Author Topic: Butchering a Sow (Read 3093 times)

JedM · « **on:** February 10, 2016, 11:19:40 am »

I am taking my old sow to slaughter in the next few weeks. Just wondering what joints people get from sows? I've heard that it's best to turn the whole lot into sausages?!?

greenbeast · « **Reply #1 on:** February 10, 2016, 11:56:55 am »

That's typically what's happened in our family, hundreds and hundreds of sausages.

benkt · « **Reply #2 on:** February 10, 2016, 12:11:20 pm »

We took two sows a couple of years back and got ~1000lbs of sausages from the pair, so yes, lots and lots of sausages!

JedM · « **Reply #3 on:** February 10, 2016, 12:53:23 pm »

Thanks, we took a huge sow 5 years a go and got 1200 sausages!

Looks like it will be a similar idea this year.

Sbom · « **Reply #4 on:** February 10, 2016, 01:31:15 pm »

We took one and had sausage, bacon and gammons (joints and chops).

Very yummy it was to!!

hughesy · « **Reply #5 on:** February 10, 2016, 01:43:51 pm »

The last time we took a sow in I sold half of the meat to a butcher friend of mine cheap just to reduce the amount I'd need to store. There was an awful lot of waste in terms of skin, bones and fat but some of the meat like the loin and leg was very good. It's not absolutely sausages only if you're prepared to spend a bit of time trimming and cutting.

HappyHippy · « **Reply #6 on:** February 10, 2016, 02:52:58 pm »

Ditto Hughesy

Providing you go for low, slow cooking (ideally with liquid) the meat is nice and tender - great for joints and stews/casseroles
Best bacon comes from sows IMHO

So much more than 'just sausages'