AN OLD-FASHIONED HOG SLAUGHTER

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To prepare the scalding vat, fill your tub about two-thirds full of water, toss in the lime or whatever, and begin heating the solution a good hour before you plan to stick your pig. The temperature of the liquid needs to be about 145 °F before you use it. (If you don't have some kind of hoist to maneuver the carcass in and out of the pot, you can make your lifting job alot easier by leaning the container at a 45 ° angle against the scraping table.)

You'll also need to arrange for some sort of structure from which to hang the pig during butchering. If there's a convenient and sturdy tree limb available, fine. If not, construct some sort of frame. Fig. 2 shows three practical devices, but anything that's strong enough to support the hog securely off the ground (the hanging point should be about seven feet high), and close enough to the scraping table to ease the job of transferring the carcass, will do.

STUNNING AND STICKING

Pigs that are to be slaughtered shouldn't be fed for 24 hours before the event, but do see that they have plenty to drink.

The lack of solid food and abundance of liquid will help flush out the animal's digestive tract and make butchering easier. It's also a good practice to place your selected porker in a pen by itself for a few days prior to sticking. Such isolation will have a calming effect on the animal, and protect it from the normal porcine jostling that goes on in enclosures where several pigs are resident. A nervous, excited hog will "flush" just as a human does. If the beast is slaughtered while the tissue close to the skin is still engorged with blood, thorough draining will be difficult . . . and the butchered meat is likely to be bloody and much more prone to subsequent spoilage. Similarly, a bruised hog will have damaged tissue which would have to be cut out and discarded.

I prefer to stun a hog with a gunshot to the head prior to sticking (killing) it . . . although some butchers disagree, claiming that the carcass won't bleed thoroughly. Certainly, though, handling an animal that's been mercifully knocked senseless is easier than going hand-to-hock with a panicked porker!

The technique I use involves drawing an imaginary "X" between the pig's eyes and ears, and aiming for a spot about an inch above the junction of the cross. The approach to the animal should always be made slowly and calmly in an effort not to frighten it, with the gun held ready for instant use. If the hog seems skittish and won't stand still, place a pan of feed on the ground and wait for the critter to begin eating before you shoot.

Once you've stunned the animal, it will sink to its knees or fall on its side. Quickly roll the hog over on its back and hold it in that position by grasping the forelegs securely. The person who is to do the sticking should locate the tip of the swine's breastbone at the throat, and make a 2- to 4-inch incision from that point forward along the exact center of the neck. The knife is then inserted deeply into this cut at a 45° angle (pointing toward the tail), forced down and back to a point about 6 inches below the front of the sternum, and twisted slightly before it is withdrawn (see Fig. 3). The thrust should not be made too far back into the body, though, because the blade could penetrate the chest cavity and cause internal bleeding and blood clots.

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