The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: rubhadubh on October 26, 2011, 01:27:48 pm
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Hi, my first post on this board.
We've kept pigs for a few years, but this will be the first time we've slaughtered them on the farm. I could then borrow cooler space, but if I could hang them in the barn it would make life a lot simpler.
The weather forecast next week here is ranging 7-10deg high and 0-2 deg low. I know *ideal* would be 2-4deg, but should we risk it?
Alternatively, has anyone got ideas for a temporary cooler big enough to take 4 halves of pig?
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Can't help sorry as i've always sent mine to a abattoir. I;m sure that there will be a lot of advice on here for people with way more exp than me :)
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Depends on how long you're going to hang them - couple of days, which is enough to let them set-up, and you'd probably get away with it, but as H&S would say, you are increasing the risk.
I'm sure you will appreciate that you cannot legaly sell (or indeed give away) any of the meat as this is a home slaughter, it must be for the consumption of yourself and those immediate members of your family living with you.
If you can borrow a cooler this would be better, and probably worth the cost rather than risk either ruining 2 pigs which presumably you have taken time to rear, or given food poison to the kids.
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Yes, I agree with Oaklands.
I wouldn't want to risk losing the pork, or indeed someone being ill.
I've been trying to think of a way of making a temporary cooler, but not sure I can think of anything big enough. You will be surprised how much space 4 halves will take up.
What area do you live in?
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you used to get cold stores for milk basically a wooden frame lined with an insulation and wash down walls internally with a smallish chiller unit i am sure if determined enough something could be cobbled together
it is just seeing something and copying :farmer:
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Are you too far away from the slaughter house. I think home slaughter must be really hard work and here in France the cost is 11euros - killed and cut in half - we do the jointing. As the French dont 'roast' as such the butcher at the slaughter house cuts everything up into chops-like bits. Bizarre. I prefer a good sized joint - also here in France they cut the rind off to make a white-type boudan noir. I like the crackling although my teeth dont.
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I'm in Nova Scotia, and we have a neighbour who is very experienced at killing and gutting farm and wild animals - this is not like the UK, these folk are commonplace! We'll do the butchery ourselves.
On my todo list is building a cooler, possibly using one of these: http://storeitcold.com/ (http://storeitcold.com/) but I haven't got around to it. I could easily/quickly make a rough plywood and rigid insulated box, and it may be that a regular air-conditioner unit (again, these are widely available here) would take enough heat out for long enough. I presume no-one here has tried this.
But yes, it's probably not worth risking the pork.
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Hi
In the parts of the UK home slaughter is frowned upon due to govt regulations, we obviously have lots more red tape than you do so unfortunately not many people on here will have done a home slaughter, its the same with having kids hardly anyone has them at home now they all have to go to hospital. The Uk has become very hung up on rules & regulations and litigation, everything sanitised and pre packaged.
Hope your project goes well and we'll be interested as to how you get on.
Mandy :pig:
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Mandy, thanks for that. We moved from the UK a few years ago, and one reason for the discontent was the food police and the whole What If? Syndrome. The same nonsense is coming here, but there's still a huge sense of the pioneer, doing things for yourself. Yes, I could have someone else kill and butcher my pigs, but equally I could simply go buy some pork and have done with it!
It does mean, however, that we have to relearn some things that we have delegated to the 'experts' and lost a feel for. Hence, the question... we 'know' that ideal storage temperature is 2-4c, but I suspect that in reality there is a margin above that which is still perfectly safe. Commercial production has to reduce risk to the nth degree, and so we have the 4c max recommendation.
Maybe this is the wrong forum for such a question, I'll see what the deer hunters have to say...
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you used to get cold stores for milk basically a wooden frame lined with an insulation and wash down walls internally with a smallish chiller unit i am sure if determined enough something could be cobbled together
it is just seeing something and copying :farmer:
A large domestic fridge.....take the benches out of it. Put a rod thourgh the side of the fridge to the other, hang the pig in here and close the door, turn the fridge on and set the temperature before you kill the pig..... do this a day or two before hand so you now that the fridge is doing. keeps out the flies etc. Then you can leave a day or so to hang to set....
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In days gone by (when I was a girl ;D) I daresay pigs were slaughtered in winter then after a few days hanging put in the salt barrel until anyone had time to cure the various bits.
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bloody hell blonde it must be some size of fridges that you have in oz that you can hang a pig in them :farmer:
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well, so far, so good... 2 pigs pop, pop, they never knew a thing about it. Skinned and gutted now and hanging in the barn at 5.6c to set, but we will put them in a neighbour's cooler later today or tomorrow for a few days - just not *quite* cool enough in the barn. There aren't many flies around now, but there may still be a couple of hardy ones to watch for.
Killing them on the farm was perfect. Just have to rig up my cooler for next year.
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bloody hell blonde it must be some size of fridges that you have in oz that you can hang a pig in them :farmer:
Or maybe Blonde's switched to micro pigs? :D
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After I killed one of mine I let it hang in a douvet cover in our dairy to keep any flies off , no problem.
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bloody hell blonde it must be some size of fridges that you have in oz that you can hang a pig in them :farmer:
Our neighbour has a a large fridge that has 3 doors in it and he has just welded a frame up and put it on a concrete floor......just sits there with the motor on top and when he or we want to do a sheep or a pig or a cow it is put on and then we hang our meat in it for a day or a week and then butcher it or have it butchered. We did a cow just on the weekend.
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bloody hell blonde it must be some size of fridges that you have in oz that you can hang a pig in them :farmer:
Or maybe Blonde's switched to micro pigs? :D
Only have micro "waves" :wave: over here not "micro" pigs. ;D
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I want the tone of this post to be respectful....
Do people tattle on each other when regs aren't followed? No sharing meat with anyone but household?
Aren't temperatures ranges ideal (who lives in the ideal world)?
I understand all of the what ifs but.....where is your "if it could be done for hundreds (low ball) of years before modern gadgets, then I can surely do it!" spirit?
Please, no lecture on the sicknesses of the past.
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dont give a flying stuff what you or anybody else dose that is up to you but if you post here you are open to the world and his dog just an observation :farmer:
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If my neighbour killed a pig and offered me some, as long as I knew how it had been reared, I don't think I would worry ;) BUT, as Robert says, best to keep things to yourself.
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I see!
;)
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The trouble with this country Yankie Girl is we live a bit more cheek by jowell with our neighbours (interesting spelling ?) and there is always someone ready to " drop a dime on you " for not following the rule book that has been forced on us by Europe ( by the way , we are not European ....never have been.. never will be).
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( by the way , we are not European ....never have been.. never will be).
What are you then? I'm just a hick from the sticks but I'm all ears. I know very little about life and politics in the UK.
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How can I explain in laymans terms? ....Europe is that block of countries south of the English Chanel unfortunate enough not to be part of the British Empire, We like their wine and cheese but not their attitude. At this present moment in time they are running round like headless chickens trying to keep the Euro afloat , god knows why because it buys less than the US Dollar. The French think the EEC was invented for their benefit, the Germans Know it was invented for their benefit , and the Belgians think they are running the whole pointless organisation. The rest of the member states are only there to milk the system for as much as they can get away with. They sit in their ivory tower in Brussels making up unworkable rules and regulations for the Bits to slavishly follow, and laugh at our attempts to do so, we try to make the effort 'cause we are the good guys who end up picking up the pieces when it all goes pear shaped.
If you think you don't understand our politics, then what are we to make of a country that put George W in power TWICE ?
Now if you will excuse me , I have to go and remove my tongue from my cheek. ( this may require surgery )
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If you think you don't understand our politics, then what are we to make of a country that put George W in power TWICE ?
As if we had a choice. Algore the enviro wackjob, socialist in 2000. Kerry aka herman munster in 2004.
Anyway, does the EU collapse? Does Greece thumb their nose at the bail out and vote it down? What's next?
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If the Greek Prime Minister steps down or is forced out then the Generals will probably step into the power vacuum and take them back 50 years, they will not pay their international debts so a lot of French banks are crapping themselves , the Euro is on the verge of collapse , it makes no difference how much money they print if they dont have the gold reserves to back it up . it is even worse than the depression in the thirties. The big fear is that it could lead to another European war as the infrastucture collapses and power strugles take place in some of the thirdworld toilets that have been allowed to join the EEC. Italy will be next to fall apart, and Spain is in deep do-do. If they all renaige on their debts the world banking system will be in serious trouble.
We seem to have hijacked this thread, so better pack in now.
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If my neighbour killed a pig and offered me some, as long as I knew how it had been reared, I don't think I would worry ;) BUT, as Robert says, best to keep things to yourself.
are you not allowed to barter ??? with your neighbours.
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Blonde, we can't even legally GIVE home-killed meat to our neighbours, or even invite them over to eat some with us!!