Feeder Pigs

[frustratedearthmother]

Dang, maybe I should invest in a tiller for my tractor...

Can't wait to hear your report on the homegrown pork. I know it'll be awesome!

 

[Baymule]

Dang, maybe I should invest in a tiller for my tractor...

Can't wait to hear your report on the homegrown pork. I know it'll be awesome!

I just used the disc. In your clay soil, try to find a source for wood chips, pine shavings (how far are you from the horse event center in Katy?) and pile them on the garden and let them decompose. Mulch deep, grab bags of leaves from the curb in the fall and mulch with them. I pile leaves in the chicken coop and let them do the compost work for me. Humus would really help your clay.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

The soil in the areas that I've gardened for years is really very nice - but I could do soooo much more if I let the tractor do all the hard work!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

stoopid double post....

 

[Mini Horses]

I have a disc for my tractor and a 3' tiller that I use with my riding mower. It does a great job and needs less turn space than the tractor --- BUT with tractor you could lift your attachment and back in. I'm fenced where the garden will be and that can make things a little tight to turn and get close. They all have pro/con issues but, both are faster than walking with a tiller -- sometimes

70X100 is what I'd dream of but, realistically, a whole lot for ME to take care of as I do this farm by myself. As it is I am looking at about 1/2 of that.

 

[Baymule]

@Devonviolet and her husband were a lot more ambitious than me. Guess what they did? They only did the "kill and chill" on their pig, picked it up, took it home and cut it up themselves!! They spent yesterday and today on their pig and have a freezer full of meat. I am so proud of them It will be a few weeks before our meat is ready. We are having the bacon and hams smoked. I will post pictures of our first supper! @Devonviolet where are the pictures of all that lovely meat??

 

[Devonviolet]

I started writing this before you posted your comment above. So, we were writing at the same time.

We picked up our pig (Bacon) yesterday. We decided to not have it smoked & to butcher it ourselves to save money. We did what is called a "Kill & Chill", which means they kill & gut It & skin It. It ended up costing $150 less doing it that way.

It was quite a sight, seeing the butcher's son pull the 2 halves out of the cooler, on the track, hanging up on hooks. He cut it into 6 parts, so it would fit into our two coolers.

We bought a Kindle book on Amazon, that did a good job of telling us how to butcher our pig. Some places were a bit confusing, but we muddled our way through getting two chances too cut each section. it had photos, that really helped

http://www.amazon.com/Butchering-Po...TF8&qid=1458955764&sr=8-1&keywords=Butchering

Here are the photos I took this afternoon. This is only part of the meat. We still have a rack of ribs, to cut into pork chops, as well as meat in our fridge (with the temp set at 34°F, to allow one batch of meat to freeze, so we don't over tax the freezer all at once. We also have a nice batch of fat, to be rendered at another time.

This is the back leg (the ham) which we boned. It doesn't look like it, but there are two ball joints & was quite a job to do the boning.

Top shelf of our full size upright freezer. The loin roast was done yesterday (3/24/16). DH got the date wrong when he labeled the packages of meat yesterday.

Bottom drawer, of the freezer, full of meat.

Precious Filet cuts. YUM! Looking forward to cooking those!

Shoulder (Butt roast)

Bones to be used for bone broth.

While we were cutting meat today, DH was drooling, so I suggested he take some of the smaller pieces, that we are going to use to make sausage & fry it up. About the same time, I found a beautiful piece of muscle that looked a lot like filet. So, I cut it across the grain, which made it look like medallions. OMG! It was so tender & full of flavor! YUM!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Good job! We did a couple pigs a couple years ago. My very experienced neighbor was in charge, but I helped A LOT. I'm sure it's something that'll get easier every time....not that you butcher a pig every day though, lol.

I know you'll enjoy every bite!

 

[Devonviolet]

DH wasn't sure about doing this ourselves. But, after reading the butchering book & having already butchering about 20 chickens, I figured we could do it. I'm glad we did it, and while we were a little unsure we were doing it right, on the first half we did, it was easier when we did the 2nd half.

I would like to raise a couple feeder pigs, ourselves, next year & do the killing ourselves. I don't think DH is totally on board with the killing & initial processing part. We might just have to let the butcher do the Kill & Chill again.

 

[Latestarter]

Man, that all looks great! love the look of those cooked pieces too!