Alaskan
Herd Master
Selling to public can have a bunch of laws depending on the state, and might require an FDA slaughter house. Some of the rules I am very much for...I don’t eat pork but I have always wondered; can you slaughter and butcher them yourself? Why do we have to go through all these loopholes.
As to home consumption... we usually butcher ourselves simply because of cost. BUT a pig is HUGE and takes time if you want to get it all (every scrap of meat from the bone instead of just quick cuts and tossing bones with meat on them). And then there is a bunch of time needed to make sausage.
As a result... this last time that we had 2 to slaughter we took them to the slaughter house. First time for us to have the pigs done for us. We asked, and it was less money if we killed, bled, and gutted then delivered. We didn't mind doing that... and that part is fast, so that is what we settled on.