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I’m a grandmother who has raised her own small livestock and grown two female piglets into full grown hogs. This is my story. In the first three parts of this series, I have told how I began raising pigs, the selection process I went through, preparing their pen and securing them, growing them, and my plan for butchering them. The process didn’t go exactly as expected, and I’m in the midst of telling you what actually ended up happening and what I learned along the way.

Butchering (continued)

Butchering is something I have never done so I was flying blind. With my book next to me, I tried to follow the step-by-step directions. Several hours later, by the time I got both sides divided into legs, loin, hams, ribs, belly, and sides as well as the spine and trotters cut, I was exhausted. We put the parts into clean hunting bags and put them in two coolers. Even though the overnight temperature would be in the 30s, we covered everything with ice and transported the coolers up to the garage using the UTV for the next day’s processing and packaging effort.

Size

Most hogs are processed at 200 or 225 pounds; my hogs were over 400 pounds. So when I say “shoulder”, it was two hour’s work to cut one into smaller, more normal size portions and then process and wrap those in freezer paper. I cut the Boston butt into three portions. I deboned most of the shoulder chops and loin, as I was saving the bones for bone broth. The pork tenderloin on this hog was 23 inches long and over four inches in diameter, and I cut it into portions for my family size. I divided the ribs and left an extra thick layer of meat on them. Then I had to figure out how to cut the pork belly for bacon. This took more time, because I was constantly referring to my book. The book now has well-greased fingerprints and slighty pink spots on many of the pages.

Continue reading“From Piglets to Bacon- Part 4, by Animal House”

I am a grandmother who decided to raise her own small livestock, including pigs, and then to butcher them. This is my story. In the first two parts of this article series, I have already written about selecting and growing the pigs as well as told my plan for butchering two female hogs.

Slaughtering and Butchering (continued)

I laid out my plan in the last part of this article series and included the specific tools and materials required. I expected to complete the whole process of killing, cleaning, butchering, and packaging within two and half days or a max of three days. Now, let’s find out what really happened.

Reality

In real life not everything goes according to plan. Since this was my first time harvesting a 400+ pound animal, I had no idea what the alternative was. I had to be flexible.

The Actual Killing and Moving Experience

First, my son shot the hog near the gate, but it died in the mud behind two pine trees. We could not get the tractor close enough to pick up the hog or chain it to the bucket. Plan B was to get my smaller farm utility vehicle with the winch and pull the hog out to a clearing where we could use the tractor to get it up to the barn. This worked well. I was so happy that I had the UTV. It saved the day.

Continue reading“From Piglets to Bacon- Part 3, by Animal House”

This is my story, as a retired grandmother of raising small livestock and our experience of going from piglets to bacon. In part one, I shared about preparing the pen, selecting the piglets, and basically getting them set up and situated in their new space. But after that, it was time for them to grow.

Growing the Piglets

When the girls were young, we fed them twice a day. They got a varying mixture of healthy non-GMO swine pellets, soy meal, fresh eggs, and hot oats on cold days, any table scraps that the rabbits and chickens didn’t get, and all the acorns and pine cones they wanted.

When they got to about 150 pounds, we fed them once a day. We increased the amount of feed as they grew. And at about 200 pounds, we introduced cracked corn to their diets. This seemed to help them feel satisfied. Plus, it increased the protein percent and fattened them up.

Predators

I was worried about predators, such as bobcats and a pack of coyotes that might target the young pigs. These concerned me, as they would occasionally run through my property. The youngsters only got out of their enclosure once– when they lifted the gate off its hinges. In this instance, the chain held on the lock side, but farm gates only weigh about 50 pounds (depending on width). So, the girls (who weighed about 125 pounds at that time) were out exploring for a while until the dogs began barking and we went running to shoo them back to their enclosure. After that, we locked down the hinge side so we would not have that excitement again.

Continue reading“From Piglets to Bacon- Part 2, by Animal House”