What did I get myself into! (TO THE BUTCHER SHOP!)

[Mrs._Stump_Jumper]

We were out driving around the other night and went past the game reserve and there were some baby pigs (razorbacks or russians) that they are growing up for future hunts.  In return my daughter says can we get some baby pigs.  Well next morning stump jumper says lets find some pigs I'm thinkin OK but we don't have a fence up so we have to fence in an area and get a fencer they have to sleep in the back of his truck for a couple of nights.  We get the electric fence up and they get out.  We had to buy cattle fence to go around the outside of the electric fence and now they are stayin in.

Here they are.


ain't they cute



I came home yesterday after getting groceries and stump jumper was sittin in the pen with them in a lounge chair now that was site. :D :D :D

[Norm]

Piggersssss!   8)

Patty never fails to laugh at my exclamations every time I see em at a barnyard.  : :D

So is one of em distined for a visit to Jeff's place in August Delcy? ;D

[Stump Jumper]

i'm not sure they  would be ready for the roast day.   should have started a month ago eh? not sure how much feed they are gonna eat  to bring them up to about 240 lbs. any pointers would be appreciated.

[pigman]

About 600lbs of a good corn- soybean feed will get "each" pig to 240lb.  If you feed them punpkins and other stuff I have no idea. :P
Good looking pigs. Look like Yorks to me.

[MULE_MAN]

Now you have something to feed Grits to  ;D

[Norm]

If you're going to eat them yourselves I might suggest you fatten them to around 280#'s. The modern breeds of piggers have had the fat breed out of them and I like to fatten ours up to around 300#'s. It costs more but they taste better. The neat thing about them is they are great garbage diposals, course the dog may be pithed about em getting all the scraps. :D

Any pics of SJ sitting out there conversing with them in the lounger?

[Paschale]

Any pics of SJ sitting out there conversing with them in the lounger?

I wanna see that too!   :D :D :D

[asy]

Yeah!

Quit holdin out on us!

Where's the photos of Stumpy and his mates?!

asy :D :D :D

[Stump Jumper]

doctor paitient confidentially  ;D no pics of me in therapy  eh?   :

[thecfarm]

Go to your local store and ask for the scraps.The corner store asked us if we had pigs.Not this year.They was looking to get rid of the  scraps.Call the butcher shop early.Don't be like me.I waited until Aug and couldn't get in until Dec.We wanted Sept.We really like this butcher and so does alot of other people,so we stuck it out.A couple days before they went to market,I backed up the horse trailer to the pen and built the pen around the trailer.Kept them a little hungry the day before,put the trough in the trailer,in two pigs went to eat,up went the tail gate,2 pigs are all loaded. Nice and easy. If this is not possible make sure you are around them,touch and talk to them.I've heard horror stories of trying to laod pigs.Have fun.

[Mrs._Stump_Jumper]

I didn't get a chance yet to get SJ in the pen with the piggy's.

I work at Subway so any old bread, veggies food that gets old I can bring home.

[asy]

doctor paitient confidentially  ;D no pics of me in therapy  eh?   :

The piggies are your therapists???

asy  ???

[Paschale]

doctor paitient confidentially  ;D no pics of me in therapy  eh?   :

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

I'd say piggies are one of my favorite forms of therapy.  As Emeril would say, "Pork fat RULES!" 

Therapy comes in many forms:  bacon, smoked pork chops, pork tenderloin, bacon, ribs, Canadian Bacon, Hickory smoked bacon, Pancetta, Prosciutto, BACON, pork steak, BACON, BACON, ham, smoked country ham, pork sausage, pork rinds, BACON and my favorite:



  8) B A C O N 8)[/color][/size]

[Coon]

Man oh man.  Just the word "PIGS" makes me think of back when I was working in the pig barns as a full time job.  They can be really interesting at times.  Have you ever tried loading 220 pigs on a semi-trailer???  I have on a daily basis.  NOT VERY MUCH FUN at all >:( >:( .    Just wait until one of em PEE's in your boot.   I am raising 5 weanlings right now for butchering later this fall.  It's a whole lot different than working in the barns with 10,000 of them everyday.   

[UNCLEBUCK]

I would feed a balanced ration of good feed with minerals added in to bring them up to weight fast as you can . I raised 20 sows through high school which would give me about 180 piglets at a time , sneaking into the barn was almost impossible ,one pig would send out a mayday call and the rest would follow . Little pigs are a hoot to watch ! Hog panels are a little easier to work with than them tall cattle panels but whatever works works, they are like little bulldozers when they get their nose under something . I restored a arctic panther and had to drive it through the barnyard to get it out from where I fixed it and I wasnt inside the barn 10 minutes and by the time I got back outside there was about 3 pigs standing where the seat was and about 20 pigs having a tug of war with what was left . I couldnt believe what I was seeing , I just stood there for awhile and when I got my nice arctic cat up to the house I never heard my dad and grandpa laugh so hard in their life.  Have fun

[Rockn H]

Well I bought some ducks last month and now yall are talking pigs.  The wife says no. :D :  She's heard the stories and seen the pics of me with my pet pig when I was about 6 .  Couldn't keep that pig in.  Would meet us at the end of the drive everyday and chase us to the house like a dog.  When she was full grown I could ride her around.  When she was a 300lb sow, she went to my uncles....  I still hope I didn't eat her. ;D ;D :
A hog farmer I know gets all the left overs from the school cafeterias feeds that till he's ready to butcher and switches over to whole corn.

[Texas Ranger]

One of my darkest memories of living on a farm in Missouri was when my dad convinced me to lasso a hog, must have been in the 250 range cause she was headding to the butcher. 

Life's lesson Number One:  Never rope a critter that weights 3 times what  you do, and has four legs.

[Kirk_Allen]

NO PIGS!  I will buy one from my dads neighbor and butcher it each year but I dont want any around here ;D

When I was 7 years old I was at my grandparents place doing chores, which is now the home I live in 8)
I went out back to the hog lot and that big ole momma had 10 little pigglets.  They was so cute I just had to go play with them. 

The last thing I remember is the site of the sky just prior to hitting the ground on my back.  By the grace of God, it was my Granfather who reached over the fence and grabbed my shirt collar and yanked me out of the way of the charging sow.  What a scare that was. 

Next year we MAY get three angus calfs.  raise them through the summer and sell two in the fall and buther 1.  MAY being the key word. 

[sawguy21]

Kirk, I would have paid admission to see that.  :D :D

[jjmk98k]

One of my darkest memories of living on a farm in Missouri was when my dad convinced me to lasso a hog, must have been in the 250 range cause she was headding to the butcher. 

Life's lesson Number One:  Never rope a critter that weights 3 times what  you do, and has four legs.

yep, I have the same memory with my cousin and my grandfather, I just remember how bad i stunk when we FINALLY got that pig in the bed of the pickup....... and I still can hear my pappy laughing and cursing at  the same time..

[pigman]

Delcy,  You have had the pigs for a month now, time for a report on how they are doing. Hope every thing is going alright with them.

[UNCLEBUCK]

Yeah tell us how many jailbreaks those little bulldozers have made!

[Mrs._Stump_Jumper]

This is an update on How the piggys are doing.  Here are the pics.  They are weighing in from 144 to 157 pounds approx.

Jeff is getting his bi-weekly Therapy. ;) :D

Jeff and Monica getting their Therapy. ;)


Jonny thought he would try his skill at riding one of them.  (He didn't have all of his weight on him.)


Hope you enjoy the pics.  They pigs have become quite friendly.

[Mrs._Stump_Jumper]

The only time they got out was when we first brought them home.  They didn't see the electric fence and would go right through it.   They slept in the back of Jeff's truck for 2-3 days so we could figure out how to keep them in.So we bought some cattle fence and put around the outside of the electric fence and they haven't gotten out since. (Knock on wood.)

[Tom]

You're in between the dangerous stages.  The big'uns will hurt you and the little ones bring the big'uns.  ;D

I know. Click here.

[pigman]

Those pigs look like they are doing good. I can see one problem with them. They are becoming pets and pets are not good to eat. ;) ;D

[Don_Papenburg]

Are they going to be presant for the roast?

[Norm]

Looks like they are doing well, most I've had are pretty friendly but once they get over 200 they don't seem to know their own strength. At that time I put them in the freezer for safe keeping. ;D

Oh by the way spare ribs barbqued are good therapy too. ;)

[Mrs._Stump_Jumper]

Here is the update on the Pigs.

We took them to the butcher shop 2 weeks ago and now they are in the freezers and tasting goooood.  The biggest one weighed 290#, next was 270# and then 255#.

Here is a pic when we loaded them into the trailer to take them to the butcher shop.



It took a lot of coaxing to get them into the trailer.  They new where the opening was that the electric fence went through and were afraid that they would get zapped.  With some fresh tomatoes and corn stalks we were finally able to get all three loaded it took about 2 days.

Then when we got to the butcher shop they didn't want to get out of the trailer.  It took about 1/2 hour to unload the critters. >:( :(  Jeff almost wasn't gonna let me ride home in the front of the truck.  It was that bad unloading them. ;)

[Fla._Deadheader]

Next time, put a peach basket over their head, and BACK them to where ya want them to go.  ;) ;)

[Patty]

So Delcy, was all the hard work worth it now that they are packed in little white freezer paper packettes? We always think the fresh good home raised meat is worth the trouble, but I know there are many that disagree. It is a lot of work, but you can be assured that your kids are eating healthy non-chmical ridden meat. For that reason alone I always felt the hard work was well worth the good meat.

Congratulations on a job well done!

[Stump Jumper]

Mrs. Stump Jumper ended up using a 5 gallon bucket on two of them to get them out of the trailer.  Backing them up yes it does work a bucket over the head. :   The last one saw what was going on and said he was gonna have no part of that so we ended up using a cattle prod on him. :'( :'(

They got so comfy in the trailer that didn't want out.

[Tom]

Another trick to herd animals out of a trailer is to stand behind a sheet of plywood at the front of the trailer and walk toward the rear.  They can't see you so they don't get defensive.   The room just keeps getting smaller.  :D

Ahh-h-h  Fresh hams and pork chops.  ;D

Did you save the hocks and jowls for smoking, the feet for pickling and the head for ......Hogs head cheese?  Mmmmmm

[Mrs._Stump_Jumper]

Patty

The meat is a lot better then what you can get in the stores.  The Butcher shop and the guy we took our meet to to get it smoked said the meat looked very good.  

I cooked up some pork chops and they almost melted in your mouth the meat was that tender.

We took our meat to another place to get it smoked becuase Jeff can't have nitrites and he could smoke the meat using phospates instead.  

Next time I think I am gonna have stump-jumper unload the pigs from trailer instead me. ;)  I can hold the gate and watch instead of the other way around. ;D

[Patty]

Yes, there is no comparison in taste between purchased meat and home grown. We process our own instead of using the butcher, but that is only because the local butcher does a poor job, in my opinion.   Anything a family can do together in raising their own food, earning an income, and learning together is a good thing. Makes for a strong family bond, and well rounded children. You both should be proud that you raise your family in this way.   

[Mrs._Stump_Jumper]

Tom

I only saved the hocks to smoke.  I don't know about the rest. : : Never tried and never will.   Just doesn't  sound appetizing.

I had the hams and sides and hocks smoked and I also had some sweet itilian suasages made from some of the ground pork we tried some of these last night but not to fond of the guys recipe I can use them in a boiled dinner or something and they will be alright.  The rest of the ground pork I had made into breakfast sausage.  8)

There was no moving these guys with a piece of board they were toooooooo big and stubborn.

Patty

I used to work at the butcher shop where we took the pigs to so I new that they would do a good job.  We could have processed our own but finding the time right now is hard and the weather has been to warm.  Jeff's dad has a meat saw and a grinder.

Do you smoke your own meat?

[Norm]

Great job Delcy! I've been wanting to raise another porker for the freezer but have too darned busy also. I like dealing with them in the winter so the smell and flies aren't so bad. Did you folks use a commercial feed? They sure fattened up nice and fast, must've been the bonding with Jeff that did it.

Maybe this fall I'll get Patty an early Christmas present. She's been asking for a ring so I'll just have one put on the little porkers nose for her. ;D

[Bro. Noble]

Our local packing plants have guys that will come to your place to slaughter the animal,  then take it to the packing plant to process it.   It's a lot less hassle and usually better meat due to less stress on the animal.   We have butchered our own,  but there is no way most individuals can control the temperature that is important for aging beef.  It's also so much better if they can be frozen fast.

Cured jowels are just as good or better than bacon ;D

[Mrs._Stump_Jumper]

Norm

We used a commercial feed it was 16% protein we fed them this all the way through we never put them on a finisher just used the grower.  They put less fat on this way.

[pigman]

Fine job with growing the swine. 8)  The problem you had unloading was that you used a cattle prod instead of a hog prod. ;) I used plastic boards to sort my hogs but always had to use the electrical persuaders to load and unload. ;D  Hogs seem to always want to stay where they have been, even if they are there only a shot time. :

[Don_Papenburg]

I remember as a kid  listening to my uncle load pigs .  He would cuss at the top of his voice . my aunt took me inside so I would not hear that language. Only it was as clear inside as out.   He never used the same words in arow.
It was fun to hear him try to start thehot combine motor on hot day.