We butchered our last hog last February. When all the kids
were still at home we butchered both a cow and a pig each year. In the years
when we did not have a cow to butcher we would butcher 5 hogs. Pork kept our
family fed. We had ribs, pork chops, and steaks throughout the summer and in
the winter we had roasts and pork stew.
Pigs
can be kept in a pen or in a pasture. I like for my pigs to have access to a
pasture, but not be in the pasture 24 hours a day. Pigs can be hard on a
pasture by rooting up the pasture and creating large holes. They eat the roots
of plants and can quickly leave a pasture with nothing but the dirt showing.
Pigs
will need supplemental feed of grains such as corn, wheat, or oats. Also they
will need alfalfa meal, protein, and access to a salt and mineral block. Along
with the feeding costs we have to vaccinate against diseases and castrate male
pigs.
Pork is
my favorite meat because you can get a lot more edible meat out of the live
weight at slaughter time. If you use every part of a pig except the squeal, you’ve
used everything.
Here are some helpful links of when I butcher my pigs:
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