sleep. LOL

While Jennifer and I slaughtered the hog, my husband and neighbor Robert put our smoker pit together.

 

[baymule]

Originally posted June 18, 2017

We took the afternoon off yesterday. I was near a state of paralysis and it felt good to waste away in my recliner LOL. We just finished cutting and vacuum sealing Robert's hog. Still have to grind sausage. I cut each shoulder into two roasts and the leg shanks into soup bones. We cut the boneless loin in steaks, hams made fresh ham steaks, sausage trimmings and soup bones. We packaged the ribs. It is some real pretty meat and our neighbor is so pleased.

 

[baymule]

Originally posted June 19, 2017

Hog #3 AKA Spot, is on ice. It rained this morning and cooled down to the mid 80's. It was cloudy also, which kept the sun off us. As we finished, the sun broke through. God is good.

Robert and I skinning the hog. My husband helped too. I am proud of him for pitching in. It's not something he's ever done before. He helps, but this time he helped skin and cut the meat!

Notice I left the tail on? After we finished skinning, I carefully cut around the tail, severing the tail bone, and even more carefully cutting around the anus. I tied a piece of string from the top of a feed sack around it to keep the anus from spilling out pig poop on the meat. A book I read said to cut through the aitchbone. The WHAT? You mean that bone that goes across the intestines and gets in the way? Cut it? Huh, with what? Hog number 1 was a doozy. With deer and rabbits, you can practically snap it by hand. not with a pig! By hog number 2, I got better at this. I got a meat cleaver and a 22 ounce framing hammer. I placed the cleaver carefully so I didn't cut through the guts and beat it with the hammer. It split nicely, I pulled the tail/anus through and proceeded with gutting the hog. Sorry I don't have pictures of gutting the hog. Basically, you carefully slit the belly wall open and drop the guts out into a waiting tub.

I cut the loins out. Haha the caption on my T-shirt reads, Not your average chick. LOL I can't count the times I banged my head on the tractor bucket.

 

[baymule]

June 20, 2017

It's 4:00 PM, just sat down with a glass of iced tea. Robert came over at 12:30 and we ground his sausage meat. We seasoned it and fried a patty for a taste test. Then we made stuffed sausage and bagged up pan sausage. He enjoyed the process, especially learning how to process meat for himself. I'll start on ours tomorrow. He is so excited to be learning how to process meat. He and his wife have gone to Tyler to buy an electric smoker.

 

[baymule]

Today was processing day for OUR hog. I sharpened up my knives, got out the bone saw and hacksaw. The bone saw is sized for a moose, but it was all I could find and I needed one NOW. The hacksaw is actually more my size. I figured what the heck, it cuts pipe, it ought to cut bone--and it does!

That small Old Hickory knife at the bottom is what I skinned the hogs with. The antler handled knife next to it was home made from a saw blade. The small colored knives are paring knives I abuse all the time. LOL

I wrapped the hams and put them in the freezer to chill more than what the ice chest can do. Floppy meat is hard to cut. Then I went outside to do my morning chores. I fed and watered animals. I picked delicata squash, fire log sized zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers. I brought in 3 large wash pans from the garden!

I got a ham out of the freezer.

I went to work, I cut it in half, using the hack saw. I cut 4 center cut fresh ham steaks. I cut off the leg shank for soup bone. I deboned the rest of the meat for sausage. I cut the leg bone in 3 pieces for soup bones.

I wrapped the bones in Glad Wrap to keep the bone sharp edges from poking holes in the vacuum sealed bags.

Then I sealed it up.

I wound up with a lot of real nice meat. I did both hams.

The sausage meat is in the ice chest waiting on me for a fun time in the morning.

 

[baymule]

Today

I went outside to the ice chest and got the loins and brought them inside. I washed them and laid one on the counter. I put several layers of butcher paper under it. Starting with the hams, every time I got another hunk of meat, I laid down more butcher paper.

I sliced it. I laid the pieces on paper towels and laid more paper towels on top. I blotted the meat to get as much water off as I could. This gave a drier and better seal on the Foodsaver.

I packaged both loins, 6 or 7 to a package. I got 13 packages.

I packaged the ribs into 4 packages. I brought in a shoulder and cut off the leg shank. I cut the shoulder in half for roast. I cut the other shoulder the same.

I've had a pot of fat simmering on the stove all day. I put a little water in the pot so I wouldn't scorch the fat. I suppose I am rendering the lard. I dunno. And I guess I'll pour it in jars tomorrow and seal it up. I'm too cotton pickin' tired to fool with it now. And the good news is--I got a lot more fat!

 

[baymule]

And this brings us up to date. Tomorrow I'll be making sausage. I hope this helps anyone comtemplating slaughtering their own hogs. I am no butcher, by any means, but if I can do it, so can you.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Thanks for sharing! Of course I can't get any of the pictures to load (darn phone). It's actually surprisingly not that difficult to process a pig, just a LOT of work. Kudos to you all! I'm anxious to get mine gone too.

 

[sumi]

Thanks for sharing! Gosh, I miss homegrown pork. We used to butcher, but didn't process the meat ourselves. It's something I'd love to learn to do.