When I get home tonight, I will post some pictures/story of cooking a pig from livestock sale to dinner table. How in depth would everyone like me to go? I can show/tell everything or just the cooking part.
I'm pretty interested in the whole thing. I'm not sure I have the stomach to do a whole pig, so your photos should help me figure that out.
All the gritty details. This, of course, coming from a guy who is proud of how fast he can field dress a whitetail buck.
Well, I'm having difficulty with the pictures right now, so I will start with the backstory.... Every month we have a party for a wrestling PPV (if you think we are redneck -- just wait. The pictures and stories will certainly prove that out.) With this being one of the big 4 PPVs, we decided to have a big party this month with swimming, washers, horseshoes, and smoking a whole pig. I had contemplated roasting a whole hog in a cinder block oven, but I was convinced by my friend that smoking it would be better. He loaned me his smoker on wheels to do the job. I started calling butcher shops in the area, and I was getting quoted 2.99/lb. for a hog carcass that had been gutted and the hair had been removed. Knowing that I would need an 80 lb. carcass (at least) for the amount of people that were coming over, I knew I needed to change plans. I like this people, but not enough to spend $240 on a main course. So, I called another buddy with my dilemma, and he told me that I should go to the livestock sale and see what a live pig was selling for. We have a dog run that is 50X10, with an opening into an old shed, so I knew we had the space. I wasn't sure what type of pig to get or how much they cost, so I did a little research at the auction's website. It seemed that pigs in the size I wanted were going for about .50/lb. Now, I was told by my ag (New Mexico State Ag) buddy that you could figure on 2/3rds yield. So, a 120lb. pig would be 80 pounds of meat. At least I think that is what he meant. He loans me his goat cage that goes into the back of the truck, and we head out for the livestock sale that is about 45 miles away. I walk into the livestock sale, and I instantly know that I could wear my rattiest clothes and I could still be the classiest guy in the place, and I can get pretty redneck when I want. Hog farmers seemed to be a little more "earthy" than your normal farmer. I realize I'm out of my element and a little confused, so I start up a conversation with a guy next to me about what I'm wanting. He promises to help me out. The sale starts and they start running pigs through like it is a redneck Pamplona. I'm struggling to keep up, but I do notice one thing. The males have a massive, and I mean MASSIVE set of nuts. That is, unless they have been "cut". I'm finding it hard from my vantage point to check for the pig dingus on the bottom in the 3 seconds they are running wild around the ring. So, a sow and a barrow look the same to me. For the record, sows cost more per pound than a barrow, because they have the ability to spout out piglets. So, my buddy tells me that this barrow is one that I would like. I get him after a furious battle for .45/lb. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself, and my wife is ready to leave. I convince her that we could get another one to eat later. So, a boar (still packing massive nuts) comes by and I get him for .42/lb. I think I paid about 97 dollars for two pigs at the end of the night. I pull my truck around to load up, and realize I'm in over my head. Fortunately, they had some workers to help me load them into the back of my truck. We get them home, let them out, chase them into the dog run, and I give them some food (in a low watering pan) and some crap we have left over in the fridge. After talking to some "experts", I'm told that I can either eat the one with the nuts now before he gets to big, or I can cut the one with the nuts, and eat him later. FYI, you don't want to eat a boar over 150 or 200 lbs. The meat doesn't taste as good -- so I'm told. We decide to eat the one with the nuts at the party (a week and a half away), and fatten up the barrow for processing later on. I must admit that I actually like being a pig farmer. The upkeep and maintenance was pretty easy. When it was hot, we made sure they had a mud hole and they had water. We also sprayed them down, and they liked that a lot. I was impressed with their intelligence. They are no black Lab, but they are not the Dexter Manley's of the animal world either. My kids and I became attached to them, so I named them Bacon and Sausage, in case they had any ideas about their eternal destination. Over the next week, we continued to feed them, and I was amazed at how much weight they put on. We bought hog feed from the store ($9 for a 50lb. bag), and we gave them scraps from the table each night. They ate everything. Caesar salad, fried chicken, stems and cores from jalapenos, etc. They didn't care. We benefited from our neighbor cutting his corn field. We went and gleaned the corners for an hour one night and pulled off 150 ears of corn or so. I was enjoying it so much that I went and bought two more pigs the next week. Knowing that Bacon (which my daughter renamed Gary) would be meeting his maker in 2 days, I felt I needed to replenish my herd. Up next...the kill and butchering process.
Redneck Pamplona. Great stuff. I was already interested prior to the backstory, but now I can't wait to see Bacon and sausage.
This is already better than half the movies I've seen this year. Watch as Sausage and Bacon fight for their lives. Will Coachkiss' daughter and Gary become entangled in forbidden love? Whose blood will be spilled when all is said and done? Why do people watch wrestling? Tune in next week for the next exciting chapter!
AWESOME!!!! Reminds of when I was a kid my dad and his friends would slaughter a couple hogs every year. They always did it in the winter so the tempurature of the meat could chill out in the cold because we didn't have a fridge or icechest that big. Good luck!
A buddy of mine drove to Manor to pick up a pig for his smoker. There was much beer drinking on the way back to Buda. When he got home, the piggy was gone. He backtracked along his route and found it. Someone found him and tied him to a fence near Adam's Extract on 1626. He was a bit skinned up due to his egress from the vehicle. But he was still delicious.
As the legal representative of Wilber, Arnold and Hogzilla, I may have to request a cease and desist order on these pictures.
Quick update... I had internet issues due to heavy rains last night. I will try to update everything tonight.
im just glad he wasnt the one posting stadium updates this summer. oh well, im still anxiously awaiting. we used to roast pigs on a spit at camp outs when i was a kid, havent done it in a long time though.
