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whole hog!

Started by doc henderson, May 18, 2020, 05:46:05 PM

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doc henderson

well I kept hearing about hog farmers with stock getting too big an no where to go.  we got 2 hogs at 250#s for 40 cents a pound or 100 bucks each.  My buddy Dallas, and his friend Wes who got the pigs and his son, his uncle whom had butchered a lot of pigs.   



 

dispatched, bled, and getting cleaned.



 



 

four hours to butcher.  took the bellies to a processor to make bacon.  cut off the shoulders, hams, and ribs.  left the loins on the spine.  ribs in the freezer, rest on the smoker the next day after soaking overnight in a apple juice sugar and sat mix.  on the smoker at 5 am.



 



 

the bacon process is an extra $1.75 a pound.  I have smoked my own, but my wife likes it sliced nice and packaged nice.  at 6 pm the biggest ham was at 202 degrees, so we pulled it all off.  let it rest for an hours and then pulled out bones, had a little for a snack, and then we all packaged our own.  I did the food saver vacuum bags.  had some today stir fried with some salsa to warm it up.  very good.  lot of work.  the second hog did go faster than the first.
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

barbender

I've been meaning to get one of these cheap hogs, too. Haven't had the time though. It's an absolute shame that farmers are having to euthanize their animals with no market for them.
Too many irons in the fire

WV Sawmiller

 digin_2 digin_2 digin_2

   My wife raised pigs as a kid and hates them. We have had all kinds of wild and domestic animals here but no pig. I like the idea of smoking and storing the meat as described and I have a 4' long smoker I brought back from Saudi and a bunch of fresh cut red oak slabwood and a hickory log on the lot to process so I may have to start looking for one too. My only concern is it has been awful warm here lately. I do have a young friend a mile or so down the road with a big cooler though so I'll keep my eyes open.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

doc henderson

we did not hang them for long, only to bleed.  then did the apple juice with salt and sugar, in a cooler with 40 pounds of ice.  the meat internal was 40 degrees in the am.  stuff in the freezer overnight, was stiff but movable.  (the loins)
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

A-z farmer

Wow Doc that is a good price .
6 week old pigs go for 100 and up here and they have to bee feed over 120 dollars for feed to 250 pounds butcher weight .I have been raising pigs from farrow to finish since I was 8 years old and when I started out 6 week old piglets were 25 each .
I know the butcher shops around me in the north east are booked for this year.

sawguy21

When is dinner ready? ;D Pork is my favorite.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Skip

Wow, good price ordered one last week same size, almost twice the price . Was glad to get it . :)

doc henderson

our guys are having trouble getting them to market with processors shut down. selling them cheap rather than shooting them and burying in a hole.  sad.
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

doc henderson

the farmer would normally get about 300 bucks for these animals each.  so $200 is still a good price, less than wholesale.
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

WV Sawmiller

   I remember 10-12 years ago we had a situation like that where it cost the farmers more to transport the pigs than they got for them at auction and they were shooting them in the fields. I think we were buying 150-200 lb hogs for $25-$30 or so. No difference in the price of pork at the store but the farmers weren't getting the difference. I think the big producers had contracted with big farmers and were still paying normal prices but the small unaligned farmers took a beating.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Nebraska

If you can gut skin and process a deer you can do the same for a pig. If you have folks around  unable to move hogs to market because of plant closures, they would rather sell them to you than put therm down for nothing. Good On you Doc. 
Have a neighbor processing party if you need help... all our local butchering capacity is booked into next year. 

Al_Smith

It would be a good time to buy some inexpensive pork on the hoof . In my case with just two of us and not having the freezer capacity not a good option .

caveman

My daughter has a leftover show hog that is going to run out of feed in a day or so.  I may butcher it tomorrow afternoon but its is HOT, darn warm here.  My 83 y/o neighbor told me he saw the thermometer at 96° today.  If we do kill it tomorrow we will have to work fast (kill, bleed, gut, peel, half, quarter, ice).  It has been a while since I have butchered anything.  I paid $175 for this one when it was about 40 lbs. back in September.

I'm glad some of these animals are not going to waste.  A guy I know who has a slaughter house is looking for folks to hire, he'll train inexperienced.  He is a busy as can be.

Doc, based on the way y'all are dressed, the temperature is just about right there.  I also like to hit them with the pressure washer prior to butchering them.
Caveman

doc henderson

we all trust the processors, but if we saw a clump of 3 hairs, someone grabbed it and pulled it out.  cleanliness is next to Godliness!  most of the heat is in the organs, so i agree with your plan.  It took us about 4 hours total.  we did a lot of washing after the butcher and pulling the stringy fat and blood vessels.  soaked in apple just in a big cooler and 40 pounds of ice,  or got frozen.  our processor that is booked till Jan., was still able to take the belly meat and cure and smoke it, slice and package it as bacon.  so that took some work off us.  the ribs are in the freezer.  the hams and shoulder, loins, all got smoked and into vacuum bags about 1 pound each.  so from 500 pounds of hog, we got 80 pounds of pulled pork, 40 pound of bacon, and a slab of ribs
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

caveman

Well, we had homeschool ag here today.  We got the hog butchered and he is on ice now.  It took my daughter, another ag teacher's daughter (she was in my class) and myself about an hour to get it parted out and on ice.  

It has been a long time since I have butchered anything and it showed today.  It was like rookie day on the farm.  If I were to do another tomorrow, it would be much quicker and efficient.

I'll probably cut and wrap it tomorrow.
Caveman

Sedgehammer

Quote from: doc henderson on May 18, 2020, 05:46:05 PM
the second hog did go faster than the first.
🤔 one wood've thought you guyz were too full to eat the 2nd one faster......
Necessity is the engine of drive

tule peak timber

Wonderful post !!! I'm hungry !!!
persistence personified - never let up , never let down

petefrom bearswamp

Im salivating too.
Wish I could get one here at that price.
My only experience was 40 plus years ago raising 2 and butchering both selling one and keeping the other for my family.
Had butchered plenty of deer but this was my first with hogs.
I sent for the USDA bulletin called "lets cut meat"
I still have it.
It was a diagram with cut on the dotted lines.
Was very easy to do.
I think the farrows cost me 15 bucks, one barrow, one gilt.
Brought them home in a burlap bag in the back seat of my wife's ford LTD sedan
We processed  all except the hams.
Got the Bacon process from the mother earth news.
Good fare!
I just saw that Tyson has closed another pork plant in I think Iowa due to 500 workers getting covid
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

aigheadish

My neighbor found a guy who is selling pigs. I've committed to buying one but I've never done so before. This guy is also processing them but I'm not entirely sure what that means other than I guess he likes to make sausages. 

Is there a good way to describe what cuts I want? I didn't realize bacon had a separate process beyond cutting it bacon shaped but I guess thatakes sense. 

I'm interested in pork for pulled pork, sausages and bacon. I'd imagine I'll get some porkchops too and some ribs. Is that what I should ask for? How do I find a bacon processor? 
New Holland LB75b, Husqvarna 455 Rancher, Husqvarna GTH52XLS, Hammerhead 250, Honda VTX1300 for now and probably for sale (let me know if you are interested!)

barbender

Is he processing it, as in cutting and wrapping it, or just slaughtering?

As far as cuts, about the only option I can think of for the bacon is how thick it is sliced. Some processors might have options for seasoning and smoking wood.

 Other than that, your chops, ribs, what about hams? And what size do you want your roasts cut? A lot of this will depend on your processor, some will be bare bones basic and others offer a lot of options. I've cut a few pigs for personal use, they are probably the easiest animal to butcher imo. Not to big to handle, and everything will make sausage worst case scenario😊
Too many irons in the fire

aigheadish

I think he's cutting and wrapping but I'm not sure how it'll all work out. I guess we'll see. The roast I'm thinking is is like a butt/shoulder cut? 
New Holland LB75b, Husqvarna 455 Rancher, Husqvarna GTH52XLS, Hammerhead 250, Honda VTX1300 for now and probably for sale (let me know if you are interested!)

barbender

Yes shoulder also called butt or Boston butt, then depending on whether you have hams smoked, you could also get roasts from those if not. 
Too many irons in the fire

aigheadish

The neighbor just told me he's expecting a check sheet of what kind of cuts we want. That'll make things much easier! 
New Holland LB75b, Husqvarna 455 Rancher, Husqvarna GTH52XLS, Hammerhead 250, Honda VTX1300 for now and probably for sale (let me know if you are interested!)

barbender

Good deal, I've always got one when I used a butcher, too👍
Too many irons in the fire

Tom K

We have sold freezer beef, and freezer pork for quite a few years. A typical cut list for pork would look something like this.

Loin  - Whole   or    Chops   1/2" or 3/4" thick     # per package
Shoulder chops   -   1/2"    3/4"   #per pack    Grind     Whole pork shoulder
Roast - #2-3   #3-4    Grind
Hams  -  Fresh    Smoked     Whole or split    Grind
Bacon  -  Fresh     Smoked/cured     Sliced, thick-thin-regular
Hocks  - Yes or No    Smoked
Sausage  -  ground pork   (whatever flavors/types they offer)
                #1 packages   #2 packages     Cased

Each line item follows the option for each main type of cut. As we read through it with the customers we will circle which options they choose. If this is a back yard processor they may not offer any smoking or curing services. A couple of the full time shops around here do it in house, and some send it out. 98% of bacon is smoked and cured, then sliced. A lot of guys will only cased larger stuff like braut's and don't do the smaller breakfast sausage links. There may also be other options they offer then what I listed. Hopefully this helps some.

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