Tag: farming

Into the scald tank. Water 145 degrees which felt good on this cold morning. 

Working the hog back and forth during the scald to make sure that every area of skin was properly scalded.

Getting ready to come back out

 

Talking it through as the blood drains. You can see that it was a messy affair getting the pig on the hook by the mud on my face, which stayed there the rest of the day. I’ve learned now that students won’t always tell you when you’ve screwed up, better check the mirror occasionally. Of course darling SWMBO and the interns didn’t tell me either.Finishing up the bleed. The pig is stunned by the gunshot and knocked unconscious. Bleeding it is what actually kills the pig.

Miguel moving over to the scald tank. Although this was an “old-fashioned hog killing” we did utilize modern conveniences like a tractor and an electric hoist to make the work easier. It didn’t seem to take anything away from the process.

 

Get the hook in quickly so that we can hoist the hog in the air and bleed him properly. It took some muscle to hold him still while we worked.

Success. Now to wash the throat area off for the stick.

A successful stick. Part of the blood was given to Brent for blood sausage later in the day, part was taken to a friend who is a chef so that he can make the same thing.

 

And then it was time. 

The unpleasant part of this job. Especially when the first shot didn’t do the job. Turns out, after a postmortem  inspection that I shot too low on the forehead. No excuse and certainly not how you want to do it on class day. My shot was right between the eyes, it should have been about an inch or so higher. Of course the only time I’ve ever done this would be on class day. At least everyone saw how not to do it. 

A shot behind the ear did the trick. Now we can go to work.

 

A tour of the smoke house.

Intern Brian sharing how he managed the process of salting and smoking the hams this year. 

Intern John getting a fire going in the smoke house to demonstrate how we utilize the smoker. 

Our duck, looking on at all the strangers she doesn’t know.

 

Showing the walk in cooler that we built.

Demonstrating how hard it is to separate pigs just by unassisted methods. Hint, it doesn’t work. 

Intern John taking a break after a couple of laps with the pigs. We were getting the pig boards at this moment so he’s not slacking. Intern Brian and I, now working the pigs with our home-made pig boards. The difference in working the pigs was dramatic.

 

In addition to the hog killing itself, Brent Miller came and taught cooking and prep for various traditional killing day fare. The pate was yummy!

The walking tour. This is where we made it over to the cows and discussed cattle management and pasture rotation.

Owen, one of the ninja babies, came up to see what we were doing.

One of our roosters, keeping an eye on everyone.