Going for the Sow (Mama Pig) + other piggy notes

Ludi

I haven't been able to find any info on how long lard will store,but most references I skimmed say keep in dark, cool, and airtight. Some say put it in the freezer, others say then it will get "freezer flavor." Some say sealed in airtight containers (such as canning jars) in the fridge or in a cool cellar.

Most info I could find is from "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" by Carla Emery.

Hope this helps some.
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Pops

Thanks Ludi, I found mostly the same.

I'll work on this a little and report back, unless someone else can chime in...
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careinke

Pops,

The guy who slaughtered my pigs said to freeze it after you render it. He has been raising and slaughtering for about twenty five years, so I figure he knows what he is doing.

He also said the key to rendering is to do it sloooooowwwww.

Cliff (Start a rEVOLution, grow a garden)

Pops

Thanks for the info Care, we'll try the slow cooker and freeze.
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SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 881

We put an old basketball in the pen with our pigs and that gave them hours an hours of amusement. It also made it hard for the wife to see them get trailered down the road to the butcher.

We fed our hogs morning and night and nothing but a few scraps in between. It was the way my dad fed pigs and it works better than free choice in my opinion. Free choice wastes feed and gives you a fat hog. I carried our last hogs into the pen by the back leg in may and by sept they both dressed out at around 190lbs each. The butcher told me they were perfect. That was my first experience raising pigs on my own. I'm not sure I'd do it again because there was just too much meat to eat! If I do it again I'll definitely set up a sale of half the meat to someone. After all the expenses of trucking, slaughter and processing I know I didn't save any money but I did gain experience, and a big pile of manure for the garden. Someday I hope to have a place setup to do my own slaughter. Rebuilding a farm never happens fast enough.

In my experience from the old days when we actually got lard from our slaughtered hogs, it would keep seemingly forever. We always had more lard than we knew what to do with so we'd give some away but I remember having lard that was a few years old on the shelf still tasting fine when we cut it into flour for pies.

Lumpy

Okay, today was the day. Went and picked up three weaner pigs - about 10 weeks old.

Two shoats (boys) and a gilt (girl).

The males will be raised for about four or five months, up to a good slaughter weight. One for home eating -- one for selling to the neighbor. (One black/white, one brown - cleverly named Blackie and Brownie -- since the names for them are for the purpose of referencing them only -- they won't be around long enough to merit "real" names.)

The female will be the brood sow. (She got a "real" name - Naiobi - since she will be around for some years, if all goes well.)

It was a painful (wrenched my back/neck) challenge getting them out of the back of the truck, where they rode for an hour under an old, big, heavy apple box. But we managed, and now they are in their lovely 'pig palace'.

URGENT QUESTION: Some one may have covered this earlier, but I missed it ... and NEED HELP NOW, PLEASE!!!!!

Has anyone here castrated their own pigs? If so, how?

Guy we got them from said we should do so ASAP ... like tomorrow.

HELP!!!!!!!!

Lumpy
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Lumpy

Sorry - double post.

Lumpy
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careinke

Mine were all castrated when we got them. I watched my friend do one back when I was in college, but that was in 1972 and I don't remember much about it. Sorry.

Cliff (Start a revolution, grow a garden)

Pops

It seems much like a bull calf and according to this site should be done with anesthesia after 5 week - I guess a piglet under 5 weeks has no feelings...

More likely an older pig has the potential to hurt the operator.
http://www.thepigsite.com/pighealth/article/551/castration-of-the-normal-pig

Kinda scary if you are squeamish. When I do cut calves (I usually use a bander) I use one of those razor knives with the 4" blade made to be snapped off at 1/2" intervals. The hard part is pulling the testicles though. if you cut the artery instead of pulling them till they snap they will bleed and bleed.

That's why I use a bander on calves.

Don't give me grief people, it happened to your Sausage McBiscuit.
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Ludi

http://www.fao.org/docrep/T0690E/t0690e06.htm#unit%2033:%20castrating%20piglets

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AN025

I would suggest you get your vet out to help you the first time.
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Ludi

http://fiascofarm.com/goats/buck-wether-info.htm#neutering
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Pops

Hot Diggety Damn!

Rendered the lard from Miss Piggy (got a little over 2 coffee cans worth) and Susan made a peach pie today with it.

Best dang crust I've ever had!

Surprised

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CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1394

Nothing better than lard in pie crusts, Pops. Even if I have to get it store bought, I never use anything else.

How difficult was it to render the fat? I know the process basically, but as with most things, I doubt it's as easy as it sounds - and I've never done it (yet).

Kathy

Pops

I was gonna post some pics but didn't get around.

I went at it like this:
We had ground stuff from the butcher and I crumbled it up in Susan's 8 quart electric cooker (like a crock pot but with a metal liner..... it's called a Rival Roaster Oven) - we started at around 300* and moved down from there

BTW, I tried it with and without water for the initial heating and it turns out 2 or 3 coffee cups of water to 4 or 5 quarts of fat really helps things progress

After a time the added water boils off and the water in the fat does too - be careful at this stage you don't get the fat too hot or bad and/or very bad things might happen - if you are using an open flame with a double boiler you should be double careful.

Once you see the liquid lard start to float and can tell the water is about boiled off it's time to filter out the solids

We used a regular flour sifter as our first filter and squished the solids out with a ladle onto one of those fine mesh splatter screens (sold to cover a skillet) as the final filter over a big bowl to catch the liquid lard

When that cooled some (but was still warm liquid) we added warm water at about 1 part water to 2 parts lard and then whisked it real good, let it set at air temp a while to separate (I think the remaining solids congeal with the water and settle out) and then stuck it in the fridge.

Next morning, we cut the now separated lard into chunks, lifted it off the top of the water, scrapped the fine solids off the bottom of each chunk and tossed the now clarified lard chunks back into the (cleaned) cooker for a final short boil and after letting it cool some, poured it into containers leaving the last of the solids behind.

All the solids and water we had left over made us good buddies with every dog, cat and chicken on the place!

Seems kind of long when I type it but basically it's just render, filter, clarify and store.

Thanks to Cliff (careinke) for the advice!
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Shannymara · Master Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 5389 Location: Oklahoma

Thanks, Pops! Added that post to my archives (including my hard copy) in case we decide to do pigs sometime.

How did it smell when you were processing it?
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