feedback on: PIGS & PORK

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We had to pay $17.50 each for this year's pigs, but they're only on their fourth bag of feed so we figure we're still way ahead by growing rather than buying our pork. God bless the grass that grows through the cracks!

Nancy Bubel
Mt. Joy, Pa.

After reading "How to Butcher Pork" in MOTHER NO. 17, I'm glad I've killed pigs before. If I hadn't, your article would have frightened me off from ever trying it.

Here are my five objections to Morton's method:

[1] The technique the article describes isn't suited to the homesteader because it calls for fancy equipment. I haven't the cash to lay out on four types of knives, cleaver, scraper, stainless steel meat saw and block and tackle. And I don't have the special facilities Morton thinks I need . . an extra pen (mine are all ankle deep in hog manure) and a big tank for scalding.

[2] Two men are required for the job, doing it their way. I've got only myself, since my wife hasn't the emotional equipment to assist in the sticking and slicing . . . although she does wrap meat, render lard, etc.

[3] How many of MOTHER's readers are ready to plunge a knife into a living hog, not sure whether they'll stick him properly? (And there is a special skill to placing the knife right.)

[4] Unless you're planning to smoke the meat, why scald and scrape the hog at all? It's less fuss, and quicker, to skin the beast. Who eats skin anyhow . . . especially when fresh bacon rolled in flour and fried so crisp it's brittle is one of the taste treats of cookingdom?

[5] The article stops when it's only half done. Killing and cleaning is only the first part of butchering: There's also cutting, slicing, wrapping, freezing, rendering. (Which I've covered in No. 18 and this issue. —MOTHER.)

I've homesteaded in the Ozarks three years now and have killed two hogs by myself after helping (well, mostly watching) my neighbor do one of his. Let me share with you a brief run-through of Hog Butchering, Hillbilly Style. This method is not original with me . . . as far as I can gather, it's essentially how they do the job around here.

Step 1: In the cool of the evening, I load the pig in the back of my pickup, wash him off and bed him down in deep straw. (With the loading chute I've built, this takes only a few minutes.) I then drive the truck over near the house to a big tree that has a stout branch slanting out. I tie a light string to a rock, toss it over the branch and use the line to pull up one end of a thick manila rope I picked up at an auction for a dollar. The other end is fastened to an old singletree (from horsedrawn days) which has a hook at either end and a steel ring in the center.

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