Baymule's 2020 Feeder Pigs!

[Mini Horses]

The others around here you have to kill and bring semi-quartered. We will check in WV and maybe even NC.

Really??? Heck, I never knew that was possible.

Here they ONLY do it all. It's a inspected facility, so there are controls they must follow and your meat is inspected, etc. Now, I have had a "kill & chill" done. They butcher & I pick up animal, hanging whole or quartered, etc., to take home & part out, package. Lots of ice & coolers! Last time I did 2 hogs at same time. Never again. One was more than enough cutting for me at one time. Vacuum sealers are appreciated here. The facility is in Ahoskie, NC...40 miles from me. A family business.

If DH does deer, he'd be able to do this. They are FAR more bulky to handle and obviously more meat. Knowing where the cuts come from is helpful for first one.....you may need more & bigger knives, saws, etc.

I have a neighbor who is totally set to process deer. Like pully to hang, gut, then pull entire skin, and even the cooler/freezer there to hang & age, right there in a building to do. He smokes and makes sausage, etc. Anyway, not knowing this at the time, I asked him if he knew a hunter who would process a goat for me. WOW -- couple hrs later I had it in sections, on ice to cut up next day. Watched & "helped". Obviously he was experienced! It was pretty cool.

 

[ChickenMomma]

@Mini Horses , that is weird- you would think the same regulations would be state-wide? But I know for certain that is not the case here. My hub helped a friend of ours kill hogs 2 years ago and took it to be processed and picked up the boxes of packaged meat. We also took a bear to the same facility last year.

@Baymule We have a pretty smooth system of processing our deer. We grind burger, cut steaks of all sorts, roasts, and the mouth watering backstrap. And yes a vacuum sealer is our best friend. We've discussed doing the hogs ourselves several times, I would be the weak link, as I've never raised and butchered an animal. I have kept my distance from them though for this reason. I WANT to get to that point though, and eventually do chickens. I would need lots of pep talks lol

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I would need lots of pep talks lol

You can do it! You can do it!

 

[Baymule]

You can do it! You can do it!

What FEM said!! LOL LOL

 

[ChickenMomma]

Well I have a couple months to get there, so maybe by then I will have found my true farmer legs lol. If the puppy doesn't do me in first....

 

[farmerjan]

There are a couple of butchers in the "mennonite" community here north of me in Dayton/Harrisonburg area. All they do it kill, skin, hang, quarter if you want. They also deliver to at 2 different places that only cut up. Those places are state inspected but not USDA. Neither of them is approved for killing, but just for handling of the carcass. I can take them meat out of my freezer.... like the clean out before an animal is brought home.... and this is stuff he can work up into hot dogs, or bologna or other stuff. Took him about 100 lbs of older stuff and had all sorts of things done up.... roasts and chunks of meat that got made into chipped beef, beef snack sticks,,,, you name it.
Some of the other places do it all, kill, skin, hang, work up the carcass.... some are state inspected (not for sale on the packages) and some are USDA. I think the USDA facilities have to kill as well as work up and package the animal.
I didn't realize that there were places that killed only, and others that processed only, until a few years ago.
Poultry place is state inspected but not "usda" or whatever is needed to be able to sell the birds. But you can kill yourself at home and sell up to something like 2,000 in Va.... tea totally stupid overlapping and ridiculous regs that also have holes in them big enough to drive a truck through....

 

[Baymule]

We have used 3 slaughter facilities here. One is a Mennonite owned and run facility. The one we use now is only 12 miles away and is USDA. They skin hogs only. I asked for the trotters (feet) and was told no, because they get cut off and disposed of with the skin. They cannot keep the trotters inside the facility. I was going to give them to the dogs for treats. Oh well. @ChickenMomma you can save the trotters for your puppy, dole them out one at a time. Don't be surprised if he buries then until the smell wafts upon the breeze.........tasty!

 

[ChickenMomma]

If it will keep him from gnawing on fence and me I’m all in! I had thought about making pork rinds with the skin, my hub and sons all love them but wondered how you get the hair off of it?

@farmerjan it’s just like everything else that’s regulated in VA...

 

[Baymule]

If it will keep him from gnawing on fence and me I’m all in! I had thought about making pork rinds with the skin, my hub and sons all love them but wondered how you get the hair off of it?

@farmerjan it’s just like everything else that’s regulated in VA...

You scald and scrape the hair off. I've never done that. People used to have big dipping vats, and slaughtered in the fall/winter when it was cold enough to hang the meat/carcass outside. Haha, we might get a week at the most of cold enough weather for anything like that. For home killing, if you want to scrape the carcass, I have read (no personal experience) that you lay the carcass, after gutting, on a table or makeshift table of sawhorses and plywood, pour boiling water on the carcass in small patches and scrape the hair off. Don't for get the fat! I made lovely lard 2 years ago from the hog fat and we love cooking with it. I gave away last year's fat because I didn't need it, but I am down to 3 quarts now and asked for the fat from these two pigs.

This is how I rendered lard 2 years ago. I use it for lots of stuff. It makes the flakiest pie crust ever! The leaf lard is the fat on the inside of the carcass and is the best for pastries.

LARD

I rendered l rendered lard for the first time yesterday. This is a thread for us to discuss lard, rendering it, canning it and using it in cooking. @frustratedearthmother @Britesea @Mini Horses @NH Homesteader and anyone else please add your experience to the thread! So yesterday I took out...

www.sufficientself.com

 

[ChickenMomma]

Wow, that amazes me. I would love to use every bit of the animal for all these purposes. Lots of work yes, but what reward. Y’all are teaching me so much. I will read that post about the lard. I just made a blackberry pie this weekend and was disappointed the crust wasn’t flaky as my granny’s used to be. They raised hogs and cattle so I’m sure she used lard.