My Pigs (Soon to be Bacon)

6186 Views 59 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Argee, Dec 5, 2003

Argee

Discussion Starter · Nov 12, 2003

These are the pigs I'm raising for market. I've had them since June. They have a date with destiny on the 18th. I've named them, There is Hambone, Bacon, Pork Chop,Bacon Bits and Breakfast.

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21 - 40 of 60 Posts

tisenberg

· #21 · Nov 12, 2003

Pass the BBQ sauce.

I'm the person standing off in the distance during prep... not sure if I could go through the raise it and kill it process. BUT, I will be the one getting in the line over and over again at a pig roast. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

leolav

· #22 · Nov 12, 2003

I just can't bring myself to eat possum and racoon. I know my dad has eaten dog and cats when he was in Japan!

That's just wrong!

jodyand

· #23 · Nov 12, 2003

Originally posted by leolav
I just can't bring myself to eat possum and racoon. I know my dad has eaten dog and cats when he was in Japan!

That's just wrong!

It all taste like :chicken::lmao: leolav I have eaten just about everything growing up down here. When your dad and your grandparents are true Cajuns you grow up eating some out of this world food. And i mean that in a good way meaning it taste good when it cook right :eat: And i will try anything once:barf: :smiles:
Jody

leolav

· #24 · Nov 12, 2003

I just can't imagine cooking up Fido and Miss Kitty in a stir fry. To me that gets a little out there. As far as possum is concerned, that looks too close to a rat in my opinion.

Jody:

Are you trying to post without me knowing??? I've been on here all day. Almost done for the day though, the wife and kids are home any minute and I will have to do my share to get the boys ready for bed.

Twins are a blast, but alot of work.

jodyand

· #25 · Nov 12, 2003

Originally posted by leolav
I just can't imagine cooking up Fido and Miss Kitty in a stir fry. To me that gets a little out there. As far as possum is concerned, that looks too close to a rat in my opinion.

Jody:

Are you trying to post without me knowing??? I've been on here all day. Almost done for the day though, the wife and kids are home any minute and I will have to do my share to get the boys ready for bed.

Twins are a blast, but alot of work.

Never ate Fido and Miss Kitty in a stir fry that i know of:smiles: I might have lord knows i ate my share of Chinese food who knows what you eat when you go to those places:smiles:

And how can i post without you knowing about it. I just started for the day. To busy at work to stay on here just have lunch and i had to send emails out to some people so i couldn't post at lunch.:cpu:
Jody

Argee

Discussion Starter · #26 · Nov 13, 2003

Re: beer

Originally posted by slipshod

The pig drank all those beers on the ground,keeps it moist while cooking.

I imagine it didn't care to much when you cranked the heat up.
:lmao:

parts man

· #27 · Nov 13, 2003

We raise pure-bred beef cattle, mainly for breeding stock, but the animals with lesser desireable traits go for meat. All of our cattle are like pets to us,they all have names like Rosebud, Ettiquette, Dutchess, but that doesn't stop us from eating them. We prefer to butcher our own as there is less stress to the animal than if it is trucked to a killing facility first, and less stress means more tender, better tasting beef.
At one time we were in the freezer beef market, butchering up to 50+ head in the fall and 25+ in the spring. I quite enjoyed the work, it beat the he11 out of killing trees!!

I grew up doing this, before I was old enough for school, my job was to hold a leg while my mother skinned it out. Farming certainly teaches kids some life-lessons.:lmao:

leolav

· #28 · Nov 13, 2003

I see it all Jody. I'm sure you will be conspiring to figure out a way though!!

Argee

Discussion Starter · #29 · Nov 18, 2003

Re: My Pigs (Soon to be Bacon, Are)

Well, we loaded and hauled pigs all morning. My pigs are well on the way to becoming bacon. We took in two loads in a small horse trailer, first one was my 5 and the second load was my buddy's 3. We hadn't even finished all the paperwork yet, and half of them were processed along with several steers. They have quite an operation going. They put the animal in a squeeze chute and when they kill it, it never touches the floor again. I've had steers, etc. done at other slaughter houses, but this is by far, the nicest facility I've seen.

jodyand

· #30 · Nov 19, 2003

Hey you can

Argee You can send a ham down here if you want:eat: Be happy to take it off your hands:smiles:
Jody

Argee

Discussion Starter · #31 · Nov 19, 2003

Re: Hey you can

Originally posted by jodyand

Argee You can send a ham down here if you want:eat: Be happy to take it off your hands:smiles:
Jody

:eat:
You won't have to take it off my hands, you'll have to take it off my hips after I eat it...
:eat:

Chris

· #32 · Nov 19, 2003

So did the pigs meets their DESTINY on the 18th?

Did the pigs officially become bacon on the 18th as promised?

ig: :devil:

ig: :devil:

ig:

guest

· #33 · Nov 19, 2003

man that pig roast makes me hungry....

so do the pigs you raise taste much better than store bought? can you tell the difference? ivew been toying with getting a pig or a half cow (already raised and butchered) sorry no mallets to the head or bullets to the animals for me.. i sure like eating them, just not to keen on killing them..

Argee

Discussion Starter · #34 · Nov 19, 2003

Loading Pigs in the pouring rain

Now that I've had a day to reflect on it, yesterdays events were rather comical. I've had the appointment with the processor for a couple of months, so come rain or shine, the show must go on.

As fate would have it, it was pouring rain when it came time to load the pigs. My two buddies were to be at my place at 7:00AM with their pigs (3) to help me load mine (5) in the trailer so we could make the 9:00AM appointment at the processors 30 miles away. Well when I went out at 6:30 to hook the trailer to my truck it was pouring. The weather report said it was going to keep raining all day. I had the trailer backed up to the fence and a portion of the fence taken out by the time they showed up at 7:30 with just one pig in the back of his 4WD (need a ladder to get in the back end of it) Ford pickup. When I looked at these boys (they're in their early 30's so they're boys to me) all covered with pig [email protected]# from head to toe, I casually asked where the other two pigs were. Well it seems after struggling getting the one 230 lb. squirming gilt in the truck, they let their guard down on the other two. When they opened the gate to get another one on, one decided it was time to make a break for freedom. After a 15 minute chase around the barn, the house and the perimeter of his 33 acres they got it contained and back in the pen, all this in the pouring rain mind you. At this point, they were just to wore out to pick the other two up the required 4+ feet to get them in the back of the truck. So needless to say, they showed up at my place with one pig and banking on the hope that I would take the trailer down to pick the other two up. I was a little leary that if we loaded all the pigs together at once they would probably fight and if we went back down to his place we'd never make to the appointment on time. So it was decided that we would make two trips. We loaded my 5 onto the trailer with minimal problems . The one big boar that I thought might give us problems, jumped into the trailer on his own after witnessing a couple of squealing gilts being coaxed on. We then drove the now 45 mile trip back to his place to get the other two. It was uneventful.

Of course my one buddy rode with me to the slaughter house for both trips. I had to keep reminding him to role his window down because of the lingering oder wafting off his clothes.

All in all, it's a day I'm glad is over, but the comical antics of my two friends will make it one worth remembering. And of course as time dims the memory of the event, I will embellish the story so it's never forgotten.

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Argee

Discussion Starter · #35 · Nov 19, 2003

Originally posted by simple_john
man that pig roast makes me hungry....

so do the pigs you raise taste much better than store bought? can you tell the difference? ivew been toying with getting a pig or a half cow (already raised and butchered) sorry no mallets to the head or bullets to the animals for me.. i sure like eating them, just not to keen on killing them..

I don't do any of my own butchering. I just need to get them to the slaughter house and tell them how I want them cut and packaged. Then go back and pick up my cut and wrapped pork.

Argee

Discussion Starter · #36 · Nov 19, 2003

Re: So did the pigs meets their DESTINY on the 18th?

Originally posted by admin
Did the pigs officially become bacon on the 18th as promised?

ig: :devil: ig: :devil: ig:

They had several processed before we even left the facility. To kill, clean and skin and move to the cooler takes about 20 minutes per pig.

guest

· #37 · Nov 19, 2003

so if you did 5 pigs how much meat do you get? are you talking about 500lbs of pork?

what about the taste? is it better than store bought? can you tell the difference?

Argee

Discussion Starter · #38 · Nov 19, 2003

Originally posted by simple_john
so if you did 5 pigs how much meat do you get? are you talking about 500lbs of pork?

what about the taste? is it better than store bought? can you tell the difference?

A 200 lb. pig will yield approx. 65 - 70% of meat, bones, organs, and lard.

Yes it is better than store bought. The comforting thing about raising your own meat, be it hogs, poultry or beef is that you know whats going into and into you eventually.

Chris

· #39 · Nov 19, 2003

Originally posted by Argee
I don't do any of my own butchering. I just need to get them to the slaughter house and tell them how I want them cut and packaged. Then go back and pick up my cut and wrapped pork.

Wiping the blood off of your own hands, Argee? :skull:
How do they slaughter them - slit and hanging or some other method? Any ideas? Yummy Bacon, Pork and Ham!!!

ig:

Andy

Chris

· #40 · Nov 19, 2003

Re: Loading Pigs in the pouring rain

Originally posted by Argee
Now that I've had a day to reflect on it, yesterdays events were rather comical. I've had the appointment with the processor for a couple of months, so come rain or shine, the show must go on.

As fate would have it, it was pouring rain when it came time to load the pigs. My two buddies were to be at my place at 7:00AM with their pigs (3) to help me load mine (5) in the trailer so we could make the 9:00AM appointment at the processors 30 miles away. Well when I went out at 6:30 to hook the trailer to my truck it was pouring. The weather report said it was going to keep raining all day. I had the trailer backed up to the fence and a portion of the fence taken out by the time they showed up at 7:30 with just one pig in the back of his 4WD (need a ladder to get in the back end of it) Ford pickup. When I looked at these boys (they're in their early 30's so they're boys to me) all covered with pig [email protected]# from head to toe, I casually asked where the other two pigs were. Well it seems after struggling getting the one 230 lb. squirming gilt in the truck, they let their guard down on the other two. When they opened the gate to get another one on, one decided it was time to make a break for freedom. After a 15 minute chase around the barn, the house and the perimeter of his 33 acres they got it contained and back in the pen, all this in the pouring rain mind you. At this point, they were just to wore out to pick the other two up the required 4+ feet to get them in the back of the truck. So needless to say, they showed up at my place with one pig and banking on the hope that I would take the trailer down to pick the other two up. I was a little leary that if we loaded all the pigs together at once they would probably fight and if we went back down to his place we'd never make to the appointment on time. So it was decided that we would make two trips. We loaded my 5 onto the trailer with minimal problems . The one big boar that I thought might give us problems, jumped into the trailer on his own after witnessing a couple of squealing gilts being coaxed on. We then drove the now 45 mile trip back to his place to get the other two. It was uneventful.

Of course my one buddy rode with me to the slaughter house for both trips. I had to keep reminding him to role his window down because of the lingering oder wafting off his clothes.

All in all, it's a day I'm glad is over, but the comical antics of my two friends will make it one worth remembering. And of course as time dims the memory of the event, I will embellish the story so it's never forgotten.

Very interesting reading! How much would you say you had invested in your 5 pigs for this past 6 months or so? Just curious as others have mentioned the problems with disease, death and the overall expense of having your own pigs. How much did they cost to buy, maintain, feed vs. how much meat you can get from them? Plus, how do they keep track of "your pigs" at the processing plant? You might bring in fresh pig meat only to leave with Hormel and Jimmy Dean factory fresh spam.

J/K

Andy

ig:

ig:

ig:

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