Whole Hog Butchery

So I have been taking a class at the local community college and the class is called Animal Evaluation and Processing. This is a class a bunch of students have to take as part of different ag sci courses.

I knew that we had a slaughter and breakdown coming soon and today I was really excited to find out that we were doing a pig slaughter today.

I was hoping to to hang up my GoPro and shoot the whole process from beginning to end but the teacher said "No". So out of respect for my teacher I pulled it down. I do hope to video as we start breaking down the primal cuts over the next two weeks.

So before the teacher stunned the 350 lb pig all I could think was the Lords Prayer making sure I gave a sense of gratitude for what was about to happen. With a whole class of students the process started at 10:02 pm and ended at 11:32 am.

I was asked by a friend about the kill method.The instructor used a gun that had a captive bolt that was backed by the charge of a .22. This rendered the pig OUT! The next step was to quickly cut the animals throat. This was something that had to be done quickly before  rigor mortis starts to set in.

There are may procedures used to slaughter and animal and due to what we had at the school it was a bit crude and not like a million dollar plant The truth is the way we did it at the school is the way people have been doing it for hundreds of years. Truth is first thing I did was call my dad and tell him about what I just done. He began to tell me about his grandparents and how they would raise pigs and use everything. He told me his grandma would render all the fat, put it in jars and put it in the basement of there home and use it during the years.

Our instructor started  and showed us how to pull the skin off and so I finally get my hand dirty and start helping pull the skin off by cutting against the skin and the fat. As I am watching the process and we are half way through pulling the skin off I look at the teacher and say "I want the head" and that is what I got.

I was talking to the instructor and I made the comment that there is something surreal about this whole process. Watching an animal go from death to what becomes a usable product for consumption.

We as consumers do not think about where are food comes from and how we get it. Today I have a better understanding of where it comes from.

This weekend I am going to be making a batch of my Irish sausage and my goal is to make sure I do not waste a single ounce of meat. Did this change my life....I am not sure. Did it change my point of view on a few thing....DEFINITELY!!!!

Recommended reading: The Ethical Butcher by Berlin Reed