AN OLD-FASHIONED HOG SLAUGHTER

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Leading your hogs to slaughter isn't as difficult as you might think. "In a pig's eye!" you scoff? Well, then read how one enterprising pork farmer combines experience and know-how in . . .

by Craig W. Snyde

Raising and harvesting a hog is a practical way to put nourishing food on the family table while taking an important step toward self-sufficiency . . . and away from artificially inflated supermarket prices and hormone-gorged meat. Nor is butchering your own swine all that hard to do. In fact, with a little preparation and common sense, you can make sure that the animal doesn't suffer, that the slaughtering goes smoothly, and that the entire operation ( not including chilling and sectioning) takes only two or three hours.

It should be pretty obvious that rearing and slaughtering your own pigs can guarantee quality pork on your table. Furthermore, many do-it-yourself meat processors feel that killing and preparing an animal can serve to remind a consumer that some of the food he or she eats was once a fleshand-blood creature and didn't come into this world as a tidy, prepackaged chop. And whether or not you think that factor is important, there's no doubt that doing your own slaughtering is a good way to save money and add to your self-reliance skills.

PICKING YOUR PORK

Let's assume that you've raised a pig and that the porker is now about the right size (175 to 250 pounds) and age (8 to 10 months) for butchering. (Overly fat or old swine don't usually make for good eating.) Generally, a barrow (a male hog that's been castrated before reaching sexual maturity) or a gilt (a young female) is the best candidate for table fare. Boars (uncastrated males) and sows (adult females) in heat should be avoided at butchering time, since their flesh tends to have an unpleasant undertaste often described as "musky" or "rank". (If you do wish to harvest such an animal, be sure to geld the boar and allow the wound to heal first . . . or wait until the female goes out of heat.)

When you've selected your animal, it's time to lead the ham to slaughter. The remainder of this article has been arranged sequentially . . . in an effort to present a thorough, step-by-step guide for the novice hog processor.

EQUIPMENT

It's important to assemble your equipment before you begin the task. There are few experiences more likely to ruin your first slaughtering efforts than having to search frantically for a needed tool when you're halfway through the job. As an absolute minimum, you'll need a good knife that's suitable for sticking and gutting . . . a sharpening stone ... bell scrapers for removing the hair and scurf (these specialized and relatively inexpensive devices are well worth a trip to your farm supply store) . . . a hot water thermometer . . . a large tub or vat for scalding the pig . . . and a butcher's saw or a hacksaw.