Another pig slaughter story

So we had a male that bit. Children and adults alike, he was attempting to eat us. He had to go. He was the runt of the litter, very small. I thought originally we'd try to sell him as a pet but he clearly didn't have the disposition for that. So yesterday I called him and his brother over to the garage. It's SO NICE to have pigs trained to come when called. We had everything set up right outside the garage and the smoker going inside the garage for when he was ready. So we called him over and had to move him just a few feet after he was shot to the scalder and table. Death went fine. We've got that down. We did decide to scald and scrape as we planned to cook him whole. I don't know that we'll do that again. It's laborious. These pigs have SO MUCH HAIR. Even after I'd taken the black layer of skin off and we were down to the white there was still hair. I didn't really scrape the legs or head. Plus they suck in a lot of air. Every single one we've butchered has sucked in air. They inflate like balloons and it makes me mildly nervous to be scraping a balloon.

I'd butchered all girls before. Butchering a boy is a bit more difficult. The reproductive track is rather in the way during gutting and since I hadn't killed a boy before I wasn't quite sure if I could just cut the balls off and go on my way or not. Got it done though. We estimate he was about 40 lbs dead weight. We had to remove his head to get him to fit in the smoker.

He was smoked on a pretty high temp because we didn't have time to do him low and slow. Still delicious. His skin was extremely crispy from all of the lard rendering during the smoke.

I think we may have weirded his family out because hubs kept proudly saying dinner was oinking not 7 hours before.

He looks adorable until you realize he's trying to eat me.

Glad you had a better experience this time around!!!
(i see videos of people walking around in pigpens with buckets and it scares the heck out of me. they have teeth and when they're not afraid to use them, yikes. He looks much more appealing to me in the smoker.)

AGH?

Tereza Okava wrote:Glad you had a better experience this time around!!!
(i see videos of people walking around in pigpens with buckets and it scares the heck out of me. they have teeth and when they're not afraid to use them, yikes. He looks much more appealing to me in the smoker.)

Then look away as our breeding boar is my daughters absolute favorite! I hear you. Even though our boar is the nicest pig ever I make sure to tell our kids that he could eat them. I'm also cautious with him because he does have tusks and could jab us turning his head. He's a great pig though and we are unlikely to ever eat him as our daughter would stage an absolute revolt.

denny hall wrote:AGH?

Yes!

Daddy and his boys. One of the boys went off to be a breeder. You can see the runt we just killed in the middle there. The other one is chill like his Dad. He'll probably be eaten at some point but we're in no rush. My hubs keeps saying we're going to eat Dad and keep his son for breeding but like I said, daughter would stage a revolt.

elle sagenev wrote: Plus they suck in a lot of air. Every single one we've butchered has sucked in air. They inflate like balloons and it makes me mildly nervous to be scraping a balloon.
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I'd butchered all girls before. Butchering a boy is a bit more difficult. The reproductive track is rather in the way during gutting and since I hadn't killed a boy before I wasn't quite sure if I could just cut the balls off and go on my way or not. Got it done though.

They don't suck in air.  The GI track produces a lot of gas from the digestion process.  Ruminants are especially bad about that, but anything eating a mostly vegetarian diet will blow up like a balloon within a fairly short time after death, especially if they haven't been starved for the preceding 12-24 hours.  Don't be nervious scraping them when they bloat like that.  The gut sack is beneath enough layers of skin, muscle and connective tissue that you can't rupture it by scraping.

What was the water temp for your scald?  Did you scald it long enough?  Getting the scald right, just like for plucking chickens, makes ALL the difference.

For dealing with the boys bits, the testicles can be removed at any time.  If they're in the way just go ahead and remove them.  The penis can also be removed once you are at the point of starting the gutting process.

aw, cute pic, Elle. I know that it is more my attitude than pigs in general (says the lady with the "mean scary" pit bull, lol). #pigphobia

Andrew Mayflower wrote:

elle sagenev wrote: Plus they suck in a lot of air. Every single one we've butchered has sucked in air. They inflate like balloons and it makes me mildly nervous to be scraping a balloon.
.
.
.
I'd butchered all girls before. Butchering a boy is a bit more difficult. The reproductive track is rather in the way during gutting and since I hadn't killed a boy before I wasn't quite sure if I could just cut the balls off and go on my way or not. Got it done though.

They don't suck in air.  The GI track produces a lot of gas from the digestion process.  Ruminants are especially bad about that, but anything eating a mostly vegetarian diet will blow up like a balloon within a fairly short time after death, especially if they haven't been starved for the preceding 12-24 hours.  Don't be nervious scraping them when they bloat like that.  The gut sack is beneath enough layers of skin, muscle and connective tissue that you can't rupture it by scraping.

What was the water temp for your scald?  Did you scald it long enough?  Getting the scald right, just like for plucking chickens, makes ALL the difference.

For dealing with the boys bits, the testicles can be removed at any time.  If they're in the way just go ahead and remove them.  The penis can also be removed once you are at the point of starting the gutting process.

Well that is good to know. I knew they blew up I just thought it was the death shudders sucking in air. Good to know!

My husband was pretty anal about the scald water temp but we did end up having a big pan next to me while I was scraping so I could pour water over the sections as it was just not scraping great.