Potbelly Pig for meat *GRAPHIC PICS*

[misfitmorgan]

We are butchering a pot belly pig and planning on using the meat, anyone had potbelly pig meat? Is it similar to regular commercial or farm raised pork? I know in Vietnam they were used and raised for meat for a very long time and still are today but its not the norm here in the US as far as i know.

The pig will be dealt with today and plan on processing tomorrow after she hangs for a night. I know someone is thinking why would you want to eat a potbelly pig? Its less of a want and more of a want to not waste. This particular pig was given to a friend of ours...for free. OK no problem he has a male potbelly pig he likes just fine has had him for 3yrs. He ended up moving to a new farm so we temporarily had his animals at our farm, he has taken back all of his animals except the pig. We work on a 3 strike rule. You get 3 strikes then your done and on the dinner plate.

Strike one...she bit off and ate our mini boars ear....we thought well that can happen he was trying to mount her and such.

Strike two she was being very aggressive with our animals and our friends animals. Our friends Sannen goat had twin kids while at our farm. The pig went thru a fence and killed and ate one of the goat kids.

Strike three she had a litter of 11 piglets two weeks ago, she killed all but 2 of them which we took.

At this point out friend asked us to find her a new home.

Strike four last night i was in the barn checking on our sheep and lambs because we need to put in some ear tags. about 15 minutes later i looked over at our dear sweet adult sheep named honey and her ear was half gone and dripping blood. The pig bite off the sheeps ear and ate it.

All of those incidents combined with the fact she has started charging us for no apparent reason means we can not re-home her. Someone taught this pig to eat meat or that meat was walking around or encouraged it or something. Basically i am not going to give a pig to someone else who is going to eat/attack their livestock, dogs, kids, them.

So yes freezer camp for her. We dont like to waste stuff so cant see shooting and burying the 140lb pig. So anyone have any experience with this?

 

[samssimonsays]

I heard that they were raised for smaller farming areas and are virtually the same but I have never had it so no personal experience. I am so sorry she has done so much damage.

 

[Latestarter]

Sorry to hear about all the injuries she's caused. I'm surprised that you waited this many strikes. Also a bit surprised that your "friend" left this problem animal with you... From what I understand, and with no experience, they produce more lard than other breeds, but otherwise are just a pig... though smaller in stature. Hope you'll let us know how it goes and what the meat outcome is. I believe @Ferguson K raises PB pigs... I don't know if she's eating them or not... she has other breeds as well.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Don't blame you a bit for doing the deed with that one! Please let us know how she butchers out...I'd be interested in seeing carcass pictures if you feel like sharing that. Good luck with the processing.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Sorry to hear about all the injuries she's caused. I'm surprised that you waited this many strikes. Also a bit surprised that your "friend" left this problem animal with you... From what I understand, and with no experience, they produce more lard than other breeds, but otherwise are just a pig... though smaller in stature. Hope you'll let us know how it goes and what the meat outcome is. I believe @Ferguson K raises PB pigs... I don't know if she's eating them or not... she has other breeds as well.

Oh all of this happened in the past 4-5 weeks!! His other animals were at our place about 5 weeks total and it has been about a week since he took those over to his new place. His moving was a sudden and unplanned event thru some other circumstances that he could not help, he had exactly 45 days to find a new house and move everything he owned including livestock and all their pens and his 5 kids and wife. So he was building pens as fast as he could at the new place to move the animals and just didnt have hers done yet but we needed our barn space back because he has his own buck and ram and we had to split our barn in half to keep our buck and sheep away from his males.

The ear bite to the boar was about 5 weeks ago, the kid killing/eatting was 3 weeks ago, the killing of her piglets was two weeks ago, the sheep ear bite was last night. Honestly from what i have been told the boar bite is not out of norms for pigs, the goat kid was his and the piglets were an unknown event(no idea she was prego). So it was his pig and his animals, we just let it slide though we werent happy about it..that's when he said re-home her if we could and he would look too. Then the sheep ear bite and i said NO WAY, she is getting a bullet! We called him up and told him we put her in our pig pen by herself and put our pigs in our barn and he said " shoot her" before we could even tell him what had happened. So he knew she did something else and had, had enough too. He is coming to help process her tomorrow.

Don't blame you a bit for doing the deed with that one! Please let us know how she butchers out...I'd be interested in seeing carcass pictures if you feel like sharing that. Good luck with the processing.

Atm i am told she has been dealt with and is hanging on a gambrel in the machine shed. i am more then happy to get pictures for you guys...i even have a new camera i got like a month ago that will work nicely.

 

[secuono]

I've bred and raised some for dinner. But most here are mixed with miniatures, so they grow slooooooow and never get anywhere.
First was an adult boar, lived with another boar and a sow, no issues. Skinning him was rediculouse though. Rest were mixed ages, all small and all normal tasting, too.

Millions of people still breed and eat them, many of them in the USA, PBs and other "homestead" hog breeds, like Kune or AGH. A pig is a pig, is a pig! They all can make mini porkchops, bacon, sausage and whatnot.

 

[misfitmorgan]

I've bred and raised some for dinner. But most here are mixed with miniatures, so they grow slooooooow and never get anywhere.
First was an adult boar, lived with another boar and a sow, no issues. Skinning him was rediculouse though. Rest were mixed ages, all small and all normal tasting, too.

Millions of people still breed and eat them, many of them in the USA, PBs and other "homestead" hog breeds, like Kune or AGH. A pig is a pig, is a pig! They all can make mini porkchops, bacon, sausage and whatnot.

Thanks for the info, this one was already grow and over weight a lot. She is full pot belly pig as far as we know and so fat her belly would skim the ground if she wasnt on a flat surface.


On the picture front *sigh* DH started without me. I'm stuck at work and he texted me she was hung....then just now he texted a picture of lard in a bucket. i was like no i thought you were just hanging today, i need pictures!!!

So she is skinned and lard trimmed for the most part now. He said they are definately a lard pig but seem similar to any other pig after you trim off lard...which he wants to render and use for the poultry/cooking anyhow.

 

[Pastor Dave]

You might consider smoking her. It seems to put good flavor into other tough meat or other meat that might not otherwise taste as good.

 

[misfitmorgan]

We thought about it but we just moved onto the farm less then a year ago so we havnt built a smoker yet and there are way to many things to do to get one built in the next day or two.

 

[Latestarter]

The smoker will come in time, like most things. Just one more thing to look forward to