Each year over thanksgiving week my family butchers 2 hogs and a steer. The attached q-view is how we process hogs.
We start by killing the hogs and taking off the head. Then we use a propane weed burner to burn the hair off the hog (it's quicker than scalding and a take on the tradition of cooking hogs in a buried pit).
We then brush/scrub off the soot from the hog and take it to be washed off by the pressure washer.
From there we start splitting the hog down the center with a knife and use a saw to cut throuth the sternum (cartilage between the two sides of ribs) and the front of the hips.
We then hoist the hog to roll out the inards.
After the inards are out, we split the hog using a splitting saw down the back of the spine.
From that we wash out the two sides again.
Then we hang the meat in the walkin freezer.
When the meat cools, we split the front shoulder from the rest of the hog by cutting above the third rib.
We skin the front third.
We then cut the pork hocks from the front.
We cut through the picnic as we generally use this as grinding pork or roasts as we need that.
Whats left is the butt roast.
We take out the ribs and vertabrae and package for smoking.
Then we roll out the tenderloin from the back of the rib section.
Then we seperate the middle section from the hind section between the 5th and the 7th vertabrae.
Then we mark the line between the ribs/bacon and the chops from the mid section before we cut this.
The Pork Chop Section
The ribs bacon section
We then roll out the ribs
Ribs
Bacon
We then trim the fat and skin off of the chop section.
Then we cut the chops.
We then trim up the back leg.
We then cut the hocks from the back leg
We then cut the rest for roasts. If you wanted hams about here is where you would leave the rest in one piece.
Roasts.
We then grind the trimmings for ground pork and sausage (sorry didn't get a pork pick so had to use a beef pic but the idea and process is the same.)
I will finish with the sausage making in a different thread titled Thanksgiving Sausage. Thanks for looking.
We start by killing the hogs and taking off the head. Then we use a propane weed burner to burn the hair off the hog (it's quicker than scalding and a take on the tradition of cooking hogs in a buried pit).
We then brush/scrub off the soot from the hog and take it to be washed off by the pressure washer.
From there we start splitting the hog down the center with a knife and use a saw to cut throuth the sternum (cartilage between the two sides of ribs) and the front of the hips.
We then hoist the hog to roll out the inards.
After the inards are out, we split the hog using a splitting saw down the back of the spine.
From that we wash out the two sides again.
Then we hang the meat in the walkin freezer.
When the meat cools, we split the front shoulder from the rest of the hog by cutting above the third rib.
We skin the front third.
We then cut the pork hocks from the front.
We cut through the picnic as we generally use this as grinding pork or roasts as we need that.
Whats left is the butt roast.
We take out the ribs and vertabrae and package for smoking.
Then we roll out the tenderloin from the back of the rib section.
Then we seperate the middle section from the hind section between the 5th and the 7th vertabrae.
Then we mark the line between the ribs/bacon and the chops from the mid section before we cut this.
The Pork Chop Section
The ribs bacon section
We then roll out the ribs
Ribs
Bacon
We then trim the fat and skin off of the chop section.
Then we cut the chops.
We then trim up the back leg.
We then cut the hocks from the back leg
We then cut the rest for roasts. If you wanted hams about here is where you would leave the rest in one piece.
Roasts.
We then grind the trimmings for ground pork and sausage (sorry didn't get a pork pick so had to use a beef pic but the idea and process is the same.)
I will finish with the sausage making in a different thread titled Thanksgiving Sausage. Thanks for looking.
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