The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: langdon on March 26, 2010, 11:18:59 pm
-
cant wait for next month one of our pigs is ready for pork MMMMMMMMMmmm
we are new to pig keeping, our freind who sold us the weiners is coming down to show
us how to cut up meat, he is a farmer plus butcher.
that is one skill i am looking forward to learning, rearing your own meat and then to be able to
cut it up yourself. :pig:
-
Are you not getting attached to your pigs? What about your wife and the children - will they be able to cope with eating the pork after seeing the pigs?
I do admire your enthusiasm, and eagerness to try new skills etc. A lot of people would want the pig killed and butchered and all nicely back ready for the freezer, but here are you, with your first pig wanting to cut it up!!
-
My hubby wanted to do our own slaughter and butchery (he's done it before and was more than confident) but I had to put my foot down :( I didn't want to see it all happening. I was attached to my girls, they were here purely for meat and despite telling myself NOT to get attached, it happened (but I think that's all part of caring for them) Maybe in the furture I will let him do it - but it's easier for me to put them in the hands of the experts and just pick up my boxes of nicely cut up and labelled meat (and my butcher knows that I never want to see their heads - what am I like eh ?). I do admire you for wanting to do it yourself though - let us know how you get on.
Karen
-
yeah, good on you!!!
It's a skill I'd love to have. I'll have to try harder to make friends with a butcher. I must say the idea of doing it all myself ( breeding to slaughtering to butchering ) really appeals to me but I don't think I'm quite ready for the commitment of keeping pigs all year round quite yet. If anyone on here grows most of their pigs food I'd love to know how much land it takes up for say a couple of sows?
hope you enjoy the pork (you will!!), pretty soon you'll be able to tell the supermarkets where to shove their food, apart from the beer and sweets of course ;)
-
If you home slaughter where do you dispose of the nasty bits?
-
i wont be doing the slaughter, slaughter house for that, i want to do the cutting up
of the meat. ;)
-
Sorry Langdon, didnt particularly mean you personally, was just curious what happens to the smelly bits. Who cleans the skins for the sausages and how. Just wondering really
-
dont get me wrong i love them, but they are ere for one reason only,
a source of food that we ourselves reared on our little smallholding and proud of it too ;D
george is alittle bit disheartened, but like his da he loves his food!! :pig:
-
If you dont eat them they would not be bred in the first place !!!!
-
You're in for a real treat, meal-wise. My son and I cut up our pigs, hard work and took us two back-aching days but worth it!
-
Langdon
Hugh fernley-whittingstall has a dvd on pigs and on there he and his butcher take you through the butchery stage cut by cut its very informative and easy to follow I think its called "pig in a day"
Gary
-
Hi we have ours slaughtered and butchered but would consider butchery at home if I knew how. Maybe one day! I wouldnt choose home kill though. Good luck good to hear you're looking forward to it, it will be the best pork you have ever eaten, you'll never look back :pig:
A friend has 2 weaners form me each year, has them slaughtered then he and his mate butcher them at home, he loves the whole experience.
-
nice one pal ;) hugh is my hero i would love to spend a day on his farm :pig:
-
Me too. :D
-
why dont we all meet up at a central point for all of us and drive up ????
-
Hubby slaughters and butchers ours at home as there's no slaughterhouse anywhere near us, he's self taught so it may not be exactly the way a trained butcher would do it but it works for us.
The nasty bits get burnt outside and other parts that we don't use, but some will, are taken away by our neighbour who has given us meat from the cows he's slaughtered in exchange.
Must point out that the rules here on pig keeping etc do seem very different - most Bulgarians keep animals for meat.
-
do you need papers or anything to offical saying you can do it at home? :pig:
langdon
-
:) i think i am right in saying home slaughtered meat can only be eaten by the owners of the animals,unless it is killed by a licenced slaughterman and farm is registered for processing meat. and a injured animal visited and shot by the vet needs a yellow card for the slaughter house to deal with the carcase but animals with a yellow card can only be eaten by the owner :o nothing in farming is straight forward any more just confussing.
-
If you go for home slaughter as much for your own sake as the pig's make sure the slaughterer is a) VERY experienced and b) uses a humane slaughterer. Dont take excuses. Its not a pleasant sight or sound if done wrongly. The adrenalin ruins the meat, the noise is horrendous and the sight in badly executed (sorry no pun intended) cases is nightmarish.
A good slaughterman / house is worth its weight.
-
as said before i aint going to do the slaughter myself, will send them of for that.
i was asking out of coursity thats all.
i would love to cut up my own carcass myself and am getting cutting lessons from
my mate who gave us the pigs, as he breeds them on his own farm and has got his own farm shop on site
langdon ;) :pig:
-
Sorry to deflate anyones opinion of hugh but he has no farm its all for tv/MONEY I have met him many times (slaughtering his stock) he isnt what he portrays
and I'd imagine the vast majority of axminster would agree!! His pig dvd is good though.
-
Hi
I got 2 pigs several months ago and was determined to do the whole thing myself with some helping hands.
Mobile slaughter man did both pigs with zero, and I mean ZERO stress, it was amazing. I helped out with the whole process. See if you can find a mobile slaughter chap near you.
Then, back of the car, mate's chiller for 2 days then myself and the children (10,8 & 6) all chopped them up on the kitchen table with the help of another 'butcher' mate (who I gave a bottle of malt to for his troubles). I then delivered the meat in bags to my 'customers' and the most recent pork roasts have been a major source of discussion down the pub. Oh boy the crackling!!!!
You will love it.
-
I then delivered the meat in bags to my 'customers' and the most recent pork roasts have been a major source of discussion down the pub.
Not criticising, but if you are handing out pork from pigs killed at home, please be very, very careful. If caught the fines can be horrendous. Its a case of public health, which the authorities are very heavy on. It matters not a jot that you have not taken money for the meat.
-
when I say killed at home, I used a fully licensed and qualified mobile slaughter man instead of going to the abattoir. That's OK isn't it????
-
Hi
we sent our girls in nov to the abatior then got them back in a cold store van- HFW's DVD talked us through the main bits and we experimented with the rest- (really really frustrated that they didn't do a close up of how to tie sausages into 3 link chains but we managed 2 fine and dandy)
investment in the mincer and sausage maker def worth it- I will never, never buy any sausages again!
pigs turned into roasting and ham joints, cured for bacon and the rest minced for sausages- family activity with lots of trials to get the recipes right.
We just finished the last of our sausages last week -favourites were garlic and chilli and pork and chive.
when we finished the pack-my 8 year old daughter exclaimed- 'quick mummy- go and buy some pigs and feed them up- we need to make more'- never thought I'd hear that from one of my kids- beats- lets go to the supermarket every time!!!
it was daunting when faced with the carcases-where do you start but soon got the hang of it- I guess its like everything with this smallholder m'larky- its a fast learning curve but boy is it a great ride!
Lynne