Feeder Pigs 2017

[Baymule]

I went outside to the ice chest and got the loins and brought them inside. I washed them and laid one on the counter. I put several layers of butcher paper under it. Starting with the hams, every time I got another hunk of meat, I laid down more butcher paper.

I sliced it. I laid the pieces on paper towels and laid more paper towels on top. I blotted the meat to get as much water off as I could. This gave a drier and better seal on the Foodsaver.

I packaged both loins, 6 or 7 to a package. I got 13 packages.

I packaged the ribs into 4 packages. I brought in a shoulder and cut off the leg shank. I cut the shoulder in half for roast. I cut the other shoulder the same.

I've had a pot of fat simmering on the stove all day. I put a little water in the pot so I wouldn't scorch the fat. I suppose I am rendering the lard. I dunno. And I guess I'll pour it in jars tomorrow and seal it up. I'm too cotton pickin' tired to fool with it now. And the good news is--I got a lot more fat!

 

[misfitmorgan]

Wow nice job Bay!!

I believe the blade on your bone saw looks much finer then the blade on mine. I will have to look when i get home but i know ours goes thru bone like a dream 1.5 slices and it was thru a thigh bone.

 

[Baymule]

My husband started a fire in the smoker at 6:30 this morning. Our neighbor Jennifer, dropped her bacon off on her way to work. We smoked it for her. My husband smoked our bacon, low and slow while I ran the meat grinder.

On one of DH's trips through the house, he got the bathroom scale and we weighed the ground meat. It weighed 22 pounds. I added the spice mix.

I stirred the spice mix in the meat.

I cooked a patty for a taste test. We each ate half and it was good!

 

[Baymule]

The bacon smelled so good! It got all brown and smoked. I would go get a slab when DH pronounced it done and I took another slab back to him.

I just had to cut some, not easy to do--hot bacon is slick and squooshy.

Then of course I just had to cook some of my irregular cut squooshy bacon.

DH worked hard all day, tending the fire and the meat. A few months ago, there was a display of smoker pits at Walmart for $99. We bought one. While we can't lay a whole hog on it, why would we want to? It rolled the smoke and made the whole neighborhood smell good. DH maintained the temperature and kept the fire from getting too hot. Somebody forgot to turn off the heat outside and it was hot!

We put the smoker under the carport because we were supposed to get lots of rain from a tropical storm, but we only got a few showers.

 

[Baymule]

I made the stuffed sausage.

DHsmoked it to perfection !

I bagged up the pan sausage. I used a small bowl to measure the amount of sausage per bag.

I got 8 bags.

 

[Baymule]

We finished up at 4:30. We took showers, ate and collapsed. Tomorrow I will bag the smoked stuffed sausage, it was too hot and juicy. It's in the refrigerator with the bacon. We. Are. Tired.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Bay the Butcher

 

[Mike CHS]

That wore me out and all I did today was cook us some rib eye steaks because of the rain all day. I did brush some bacon grease on them before throwing them on the grill though.

 

[HomeOnTheRange]

Thanks for sharing @Baymule!! All of that looks great. A picture truly is worth a thousand words and allows us newbies (in the pig world) to see the actual process.

 

[Baymule]

Thanks for sharing @Baymule!! All of that looks great. A picture truly is worth a thousand words and allows us newbies (in the pig world) to see the actual process.

We're pig newbies too. This is the second batch of pigs we have raised since we moved here. The first ones we had processed and called it good. This time, the slaughter date was so far off, they were eating 100 pounds in 2-3 days, it is hot, they drank water like camels, it was hot, we sprayed them down 4-5 ties a day.....did I mention the heat? LOL I have butchered feral pigs, deer, chickens, rabbits, and ducks. I have never butchered a domestic hog. A feral hog, you just grind it all up and make sausage, a domestic hog--I did want some identifiable cuts! I thought maybe pictures might help some one else that decided to take the road to madness.