We butchered our last domestic sow today. The long day started at 7 this morning when we set up and I just took a shower and sat down to take a break. The Old Bauldy Hog scald didn't work. The pig needs to be dipped for it to work and there was no way to dip a 400+ sow here. We skinned her which is easy to do anyway. This is the first time we haven't cleaned the feet and the head out. We chose the easy path and threw away a lot of pork but there was no way two of us could do the job in one day the way we usually do. My neighbors have nbot shown themselves in two weeks. They got one of our sows in exchange for helping us with this one no more of that barter crap for me. I took some measurements and a photo I will post when I get some energy. Tomorrow we will portion out the carcass, pack, and freeze. Can't chill for more since we are in a very hot time. We cut in large sections and have those on ice- don't have a refrigerator large enough for all the pork. If some of you were close by, I'd share the bounty with you. She was a good sow. Shame she couldn't be bred but she recieved plenty of blessing today and it went smoothly.
Afriend of mine sells a lot of pigs to the Hmongs. They scald with a propane blow torch, and a hose. They burn off the hair, and slightly singe the skin, then run water over it while scraping. Comes out slick as a whistle.
GeorgeK their was a article in Countryside sometime ago about using hay to burn the hair off of pigs. I've been wanting to try it and hope to here in about 3 more weeks. Sure sounds a lot simpler than scraping.
Scraping isn't really difficult once one has the water temperature and timing down. It requires some trial and error and practice, like a lot of things. I dipped parts of the hog in the Old Baldy yesterday and it worked like a charm. I cut off the exposed flesh afterward.
