These Little Piggies Take a Wagon Ride

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Butchering day finally arrived for our parent’s pigs. We told them what we were up to so they would be prepared to put a pig in their freezers and they wanted to help with butchering. We worked together to load the pigs nto the trailer to give these piggies a wagon ride to the butchering area.

Loading the Pigs

Loading the pigs into the trailer is always an adventure. We had a split trailer that allowed us to load both pigs into the trailer at the same time. At the time I didn’t quite understand why it was so important to load both pigs. Later when butchering progressed so smoothly with no messy interruptions to load the second pig, I could appreciate Philip’s plan.

First Stop for the Piggies Wagon Ride: A Good Bath

The advantage of the trailer is we can easily move the pigs where we need. First stop is to give the pigs a bath before butchering. A good bath makes for a much better butchering experience, clean areas and clean meat.

Seeing the Process Through

Since my daughter Faith Nelson had helped catch the white pig, Philip offered her the opportunity to see the process through. With Philips help, Faith actually dispatched the pig and was completely immersed in the butchering process. I was so proud of her willingness to follow through. I grew up raising our own animals for meat. My kids did not and I’m so thrilled she’s jumped in and is willing to learn.

We do skin our pigs, which is just our preference. Some people remove all the hair and preserve the skin.

You can get the bacon cure recipe we use in the recipe section.