[Tregwyr]

More questions please?
1) how long have I got from dispatching the pigs to needing to freeze them? (if stored at fridge temperature)
2) is there any problem with curing meat that has been frozen and defrosted? (we tend to defrost in the fridge rather than at room temperature).

Essentially we took our pigs up on a wed morning, to be butchered that day. We didn't get the pork back until Monday. We received our mincer on Tuesday. We minced and sausaged on Tuesday and froze the mince that we didn't have time to sausage. We wet cured two legs then froze the rest (shoulder, belly, legs, rips, chops etc). It felt manic and rushed.

How do other people do it?

[Hassle]

Pigs naturally have water in the flesh so (allowing for hanging if necessary for your breed) the sooner you pick it up the drier the meat is.

Collected on the 3rd day

the chops joints and etc I froze on the 4th day I also did the curing making sure i didn't get the cure on any of the previous joints vac packed and stuck them back in the fridge.

on the 5th day I did mince and burgers these went into the freezer that day and made sausages they then dried in the fridge until the 7th day and packaged

after 2 weeks from the 4th day i sliced bacon and 5 weeks from the cure day I sliced gammon 

According to the EHO you can now defrost and refreeze

[Eve]

Curing after freezing is perfectly allright, just let the meat thaw in the fridge.
 
We used to use a butcher who froze everything for us in his walk-in freezer, except a small joint and some chops for immediate use.
We now use a butcher who only has fridges. We freeze the bulk of the meat on day of collection and store the rest in the fridge. We then freeze what was stored in the fridge a day or two days so later. We do that because the freezers supposedly work better that way than when they're being stuffed full with unfrozen food straight away - they're freeze food best when only 80% full or something along those lines.
 
Yes, it's a busy day when the meat comes back. The rush from the abattoir / butcher to home, once home there's the rush to get it all inside and in the freezers / fridge as quickly as possible, all the time hoping the sun won't come out and keeping the heating switched off... 

[jellybean]

 i would not defrost and then refreeze any meat unless cooked first

[Berkshire Boy]

Nothing wrong with defrosting and refreezing raw meat, modern freezers work so well it is not unsafe as long as you defrost it correctly first.

[HappyHippy]

Nothing wrong with defrosting and refreezing raw meat, modern freezers work so well it is not unsafe as long as you defrost it correctly first.

And take it to a core temperature of 74 degrees when cooking to make sure it's properly cooked and safe to eat 
Obviously the more often it's thawed and refrozen the more the quality would deteriorate, but absolutely nothing wrong with defrosting a piece of pork to cure then freezing it again before cooking it IMHO.

[ppd]

My bacon was all made from pieces of meat which had been frozen and some of the bacon was vac packed and refrozen and I'm still here

[MAK]

Above made me laugh ! "Busy day" and "how do other manage it?" 
We killed 2 pigs in a blizzard the other week and I was lucky enough to stir the warm blood with my hands (black pudding). We used a blow torch and lit a straw fire to get the hair off BUT then we presssure washed the pigs ( sparay freezing on me), emptied them, washed them again and hung then in my barn overnight. Kidneys for supper.
The following 3 days I butchered both pigs, Chris did the labels, bags and freezing and we had buckets for fat, sausage meat and bones for the dog. We cured bacon sides,  boned 3 legs for hams and did knuckles. We made english sausage, toulouse sausage,chirizo and salami. Oh and black pudding,pate and fromage de tete. We cooked the bones for the dog and froze the meat. We still had s_x every night! 
Oh - in the lull before cutting ham and bacon for the freezer we killed 9 rabbits and 2 ducks and jointed the lot whilst smoking some duck breasts.
Sure its hard work but we have never been happier !

[Eve]

Cured food does not need cooking to be safe, not when cured from fresh nor when cured from previously frozen. It's cured, so it's a different kind of meat compared to fresh meat.
Much of both cured and fresh meat was at some point frozen before being processed and transported for sale in the shops here, jellybean, even so-called fresh meat in butcher shops. Berkshire Boy is right and like ppd, I'm still here, too
Mak, how many freezers have you got? 
 
 
 
 
 

[ppd]

Never mind how many freezers he has got, Eve, I just want to know what he's 'on' 
.....Sorry Mac

[MAK]

One large chest and a big upright one  plus a fridge freezer. We only cut  a couple of the large roasting joints (Joints are an awkward shape and take up more space than multiple packs of sliced ham). I rarely go in the freezers but Chris seems to know exactly where stuff is and has various plastic trays/boxes that she can lift out to get to others stacked below.
It was a bit odd emtying the freezer of frozen plums and blackberries and feeding them to the pigs so we had maximum freezer space for pork,ham and bacon.
I assume that the freezers are full but Chris did not complain when I portioned and bagged up 4 chickens for the freezer last week. Not sure that we have space for all the sprouts that we have not eaten though.