Slaughtering pig for home consumption

[2130martin]

Ah! Another lawbreaker! How do you wriggle your way around the rules?

I am sure he means he advises owners how to do home kills..........

 

[mack8317]

we just skin our pigs you don't get crackling but its a lot less work than scraping with hot water especially if there big and heavy animals

 

[stalker58]

I am sure he means he advises owners how to do home kills..........

Oh yes...thats what i meant

 

[stalker58]

we just skin our pigs you don't get crackling but its a lot less work than scraping with hot water especially if there big and heavy animals

try the blow lamp...use a big nozzle...you want an open flame yellow to blue and keep it moving doing sections at a time...its not to difficult,Just stinks a bit, and you will have your crackling

 

[VSS]

we just skin our pigs you don't get crackling but its a lot less work than scraping with hot water especially if there big and heavy animals

This is a good idea for outdoor reared pigs, particularly Tamworth and Tamworth crosses.
Indoor reared pigs (especially white ones) are easy enough with hot water. You can do a small porker with about 6 gallons.
I find that if the missus has got the Rayburn going full blast to bake bread I can get enough hot water out of the tap to do small and medium sized pigs. Failing that, I've got a small tank with immersion heater (out of a static caravan) in one of my outbuildings, set at 70 deg C, which provides enough extra water for bigger pigs.
I don't dip them. Just lay on a bed of straw, pour water over and scrape one side, turn pig over, pour again and scrape. Job done.

try the blow lamp...use a big nozzle...you want an open flame yellow to blue and keep it moving doing sections at a time...its not to difficult,Just stinks a bit, and you will have your crackling

The trouble with blowlamping is that it doesn't get the roots of the bristles out, so the crackling can be a bit difficult to swallow unless you get it lined up properly...

 

[Alantoo]

snip
The trouble with blowlamping is that it doesn't get the roots of the bristles out, so the crackling can be a bit difficult to swallow unless you get it lined up properly...

It took me the best part of a hard and smelly day to do a couple of young wild boar with a gas torch and a paint scraper. I vowed to skin them next time.

Crackling was very good even if it did have a slightly smokey flavour!

Alan

 

[VSS]

It took me the best part of a hard and smelly day to do a couple of young wild boar with a gas torch and a paint scraper. I vowed to skin them next time.

Crackling was very good even if it did have a slightly smokey flavour!

Alan

Wild wild boar are generally skinned not scalded.
Farmed wild boar might be different - I don't know.

 

[mack8317]

usually slaughter them with the 12b bleed and gralloch them outside on the grass saves a lot mess in the shed and there a bit lighter we can then manage to lift them in the trailer and take them inside to skin

 

[VSS]

usually slaughter them with the 12b bleed and gralloch them outside on the grass saves a lot mess in the shed and there a bit lighter we can then manage to lift them in the trailer and take them inside to skin

Unless you're planning to hang the animal in its skin, or you've got to transport the carcass a long way to the larder, it's easier (and cleaner) to carry out evisceration after skinning.

 

[stalker58]

This is a good idea for outdoor reared pigs, particularly Tamworth and Tamworth crosses.
Indoor reared pigs (especially white ones) are easy enough with hot water. You can do a small porker with about 6 gallons.
I find that if the missus has got the Rayburn going full blast to bake bread I can get enough hot water out of the tap to do small and medium sized pigs. Failing that, I've got a small tank with immersion heater (out of a static caravan) in one of my outbuildings, set at 70 deg C, which provides enough extra water for bigger pigs.
I don't dip them. Just lay on a bed of straw, pour water over and scrape one side, turn pig over, pour again and scrape. Job done.



The trouble with blowlamping is that it doesn't get the roots of the bristles out, so the crackling can be a bit difficult to swallow unless you get it lined up properly...

have a look around for a burco boiler...they are good for this jog

 

[VSS]

have a look around for a burco boiler...they are good for this jog

Yes - good idea if the water coming out of the taps in the house isn't hot enough. We're ok with the Rayburn.
Another chap I know just turns up his domestic immersion heater for a few hours before doing a pig.

 

[bigoak]

There's many reasons why you might want to do it yourself.
It would be easier to buy imported venison in the supermarket, but most members of this forum choose to shoot their own. Same applies to other animals, wild or farmed.
For me, personally, home slaughter is the logical, natural and most humane option. It's what I've always done (since my mid- teens). At one time I lived on a small offshore island, and had no other option. Now, back on the mainland, abattoirs that'll do private kill are few and far between. For me, it would involve a 70 mile round trip to deliver the pigs (and they're stress susceptible animals and don't travel well) and another 70 mile round trip to collect the meat a few days later. Better by far to do the job myself.
Also, in this day and age when so many kids don't know where there food comes from, it's great that my youngsters are able to help me with killing and butchering our own animals.

Interestingly, magazine articles etc that I've written on the subject, with step-by-step guides, have been put online, and have proved to be one of the most viewed items on the sites they're on.

Some rules are just made to be bent, and I'm prepared to chance my arm with the Food Standards Agency et al. The right to provide for my family off my own piece of ground is something I feel very strongly about, and I'm prepared to stand up for what I believe in.

Good job and i agree 100%. Have you got a link to your articles?

 

[VSS]

Good job and i agree 100%. Have you got a link to your articles?

The only one I can come across right now is:

Killing and butchering sheep - Livestock - Country Smallholding

I don't know where all the pictures have gone though - they should be up there. The text is pretty much the same as appears in my book (The Sheep Book for Smallholders).

There's one on doing a pig somewhere. I thought it was on the same site, but obviously not. Perhaps a bit out of date by now, so been taken down.
I'm working on an up-to-date series at the mo - first installment will be in the Christmas issue of CS magazine.

Also have another book due out in May. Will include instructions for home slaughter of sheep, pigs, cattle, goats, rabbits, poultry etc. Including an explanation of all the relevant UK legislation.

 

[teyhan1]

Can you put me down for one of those please VSS.

 

[ben_in_the_woods]

+1