James was going to be teaching the art of hog butchering so he brought along his 15-year old nephew, Stephen, to learn along with us. James announced that Matthew could shoot the first hog and Stephen would be doing the sticking. He told Matthew where to aim with the imaginary X from left ear to right eye and right ear to left eye. He explained to Stephen how to jump on the downed hog from behind, grab an ear and make a deep cut across the throat with his knife from side to side, severing the jugular vein. This needed to be done quickly to allow the blood to empty while the heart was still beating.
James asked Matthew if he had ever shot anything before to which he replied, “Only targets.” From the very beginning my family all knew that this hog was being raised at our homestead to be meat on the table. But Matthew had done about 95% of said raising and had visited this pig almost every day of its’ life. This was a friendly pig that had been well taken care of. We made his time on this earth a very peaceful and happy existence. I wondered if Matthew would be up for such a task; pulling the trigger at point blank range on this animal that he had invested so much time and energy.
The frozen barnyard was bright with the fresh snow and we all gathered around as the pig was led out of the barn. Matthew did not hesitate an inch as he used my .22 pistol to put a well placed bullet right between the eyes. The pig immediately dropped right where he had been standing. The nervous system made the body shake and flop. Stephen did as instructed with knife in hand and blood squirted in the air. Soon there was a large pool of crimson that looked more vivid than it should have due to the contrasting brilliance of the snow-white ground around it. My son, Matthew, did not shirk in the midst of a duty that would have been very difficult for most any man. He seemed to understand that this was what God had intended for mankind and animal-kind beginning in that 9th chapter of Genesis.
I grabbed hold of the back legs and Matthew the front as we attempted to lift the carcass onto the tailgate of my old 79 Ford pick-up. I didn’t think 250 pounds of dead weight could be so heavy and it took us by surprise. I’m sure we could have heaved the animal up had we strained and grunted a bit more, but instead James and Stephen pitched in. With each of us on a leg, we easily hoisted the body up into the truck.
I drove the truck down near the house to the chosen spot for hanging the pigs. The children’s swing-set that I had built over 10 years ago was the perfect spot. With the swings removed I could back the truck right beneath the top crossbeam. This beam is constructed with a 4×4 and a 2×4 nailed together and is about 10 feet up from the ground. It is a very strong beam, and the swing set was rated for up to a 300-pound person to be able to swing.
A hole was slit through the back ankle, being careful not to knick the tendon. This created a perfect place to loop the rope through.
It is surprising that such a tendon would be strong enough to support the weight of such a large animal, but the pig was hoisted up a minute later with the aid of our come-along and hung there with no problem.
James slit the body cavity open with a sharp knife, Matthew split the pelvic area with his sharp hatchet to allow the cavity to open up wider, and we proceeded to pull out the intestines and organs. James works in the medical profession (when he’s not butchering hogs), so he was able to explain how a pigs’ anatomy is set up in pretty much the same way as a humans. We examined the lungs, kidney, stomach and heart and kept the livers. All the intestines and organs we did not want were caught in a wash tub right below the carcass. The unusual smell did not seem to deter Matthew as he helped to pull out the various organs and drop them in the tub. The head was also cut the rest of the way off and put into the tub.
The first cut:
Splitting it open with the hatchet:
The intestines are going into the tub:
Next we skinned the carcass using razor sharp knives. (Matthew had a whet stone and James brought a sharpener and every so often someone would decide their knife had gotten too dull and spend a couple of minutes putting the edge back on their knife.) Once the skin got started it peeled off quite easily by pulling along with a knife, and we were also able to carve off much of the fat that is just under the skin.
Starting the skinning:
Working on the skinning:
My 11-year old daughter, Christina, had been with us most of the time and this was now something she could help with. She did a great job with the skinning as well as the fat removal.
At one point we had 5 knives all trimming off the fat at the same time, so we accumulated a lot of fat in a short amount of time. We will be able to render lard from the fat so we wanted to keep some of it. We filled up 4 large mixing bowls with the fat, even though we had left quite a bit on the skin. Surprisingly, the fat just felt like a white rubbery substance and was not the least repulsive to any of us. With the skin off the carcass, it was difficult now to remember that it was a living, breathing creature just a short time before.
We left the carcass hanging and went up to the barn to get the other hog to repeat the whole process. The actual skinning and gutting process could go much faster this time, as we knew what to expect and could now help more. Killing and loading the second animal should have been easier than the first, also. As we confidently walked and drove up the mountain to the barn, we had no idea that killing the second pig would be a whole new lesson for us.
This hog apparently had a double skull, as Matthew’s first shot did not drop the animal like the previous one. He used James’ .22 rifle this time instead of the pistol, but after the first shot failed, he reached for the more comfortable pistol. Matthew put another shot in the hog’s head and this time it caused the pig to run around the barn, leaving a trail of blood. Two more shots with the pistol did not stop the animal, even though it did go down on its’ front knees once. The pig continued to run around the barnyard making pitiful moans. He finally fell with another shot from the rifle, but when Stephen went to do the sticking, the pig was able to shake him off and proceeded to roll down the steep hill toward the ravine that is next to the barn yard! Matthew and James chased the animal down the hill, and finished cutting the jugular. It had landed on a small level area midway between the top and bottom of the ravine. Even after all this... 5 shots to the head, loss of much blood, a fall down a steep incline, and jugular and windpipe completely severed, we were all amazed when the hog stood back up on all fours! I thought it was going to go on over the edge down to the creek below, which would have been very bad for us.
Finally this incredible pig of steel laid down for good and we commenced to heave it up via rope and muscle power. Once again, 250 pounds of dead weight was surprisingly deceptive. It was too heavy and steep for even 4 of us to pull the carcass up the cliff-like hill successfully. We tried for several minutes, enduring the rope burns and putting our shoulder, back and arm muscles to the test. When muscle power failed this test, we turned to brain power. Someone realized that we could tie the rope onto the truck and pull the carcass up and out by backing the truck up. This proved to be quite a bit easier.
By the time we finally got this pig down to the swing set and hung up next to the other, darkness was starting to settle in. It is amazing how quickly the curtain of darkness can fall on a snowy winter evening when one’s attention is focused on a task. I fired up the old Coleman lantern, which gives off a good, bright light and Simon brought out some flashlights. With the darkness and cold beginning to weigh heavily upon us, everyone worked quickly and efficiently to gut and skin this animal. There was considerably less talking and bantering about compared to when we did the first pig that afternoon, as the job at hand took first priority now.
Starting on the 2nd hog, getting dark:
This day was the 1st hog butchering experience for both 15 year old boys:
Here are a few more pictures that give a good representation of the overall scenes of the day:
With the job completed we retired to the house, leaving the carcasses to cool overnight hanging from the swing-set. The daytime temperature had been at or near freezing all day and it was getting much colder now that the sun had gone down. This was perfect weather for hog butchering. James would return in the morning with his wife and all four children to show us how to make the individual cuts for the freezer.
The next day’s weather wasn’t quite as perfect as the high only got up to 21 degrees. Snow was falling heavily at times as James explained the different cuts of meat, and I think we all felt much colder. The outer edge of the carcass was frozen slightly, but the inside had not yet taken on much of the cold and was easy to cut. James showed us where to cut and Matthew made many of the cuts himself. We got bacon, loin chops, tenderloin, ribs, and roasts from the shoulders, butts, and hams. Matthew made almost all of the cuts himself on the second pig under James’ direction, as the women-folk prepared the meat in the house for the freezer.
My concluding comments are posted in the next entry:
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1 comment
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andiplus5 on February 22, 2009 at 8:23 am
Looks like you did a great job!! And you learned a lot.
I do have a tip for you and I hope I'm not offending you by giving it. We learned it the hard way. lol
If you run a stick through the back legs between the bone and tendon and tie the tail up to the stick too, it will stabilize your pig so you can skin it better. Or just to cut it better.
We used a come along too. The first time was a little harder than our next time but we learned from our mistakes. The first pig ended up on the floor of the shop we were using a couple of times. You should have seen us trying to haul that 300lb hog back up!! That was a sight to see! From your pics it doesn't look like you were as fraught with problems as we were.
Maybe we just like to do things the hard way first so we can appreciate the easy way! LOL
Enjoy that pig! Home butchered are the best tasting!
And God bless you for learning how to do it on your own!
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