[plt102]

We got our local farmer friend to show us how to butcher in return for a good price for a couple of carcasses. We have butchered our last 6 pigs ourselves with no problem but it is time consuming and as mentioned before you need the right tools for the job. I would recommend no more than 2 at a time, simply to make sure you have time to get everything packaged and frozen/chilled in good time. We started doing it ourselves because you can decide on the size of your joints and decide on the day whether you want chops, belly pork or bacon etc. Also our abbatoir butcher doesn't do bacon or sausages so we have to do these ourselves anyway. One thing to remember is that you will need somewhere cool (preferably cold) to store everything. Pork goes soggy and nasty very quickly as it warms up and it makes it hard to cut cleanly. We used a relatives catering unit where they had a walk in chiller. He has now gone out of business and so we have bought the chiller to put in our garage as it made everything so much easier. Good luck when you decide to give it a go. Nothing beats eating your own home grown, home butcher, home packaged, home labelled pork!  xxx

[tizaala]

I killed and butchered 2 of ours now, the worst part is getting the hair off, thought a wallpaper stripper would do the job but no chance,  the  killing is done in a pig scales just outside the door then I have an electric winch from Aldi that pulls them out of the crate and straight up in the air for bleeding and gutting, You have to do a lot of prep work, like having all your black pudding kit ready weighed and ready to mix as soon as you have the blood,  the gutting can wait until this is done.
Once the guts are out and the hair is off I let them hang for a few days to set the flesh this makes the cutting easier ,start at the head end and work my way upwards , lowering the winch to a comfortable working height makes the job easier.

[MAK]

Yes - agree on the above 2 posts.
We burnt all the hair off and scraped with an old knife as we whent BUT before we emptied the pigs.
Killing in Nov -dec etc means that you can cut them cold after hanging them over a night.
Working as a pair or more is a must to weigh, nag, label etc but its no big deal and just as  above you can discuss the seize of cuts etc etc.

[Billy Rhomboid]

I always butcher our pigs. I would never dream of doing it otherwise. But if it was for commercial sale there is no way I could justify the hours involved against a £40 cost, especially if sausage making, etc involved.