Advise for first pig slaughter

[Anonymous]

our tamworth-berkshire sow must play her final role as a part of our homestead in charlotte, vt.

we have never slaughtered a pig and have a few choices to make. we have decided to shoot the pig in the head and then open the jugular vein.

I am interested to hear any thoughts on head-shot placement, bullet caliber, and whether the juglar is most effectively open with a cut “ear to ear” or “sternum to chin”.

thanks in advance

[Carl Russell]

Hey Loren,
Over twenty five years of slaughtering pigs, I have found that a .22 cal is entirely sufficient. I use a rifle instead of a hand gun, as I have found that I can place the barrel nearly on the forehead with the long gun, but with the pistol they tend to flinch as I reach my hand toward them.

I shoot at a point just off center from an “X” made from ear to opposite eye.

I also have found that trying to cut the jugular with a cut from ear to ear is trying to cut through a lot of flesh, and the vessels are much smaller there behind the jaw. By “sticking” the knife in just above the point of the rib cage the vessels are all together, easy to get to, and at their largest, making for rapid bleeding. I put the knife in from one side, downward under the rib cage, cutting down through the vessels to the backbone, then because I use a double edged knife, I also try to cut back upward to get all of them. Blood should gush out. You may want to keep the knife in there until you get the blood flow, rather than having to get back on the pig to make a better cut after it starts to throw.

As far as holding the pig for sticking, I approach it from the front, as it is laying on its side, I face it from the backbone, put a knee on the shoulder, and reach down to the throat to make the cut.

It often takes about 30 seconds after the shot, before the animal starts to throw, and pigs are pretty violent, so you may want to find someone to help first so that you will have some idea, unless you already have.

I swear by a Storey Publication called Butchering Livestock and Game. It has great descriptions and illustrations. NOFA-VT carries it for sale.

I have been giving slaughter workshops and helping people for several years, and I’ld be glad to answer any other questions, or give guidance.

I also believe strongly in separating, or confining the animal in a situation where they cannot travel far IF things go wrong. I also withhold feed and water the last 24 hours. I realize that that is disturbing to some, but they can carry a lot of offal in their intestines, and it can make for quite a mess.

Good luck, Carl

[OldKat]

As a veteran of about 15 to 20 hog slaughterings, though none recently, I can tell you that what Carl had to say is EXACTLY what you need to do. At least that was the way my late father taught me and he had about 40 years exeprience in that industry. They used a pneumatic “bolt gun” to dispatch them, but you are not going to have one of those so go with the .22 rifle as Carl suggests.

Are you going to scrape the hide? Will need LOTS of hot H2O for that. I forget the correct temperature and time they need to soak. Not sure what your weather is like right now, but we always tried to do this in the fall after the temps dropped below the current 1,000 degrees. (over stating that, but that is what it feels like)

If you have never done one before you probably should locate someone that has to be on hand. Oh, and allocate about a whole day for this if this a first time for you. After that it goes much faster.

Good luck.

[Joshua Kingsley]

Another thought that I had while reading the posts above was I second what they have said and would add that I like to cut the meat the day after the animal is dressed in the late fall. By starting one afternoon with disbatching and sticking ect. I then hang the critter be it a hog or deer ect and cut them up the next morning after I get the rest of the am chores done. For a first time you could offer to help somone in exchange for thier help with your hog. Depending on size I can do a hog now alone in anywhere from 1 1/2 to 6 hours after doing several in the last year.
If you don’t have the means to scrape the hide you can skin them and though it is like dealing with a realy heavy and greasy coat, it is not hard to do. Best of luck with your venture.
Josh

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for your input. yes the weather is not ideal for butchering but the circumstances are what they are.

I was able to borrow a .22 mag pistol. I was able to overcome my fear of shooting her and she went down with one shot. She was very docile so i was able to get the barrel within an inch or two of her forehead. I had built a wooden stretcher which we rolled her onto just seconds after the shot. I stuck her using the method which Carl described then we elevated the tail end of the strecher on a sawhorse to be able to put a bowl under the open jugular to catch the blood for sausage. We were able to save a little more than a gallon.

The whole experience was about 10 hours. The first day we cut the animal into the major sections like, head, hock, ham, side, loin, butt, and shoulder. We refrigerated the meat.(this took some tricky organization it the fridges and freezers). The next day we had all the cuts cleaned up, wrapped, and in the freezer(including a about year’s supply of sausage) before supper.

I was tired. the next one will be less strenuous. Thanks for the help folks. It feels good to have been able to see this through from beginning to end. She was a happy pig.

-Loren

[Carl Russell]

Nice going Loren! Boy your description brings back memories. Things definitely get more stream-lined as you get more experience.

Good luck, Carl

[bivol]

interesting post!

always looking for advice for the fine day when i’ll turn a hog to meat!

anyway, the pig’s bacon, but for next time, an alternative to boiling water is to use a flame torch, they use it extensively in the balkans and eastern europe. after scorching the entire carcass more-less black, just scrape everything, hairs and upper skin with a scraper.

[OldKat]

@bivol 10039 wrote:

interesting post!

always looking for advice for the fine day when i’ll turn a hog to meat!

anyway, the pig’s bacon, but for next time, an alternative to boiling water is to use a flame torch, they use it extensively in the balkans and eastern europe. after scorching the entire carcass more-less black, just scrape everything, hairs and upper skin with a scraper.

The old adage says “There is more than one way to skin a cat”; I guess another way to say it is “There is more than one way to scrape a hog!”

[bivol]

yep!:D

the advantage would be that you don’t have to take time to pre-heat the water, and it also takes away the unwieldiness and dangers of working with lots of hot water.

just an idea, i’d like to know what you think: after you shoot the pig, it falls down and when the nervous reaction takes place, wouldn’t it be practical to press (a person leaning on) the pig’s front end, from the middle of the belly to the neck, covering front feet, with a piece of light wood or plywood, say 100X120 cm, so it can’t kick the person cutting the vein and collecting the blood.

[OldKat]

@bivol 10114 wrote:

yep!:D

the advantage would be that you don’t have to take time to pre-heat the water, and it also takes away the unwieldiness and dangers of working with lots of hot water.

just an idea, i’d like to know what you think: after you shoot the pig, it falls down and when the nervous reaction takes place, wouldn’t it be practical to press (a person leaning on) the pig’s front end, from the middle of the belly to the neck, covering front feet, with a piece of light wood or plywood, say 100X120 cm, so it can’t kick the person cutting the vein and collecting the blood.

I guess that would work. We always used a rope with a slip knot on each rear shank above the hock and dropped it a single tree & hoisted it off the ground with a come-a-long. Plenty of kicking and trashing, but if you use a pole with a hook on it you can get the rope on their legs without getting bashed in the process. They bleed real well when hung head down.

[brigle]

I have butchered a good share of hogs but never heard anything about keeping blood for sausage. Can someone tell me what that is about?

[CharlyBonifaz]

Can someone tell me what that is about?

not sure what you want to know? we keep it for sausages;
http://rksuite.ccwn.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/schlachtplatte_portion.jpg
blood sausage(black pudding) + liver sausage(liverwurst) + piece of meat + sauerkraut + dumpling = feast 😉

[brigle]

Thanks CharlyBonifaz. That cleared that question up. I think I will pass on that although it sounds like you enjoy it. I like to try new things but that recipe has to many ingredients that I dont like to start with. Thanks again I realy enjoy this site and all the things you can learn.

[Author]

Posts