Pig Harvest Day

Well, I guess I can see how people end up getting more than one of a farm animal. My sister in law informed us back in June about two piggies that their owner was looking to give away since they were moving and couldn't take them on the journey. Steve and I decided at first that we didn't want them but as time went on, no one would take the pigs from this nice couple. We had the space, the feed, and the gumption to take them, so ultimately they ended up at our house. I must note though that we had told the previous owners that if they ended up at our house they could also end up on our dinner plates. The couple insisted it was fine and that same day brought over Trigger and Harley. Now these pigs are small compared to the pigs we bought back in April. I mean SMALL. They probably weighed in around 100 pounds full grown and they had a lot of fat on em'. Speckles and Curly (our original pigs) will weigh upwards of 300+ pounds when it comes to butchering time for them. Steve was confident he'd be able to butcher the small pigs so we set aside a Saturday to harvest the pigs.

Trigger & Harley

Before I continue on, I'll address some concerns I've encountered from others through this process.

1. How could you do this to a pig?

My answer to this is simple if I'm talking to another meat eater... Do YOU know how the pigs are treated in factory farms?! They live their ENTIRE life squeezed in a small cage unable to freely move and only allowed to eat the crap they feed them to get super fat very quickly. Plus, you have to add all the hormones/antibiotics given to all the pigs to keep them from being sickly. So, as unconnected you are to your food and how that pork chop got on your plate, I'll stick to my happy pigs from my backyard. We let pigs be pigs and do pig things. It's very simple and extremely satisfying to the soul. As for non meat eaters... well I'd get biblical, so I'll avoid digressing.

2. I could never do that because it's messy, hard, you get attached, etc...

I love this reaction because it gives me the opportunity to teach people about the easiness of pigs. They really are spectacular farm animals. They eat almost all table scraps, outdoor weeds, grass, veggies, and well, anything that they think is edible (they once chewed on a kiddie swimming pool until we took it away!). Our pigs are fed once a day a mix of barley, milk, hard boiled eggs, tallow, and all other table scraps from the kitchen. So as for them being a hard animal to take care of, that is the exact opposite. They are only messy in the sense that if they see mud they go "hog crazy" haha. It's true that pigs LOVE mud. So if you're in the pen and they have just had a mud bath.... well, you may get one too from them rubbing their nose and body up against your legs.

Are pigs messy? Not really, they actually designate a corner of the pig pen to do their piggy business. The smell is very minimal and doesn't bother us at all. As for being attached, I am but at the same time I understand the circle of life and why they were created. I love the fact that we let them just be happy big ole' pigs---digging their noses into the ground creating cool dirt patches in the summer heat. They're spunky and run around chasing each other and grunting when they see us approaching the pen. Speckles and Curly will always have a special place in my heart, but I also love meat. I need to eat, my family needs to eat, and the pigs provide for all of that. Plus, I get to make some really awesome soap from the Lard.

3. Well, we can't raise pigs because we have no idea how to do it.

Guess what?! Steve and I had NO idea what we were getting ourselves into when we brought the idea up to each other. Through the magic of the internet and books, we have become pretty dang knowledgeable in all things pig. Really what it comes down to is if you have a big enough desire to do it. Steve and I have always been conscientious about where our food comes from and how it was treated/prepared/grown/raised. We care a considerable amount about the pigs and their well being in life. In regards to butchering the pigs, Steve took every measure possible to make sure they had a very humane and as peaceful as possible death. We don't want to be monsters to the animals. We took care of them in life and now in death they will take care of us. Without getting too preachy, I fully believe God created animals for the purpose of nourishment.

Okay, back to the butchering. Steve kicked butt taking care of this! We had my Father-in-law and Mother-in-law over helping us and we are so tremendously thankful that they came over to assist.

Second pig being hoisted up for gutting

These pigs may be little but they are not the easiest to move around by yourself. My Father-in-law, Russ, took charge of doing the heavy lifting with Steve and was also our comedic narrator throughout the process. It was a HOT and sunny day. The meat eating wasps and flies were having a hay day.

After Steve had dispatched the first pig, we had to let it bleed out and then carry it over to the giant tub for scalding. Scalding helps the skin and hair come off easily....but, because we are so new to this, we did not do a very good job and there were parts where we couldn't get the skin to come off. Time was of the essence too since the longer the meat sits out in the hot weather, the more prone it can be to bacteria growing. After the scald, we hoisted the pig up in the tree on the gamble (I think that's what it's called) and Steve prepared to gut the pig. This part was tricky for him with the first pig and I had to literally read from a butchering book on what to do. This is the messy part and I suppose not for the faint of heart if you can't handle the sight of guts or blood. But after the pig was gutted, Steve sawed the body in half and then chopped the head off so we could store the primals (body portion with legs) in our freezer. It sounds fast but the first pig took nearly 2 1/2 hours to complete.

The second pig was a lot faster considering Steve had now had some experience in butchering. Overall, we started at 1:00pm time frame and finished up around 4:30pm. The worst part was the flies and meat wasps; they constantly were flying around us and trying to land on the carcass. I was continually spraying the pig down with water making sure to not let them hang out too much on the meat. We did pretty good for our first time butchering pigs though. Two days later, Steve butchered one pig down even further and now we have sectioned portions of meat ready to eat!!!

If you're wondering about how my three year old handled this, he was not present for the butchering. He's mister ask-you-a-million-questions kind of kid and would have prolonged the whole thing. He is actually okay with the pigs being gone too. He, like myself, loves bacon and all things pig. He even understands that our last two big pigs will be killed this fall and talks about the bacon we will get from them.

We've told our son that other than our dogs, all the animals at our backyard homestead have to serve a purpose. They either supply us with eggs, meat, or milk (if we had a cow/goat). We fully intend on butchering some of our ducks (they supposedly taste like Ribeye!) and also harvesting duck eggs from them. Either way, we can't justify having additional animals and having to spend money, time and energy on them if they are not in some way giving back to us in the long run. Our dogs are the exception and we love them---Sammy the Beagle and Gizmo the Yorkiepoo---very much!

Ultimately, it was a very humbling day for us. It's a lot to take in if you've never done anything like that and we relished in the idea that we didn't have to spend money on pork that tastes like crap from the grocery store that lived a sad and pitiful life. Harvesting hogs is something that was not uncommon for families to do as recently as one generation back. They'd have a pig harvesting day every fall and everyone would gather to help butcher the pigs. It was part of the food they lived off of through the winter and spring.

Shoot, I grew up on my Grandma and Grandpa's farm where they had just about every animal you could think of and a huge ole' garden that my Grandma would can food from. Some of my best childhood memories were made on that farm. What was once farmland, was sold and turned into homes and subdivisions. I cry a little on the inside when I drive by her old house and see homes that sit on what once were where the barn and the silo stood. I guess I'm just a country girl at heart. But as I look up from my laptop and see the vast farmland behind and in front of my house, I can't help but take a sigh of relief. I love the openness and quiet feel compared to the suburbs. Northern Utah is losing that country feel and quickly turning into major cities and bustling highways. People would rather build ginormous homes on tiny lots and buy their disconnected food from the grocery stores. Call me hippie, but I'd rather be old fashioned. But I'll step off my soap box now (hahaha) and enjoy my little piece of heaven in Hooper.