The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Simon O on October 11, 2012, 09:33:32 pm

Title: First lot of pork
Post by: Simon O on October 11, 2012, 09:33:32 pm
First lot of pork butchered on Sunday. 2 X 7 month old OSBs 66 and 62 kg deadweight - strangely the smaller of the 2 with with the thicker fat layer - it was not so long as the other. Estimated lean percentage from Wishaw abattoir was 69.13% and 69.72% (this seems to me surprisingly high and I wonder what thier method of estimation is - I thought usually it was around 60%) and they were called category G (no idea what this means and cannot find info on google -  :idea:  I suppose I could give them a phone). About 2 weeks before slaughter estimated weight by string method was around 160lb = 72 kg so this looks as if it underestimated the weight.
Photos of the pork:
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: ballingall on October 11, 2012, 09:35:52 pm
Looks good. Who did your butchering etc?


Beth
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: lachlanandmarcus on October 11, 2012, 09:36:02 pm
By golly that looks good to me... :trophy: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :trophy: :pig: :pig: :pig:
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: Simon O on October 11, 2012, 09:45:25 pm
A friend who is a butcher in Glasgow did the butchering and showed me what to do. I tried a bit of sausage knitting (causing  plenty of holes in the skins in the process) but otherwise stuck to weighing bagging up and labelling. He does not usually do private kills and hardly charged me anything so it would not seem fair for me to keep getting him to do it. It was a good day and I got lots of interesting info from him.
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: Mammyshaz on October 11, 2012, 09:48:23 pm
Looks very good to me  :love:  well done you  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: sokel on October 11, 2012, 10:04:28 pm
Looks lovely to me  , hope you enjoy it  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: SallyintNorth on October 11, 2012, 11:03:39 pm
Looks great  :thumbsup:  You'll never want shop-bought pork again  :yum:
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: Fleecewife on October 12, 2012, 12:19:52 am
Hi Simon  :wave: .  The pork looks lovely - not too fatty but enough to taste good  :pig: :pig:  Well done with your first pigs  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: Kitchen Cottage on October 12, 2012, 05:40:32 am
That looks lovely!

I'm afraid mine will have a little too much fat on it at the moment.  Your's looks perfect!!
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: HappyHippy on October 12, 2012, 08:45:22 am
Looks good Simon  :thumbsup: How does it taste ?  :yum:

Are Wishaw leaving the skin on the carcasses now ? (or are my eyes needing tested  :D) When I took my first pigs there they came back skinned  :-\ but that could have been me not asking for the right thing  :innocent:
Karen  :wave:
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: Simon O on October 12, 2012, 09:29:15 am
Yes shaved and cleaned (I think they called that 'plotted' ??- dipped in hot water), skin on, head on, tongue out, kept the offal for me (abattoir cost £19 a pig)- kept the pigs for 6 days and I arranged with Duff the wholesale butchers based at the abattoir to transport them (£10 a pig - my butcher felt this was a bit of a rip-off as he was delivering anyway) to my butcher in Glasgow, who kept them till we did the butchering the following Sunday, so they had hung 10 days. The private kill pigs are on a Thursday morning - not sure if this was always the case.
Butcher said the meat was firm compared to the usual commercial pigs he gets. Incidentally he said he buys his wholesale pigs for the same price as I reckon it took for me to buy the weaners and feed till killed - £160.
The plain sausages taste great - but they really just taste like my butcher's own sausages which I like anyway and he has fairly strongly spiced; I've not tried the herb and pork ones yet. We had a shoulder joint the other night and it roasted great with crunchy but soft (if you know what I mean) crackling, very tender meat. Too late we found the friend we were having to dinner does not really like pork! But she was converted; she thought it tasted more like lamb and I can see why she thought this. It was quite fine-grained and carved quite like lamb. I thought the meat had a sweet taste to it, so the edge bits were a bit like caramelised. Very tasty with bramley apple sauce. Good as cold with salad yesterday. Looking forward to the last of it in sandwiches at lunchtime today.
You are right Sally I never want shop bought again.
Sorry you can see I am a bit obsessed with my pork.
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: Rosemary on October 12, 2012, 09:31:02 am
Looks fab - well done! :thumbsup:
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: Fowgill Farm on October 12, 2012, 10:10:27 am
looks great well done you :thumbsup:
Enjoy :yum:
Mandy :pig:
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: Bionic on October 12, 2012, 10:13:53 am
Looks great to me  :thumbsup:
Sally
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: SallyintNorth on October 12, 2012, 11:52:46 am
Simon, your descriptions are vivid - I can see, smell and taste your pork and it's fantastic!   :yum: :D
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: HappyHippy on October 12, 2012, 01:09:46 pm
Simon, your descriptions are vivid - I can see, smell and taste your pork and it's fantastic!   :yum: :D
Yeah  ;D Me too (and I've just had lunch !)  :yum:
You should be proud though - it's great looking pork  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: Pebbles on October 12, 2012, 08:01:55 pm
Brilliant job Simon! You've come away with far more information and knowledge than we did with our first pigs  :P
The weights are pretty much spot on what we would expect at that age...we'll be keeping their siblings for another couple of months to a deadweight of around 80-85kg.
So when will you be wanting some more weaners?  ;)
Enjoy!!!
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: Simon O on October 12, 2012, 11:00:29 pm
Thanks Gillian they are great, next 2 waiting to go mid-Nov (see fb for picture of them sunbathing!). Fed with feed from East Coast Viners, who delivered a ton free delivery and this has just about done the 4 of them, initially grower then finisher to max of 4lb per pig per day.By the way Category G at Wishaw just means gilt. They do not do fat thickness as they 'do not have the facilities'.  The abattoir staff were very helpful and the girls on reception/email there have been great at finding things out for me. Not sure when I'll be getting more weaners - their paddock is pretty muddy and will be glad to get a rest over the winter months at least
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: ballingall on October 13, 2012, 08:44:12 am
Glad you've found out so much. Personally I'm slightly disappointed, as I was thinking I could steal a shot of your butcher, but as it was a friend I guess not!


Enjoy all that pork!
Title: Re: First lot of pork
Post by: Simon O on October 14, 2012, 08:19:23 am
I will ask and see if he is at all interested in doing more private kills but I am doubtful as he already works 7 days a week, nearly every week of the year!