rachels.haven's Journal

[Baymule]

Wow! Just look at that line of stanchions and goats ! I’m impressed! That is awesome! I have a metal stanchion but my sheep hate it. Been considering a wooden one, with hinged drop down sides so they don’t fall off, to make trimming feet easier. Now I run them through the chute, halter and tie them up, bend waaaay over, pick up foot, hang on for dear life and try to cut hoof without cutting a finger off.

Great looking set up!

 

[Ridgetop]

They only hate it because they were not trained to it. Remember that dairy goats are trained to love their stanchions. They get lovely sweet feed and those bulging udders get relief. Ours would run and jump on the stanchions whenever they were out of the pens - checking the grain boxes to see if someone accidently put feed in even when it was not milking time. Sorry girls, no luck. LOL

 

[rachels.haven]

Looks great!! Question -- your girls let you milk when feed is gone????

Mine look at me and practically stop the flow.

Yep! They tend to eat slow and I wait for them to finish or they get to wait until I'm done.

Teaching a Nubian to wait for anything is a hoot...come to think of it teaching a Nubian anything in general is a hoot.

 

[rachels.haven]

Well, some time yesterday evening Big Mom hog farrowed. She had...three. And two were crushed before hte day was up-one was while I was there. We are down to one. She is just too low slung and too massive. They are mobile and nurse and then they fall asleep and she shifts and crushes/smothers them. Also, three is a very small litter. So she will be going to processing and we will let her daughter try. And of course we have Eve, who had premies and no milk probably because she was too small. I'm not sure what to do with an old sow.

 

[Baymule]

Sausage.

 

[farmerjan]

Hogs do not get "tough" like beef does. I killed many 4-600 lb sows and did all the usual cuts... the ham steaks were so big we cut them in half.... they will have more fat so the bacon's are usually fattier... and there will be more of a fat layer on the outside ... but I have never been disappointed in the taste of older sows. Now boars... nope... I get all the "taint" and all that... and lack of taint in some breeds.... but never processed an "old boar".... always shipped them. Sausage is good if you like it... I did plain ground pork to add to meatloaf way back then... but since I am not a big sausage person, although I did some sausage and did some in Italian sausage in fat casings, did as many chops and ham steaks and hams, ribs, etc as we could... and I did get back the fat to render down as lard is the best for cooking with. There is not a 30 month rule on backbones and such like beef so got back everything I possibly could. Pork ribs make good BBQ ribs too....

Don't forget, I had hampshires and durocs and crosses so big hogs...

 

[Ridgetop]

I'm not sure what to do with an old sow.

I agree with both Baymule and Farmerjan.
We had an old tough barrow that DS3 shot at a game farm. (Good story there for another time.) We had it processed and it was so awful that we took it back frozen to our butcher and had it ground into sausage. There was almost no fat on it though. We are not big sausage eaters here and there are still a few 1 lb. packs in the bottom of the freezer. DS2 also got a large goat at the same farm. He wanted to mount the horns. I know, men's minds are a mystery to me too. I can see mounting the horns of a 10 point buck, but a goat? We love goat met but that meat was so tough we took it back at the same time and had it all ground.

Just grind everything. Have some made into sausage and use the rest in meatloaf, Mexican food, spaghetti sauce, etc. The meat will taste good..

 

[Baymule]

We bought an 820 pound boar, kept him 2 months. I fed him soured corn in buttermilk, garden greens, vegetables, hay, and elm and sassafras leaves. No taint, meat was good, 1 pork chop covered a dinner plate.

 

[rachels.haven]

That is all really good to know. Thank you.

This pig will be ultra fatty. I had been feeding her 18-20% cattle cubes instead of pig food to take weight off her (on hog food now for the lactation that isn't really happening) and it really took a lot off her, but she is kind of just permanently fat somehow. I guess I could hay feed her for a while to try to get her leanER for processing. I was really looking forward to her feeding 9 piglets to continue leaning her down. I guess she had other plans.

Hopefully there won't be taint. She's a sow and all. I'm the only one in the house that can smell it. Mark and the boys like their nasty cheap cologne soaked boar meat.

 

[Ridgetop]

Don't bother to take any weight off her! Fat on hogs is not like marbling on cattle and sheep. Hog fat goes on in with layers (look at bacon) and it can be easily trimmed off by the butcher. If you want the fat to render into lard, ask the butcher to save it for you.

If you are worried about the flavor, substitute some of her feed for rolled corn soaked in goat milk for about 2 weeks. Put the corn in a bucket and cover with some milk then set aside. At the next milking, feed the soured milk and corn and do another ration the same way. If you are only feeding one sow, just a few lbs. of corn covered with milk will be enough to give her a really good flavor. It is a good way to use up any old milk that you have in the fridge.