Max safe hanging temp?

Slaughtering a hog shortly, as all her buddies are booked in on sunday and I don't want her stressed and lonely.

Forecast shows a couple nice cool days and then highs around 10c , nights not much colder. Much warmer than previous times...


Is this too warm to let the meat hang for a week or more?

I don't hang hogs.  Doesn't seem to improve the meat.  Cut them up and toss them in the freezer, being careful to spread the meat out a bit.  If I want to cut chops, I put the loin in the fridge just long enough to firm it up.

I've done it that way when I slaughtered one in summer, and it was good meat, but it did seem to me that the meat from the previous hog, hung for a good two weeks in mid winter, was better yet.

In any case, hoping I can get away with hanging this one as I can get a bit of help next weekend, vs doing it all solo right away. The cutting is one thing, but I am straight up horrible at wrapping it nicely!

My Grandmother used to use a rule that the temperature in C x the number of days should equal 40 so if the temperature is 10C then it should hang for 4 days.

To me, keeping the pig in the shade would help dramatically. Last year i hung our pig for 2 weeks before i cut it up. We however slaughtered in December. This year i am planning on slaughtering them the first week of November. I will be keeping an eye on the meat while it is hanging. I am expecting to go 5+ days before i begin butchering the meat up for the freezer. Usually it works with a day when i have nothing else to distract me.

I always try to hang meat as long as i can. Use your nose to smell for any oddness. and check under flaps and folds for maggots.

Thank you all for the input!

She's hanging now. First time skinning/gutting solo, and she's twice the size to boot... Suffice to say I will be tidying a bit tomorrow.

I've got the two sides hanging in a white cargo trailer; the trailer will see a bit of sun, but I will keep it ventilated in the day. Sitting at 0c as I finished up just now, hopefully just right to chill it without any freezing.


I think early/mid november would be ideal. When I slaughtered in mid dec I had to move them into a barn for the last 2 weeks as the wet cold was too much for the mobile shelter.. they were way mad about it.

Right now seems a bit early, I am still sorting out other harvests as first frost was just a few days ago... less overlap would be good, and there is still garden surplus to feed. But, the date was set by the the friend buying 3 out of 4 hogs..

D Nikolls wrote:Thank you all for the input!

She's hanging now. First time skinning/gutting solo, and she's twice the size to boot... Suffice to say I will be tidying a bit tomorrow.

I've got the two sides hanging in a white cargo trailer; the trailer will see a bit of sun, but I will keep it ventilated in the day. Sitting at 0c as I finished up just now, hopefully just right to chill it without any freezing.


I think early/mid november would be ideal. When I slaughtered in mid dec I had to move them into a barn for the last 2 weeks as the wet cold was too much for the mobile shelter.. they were way mad about it.

Right now seems a bit early, I am still sorting out other harvests as first frost was just a few days ago... less overlap would be good, and there is still garden surplus to feed. But, the date was set by the the friend buying 3 out of 4 hogs..

Do you have any photos of the process? I can only imagine killing a pig solo would be challenging.

I think it would be quite unlikely to freeze at 0c as the meat is still cooling down. Our freezer runs at -18c and it still takes 12+ hours to freeze the meat.


Yep when someone is buying 75% of the pork, they definitely have a say in my books.


If you don't mind sharing. How much are you selling per pound? and how were they raised?
Last year i did 6$ a pound and they were fed organic along with all the apples they could eat. They lived in a permanent run. It was big but it stunk.
This year i am doing organic again and they are being fed apples. Also they were pasture raised in electric fence.