Here's Cam and Pork Chop when she was only 8 weeks old.
Here's the comparison on "processing day"
Our goal was to get the worst of the mud off, not necessarily to get her clean. I tied a rope on her to guide (tug) her where we needed her to go. We knew her pretty well, and figured she'd go in the crate out of mere curiousity without much fuss. We were right. I opened the door and in she went. She didn't like being closed in there, but calmed down soon enough.
We used some metal ramps I bought from Harbor Freight to roll her into the bed of the truck. That part could have been easier, but it got the job done. Next time I might just walk the pig up the ramp and and put her into the crate that way. We'll see. 
The fam piled in the van while I drove the truck and we unloaded her at the butchers. We didn't even have to take the crate out. I pulled the truck into a corral and we just opened up the crate and let her jump down from the truck. Then they herded her into a smaller pen.
We told the man what we wanted: whole hams and bacon cured, one inch shoulder steaks, one inch pork chops, and sausage. When asked if we would like the head back, we politely declined. All and all Reg and I both considered it a very easy job. We liked raising our first pig and will do it again. First we want to see how much meat we get before we buy another. After the butcher it was off to Home Depot to buy a freezer to store all that meat in. We will get most of the meat back next week, and the hams and bacon will take a few more. (They have to cure).
It was a fun and educational day on the homestead.
2 comments:
I think it's so great how you and Regina involve the kids and make everything on the homestead educational. They're going to have great memories. I was wondering...not trying to be morbid...but how does the butcher kill the pig?
There's several ways you can do it, but most butchers hit the pig on the head with a special hammer. They hit it pretty much between the eyes, but that doesn't kill it. The hammer blow knocks them out so they can be killed humanely without feeling anything. Once they're knocked out, they hang them up by their back legs and cut their throat. That's the best way to bleed them out because the heart keeps beating and the gravity helps.
I know that was kind of graphic, but you asked.
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