NO BACON ?!?!?! (and other questions...)

[EggsForIHOP]

I know, I got a MILLION of them! But, ya'll always have the best answers

Okay...here's the deal.... I ordered a NEW FREEZER MERRY X-MAS TO ME!!! This one will be specifically for our farm raised meat, etc...the old deep freezer will be for store bought stuff at least until we have eaten it all. QUESTION #1 Does a 7.0 cubic foot freezer sound like enough to hold a 200 lb hog post processing? It said online in various places it would hold up to 245 lbs of food, and I know we won't get that much back after skin, bone, etc...has all been removed.....if it turns out we need more room, I have it in the old freezer, but I am hoping this will be the "hog/chicken/turkey freezer"

QUESTION #2 WHAT? NO BACON FROM A 200 LB HOG? I just found out according to DH that there will be no bacon on a 200 lb hog - just ribs, etc... - he CLAIMS you have to raise them to like 400 + lbs to get bacon! Is this true? What?!?!? How did I miss this fact if this is so? I'll live, don't get me wrong, I am sure we can get plenty of chorizo out of the trimmings....but still....NO BACON? i know you would think after 5 days a week at IHOP that I would not like the bacon as much as I do, but it's so my fav! AHH! Oh well.....

We have one little girl and one chunky fellow....I AM CONSIDERING PROCESSING HIM FIRST...and giving her a little time to catch up - maybe a month - before processing her - ( or maybe listening to DH and keeping her to breed because so far she has wonderful manners and a lovely shape QUESTION #3 - We have let them live together from day 1 as they are siblings, DO YOU THINK THE SEPERATION FROM HER MATE WILL CAUSE ANY ISSUES? i.e. attempts at escape, etc....i honestly don't know, I'm still a pig newbie

QUESTION # 4 Does anyone have any recommendations on processors in the North of Houston area? I have one that someone at TSC told me about one day when I was picking up fencing supplies (long conversation, very nice fellow) but I was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions.... I didn't listen like I should have when my Father in law was alive to the stories he always told, and have no clue who it was that he used to use, and all my husband can come up with is "It starts with a T...I think..." I take customer input VERY seriously - I have learned over the years working customer service that it truly holds value, so I thought I would ask on here. Ultimately we would love to learn to do it our selves, but I keep having visions of my INADEQUATE carving skills and complete and total lack of abilities at deboning chickens and I think...HMMM...NO WAY am I turning that much pig into pork nuggets! (I am not very good at the slice and dice stuff, just cooking it bone in is easier for me and creates NO nuggets).

There...a lot to process very early in the morning I know...but it never hurts to ask. I might add that as things wrap up with the pigs I will miss them, it has been a heck of an experience and probably will post on that later as it is a thought process I have to share ... idk why...but I feel the need to for some reason... Anyways...thanks as always! I love this forum and all the info I have gained off of it and reading the posts here and such. I know these days I lurk more than participate, but my cell only lets me read, not post from it, so I lurk and work If you don't tell IHOp they pay me to read about pigs, I won't either

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

gosh you scare me there.. a world without bacon!?!? thats horrible!

specifically:

wait.. but first...

200 is kinda on the small side for a pig. thats somewhere between feeding a really small family and "hey lets call the guys at the firehouse and have a hog roast."

250 -275# is probably better. we had a couple over 300 and the only problem with doing them "that small" is that its harder to handle a carcass that big at home.

1. for your freezer.. remember that you'll get your bacons and hams back later so you might buy yourself some time and get more space. and all of a sudden you'll have lots of new friends who will be happy to take some of that pork off your hands (great for xmas gifts too!)

we have 2 full sized chest freezers and a stand up fridge/freezer that we fill to the brim after we dress our hogs. so if you have a back up (the old one) you should be fine. whatever you do - make sure you get the fat so you can make lard!


2. NO bacon? how about "smaller than you'd be happy with." will they have bacon - sure but not the huge ones that will make your eyes spin around in the back of your head.

to your man's point - you CAN grow them out to 400 lbs but at that size they'd be hard to contain, hard to get in a truck, or if you are doing it at home, hard - but not impossible - to dress. FarmerChick grows hogs out to bigger than that but they raise them commercially. so how about - you are both right
;-)

3. i'd keep them both until the smaller one was the right size.. that way you'd have a big ol pig and a 'good and big pig' just perfect for processing. if you did one first and then they other i'm not sure you'd have any problems and heh heh heh.. her problems would be over soon enough (just kidding.)

if you want to catch her up - see if you can feed them separately to pour more food on her (i'd give a lot of corn and hard cooked eggs).

take it from me - its worth the wait to have the right sized hogs.

good luck!

 

[EggsForIHOP]

LOL BUT WE ARE A SMALL FAMILY And by the way: Thanks, thanks and thanks again! I'm going for "just right" because it's really only DH and I at the house (no kids of our own) - though we do have my friend and her kids over for dinner a lot as they live across the street - but not needing to raise the hogs up too big because we don't have a herd to feed - just us 2 A lot of the roast type meat will be made into x-mas tamales for gifts for friends as well, so I'm mostly just going to have the chops and ribs to store (and BACON, please, just a little bacon!) Oh, and trimmings turned into chorizo - we loves some chorizo and eggs 'round here!

Lard.....yes....I had forgotten about lard....I will be needing lard for masa for tamales...but how does one make lard? I shall google it, but any other pointers would be great....never MADE it before, only used it to cook with. Pointers for "cracklins" would be nice too if you have any - DH raves over those as well!

Probably we will let them grow out a little longer, as the new freezer doesn't arrive until the 2nd of December anyways, and I will have to of course go buy some ice cream to put in it so I can "test" it's freezing abilities before putting the pork in it, and that means we have to EAT said ice cream before we process the hog because the space will be needed in the freezer for the pork....and THEN we shall process them Right now we are still feeding 1/2 hog food and 1/2 corn chops and LOTS of it(they eat twice a day, like a 5 gallon bucket split between the two of them and don't miss a lick either) - would you go to straight corn for the last few weeks? Because they REALLY like the hog food part...I also started a project with my egg shells that requires blowing the egg part out and we are quiched/eggnogged out! So I may scramble those up and throw them to the hogs later today...

Once again thanks! The info points me the right way (I trust DH and all....but I like other points of view because he can be so one sided on things ) Oh and btw...I'm just guessing on the weights right now...the last time we actually weighed them with the string trick was a while back now and I was getting just under 200lbs then, so if they ain't at least that by now I dunno what to do with myself. We shall go out today and do that later and let ya know where we actually stand weight wise then...because I like to share! Anyways, thanks again!

 

[jodief100]

MMMMMMMM- tamales......chorizo.....

You are making me hungry.

I know nothing about hogs. I just am really missing living in AZ and going to Guadalupe on Christmas to get fresh homemade tamales. I love my farm here in Kentucky but midwest cooking is so bland! Can I get your tamale and chorizo recipes?

I say grow them babies out and get some good bacon. Meat stays good in the freezer FOREVER! Just wrap it good and airtight.

 

[EggsForIHOP]

I'll dig the recipes up and send 'em to you tonight when I get home from work. They are super easy and oh so tasty! We've been makin' 'em in my fam for YEARS!

 

[freemotion]

I plan on a big canning day or two or three after hog processing day to contain some of the meat without running out of precious freezer space. If you pressure can, there are a lot of things to do with pork, and it makes for a quick meal because it is already cooked. I do pork stew, pork chunks, meatloaf (yes, meatloaf in a jar, perfect for a sandwich or a meal), and chili. There's more I'm sure, but that is the quick list. We rarely ever get take-out anymore when we both come in from work late and tired, it is awesome.

There are several rendering fats threads on the sister site, sufficientself.com, so run on over and do a search and ask your questions...many of us have done lots of rendering. I'm to lazy to retype it all here now....