How to slaughter a pig at home: preparation, slaughter process, useful tips

The final stage - the slaughter of an animal - is a difficult and unpleasant moment for a beginner pig breeder. When figuring out how to slaughter a pig yourself, you need to carefully study the process and personally visit the slaughter several times to understand the nuances.

Preparing for slaughter

Before slaughtering a pig, a number of preparatory steps must be taken to help avoid mistakes. Including, you need:

1. Invite a veterinarian to examine the animal and obtain the document required for the subsequent sale of meat.
2. Find an oblong, inflexible knife with a sharpened blade, a burner for processing a carcass of a pig, a cutting surface, reliable ropes, containers for blood and rags.
3. Half a day before killing a pig, they stop feeding it and give it exclusively to drink. This helps to cleanse the animal's intestines and improve the quality of the pork. Also, a small hunger strike will make it easier to lure the cattle out of the barn by offering any feed.

Select period and time

In the summer, pigs are slaughtered early in the morning, while there is a slight coolness and flies are not active. Keep in mind that the process will take a couple of hours if all the work is done by one person.

If there is a covered area, it is allowed to kill a pig and butcher the carcass even with heavy rainfall. In winter, you can slaughter an animal regardless of the time.

A significant nuance when choosing the time of slaughtering a pig is the physical condition of the animal. If the pig is in heat, then it will be necessary to calculate 2 weeks after the last heat. You should not start the procedure earlier, as certain hormones in the blood of the animal will impair the taste of pork.

Slaughter process

There are several methods for slaughtering pigs. In order not to impair the quality and taste of meat products, you need to choose the appropriate method of slaughtering the animal, taking into account your own skills and capabilities.

In the neck

So that the pig does not suffer much, and the quality of the meat remains good, you can stab the animal into the carotid artery. This method is considered the safest and simplest, therefore it is more suitable in the absence of practical experience. For slaughter, the pig is fixed upside down and a deep container is placed under the bottom to drain the blood. A puncture is made behind the ear, stepping back 2-3 cm. The animal is cut with a sharpened knife and turned on its side, trying to press it more tightly to the surface. As the blood bleeds, the death of the pig comes. As a rule, the method of slaughter in the neck is used for miniature breeds.

In the heart

Before cutting the pig, it is laid on its side and securely fixed by the legs, or third-party assistance is used to hold the animal in a motionless position.Armed with an oblong thin knife with a blade of 30 cm, they prick the pig between the third and fourth ribs, where the animal's heart is located. The blade is left in the animal until the pig calms down, after which it is wiped with a clean cloth.

Use of firearms

In rare situations, weapons are used to slaughter livestock at home. The method is suitable for hunters, since sufficient accuracy is required when shooting a pig. A miss will frighten the animal and provoke the production of substances that degrade the quality of the meat product.

You don't have to tie the pig up - just lure it into range.

You can first stun the animal with a sledgehammer, which simplifies the work when slaughtering a large male on your own. They kill a pig with a single shot in the forehead. With an accurate hit, the animal will die quickly, and it will be more humane than cutting the throat or piercing the artery.At the same time, experienced farmers try to avoid the use of weapons and correctly slaughter the pig with a sledgehammer and a sharp blade.

Stun gun

The need to stun an animal with a stun gun arises with large sizes of boars, which are often very active. The boar is gently hit with a shocker, and then rolled on its side and slaughtered by a puncture in the heart or carotid artery.

Piglets

Sometimes a pig is slaughtered at an early age, from a few months old. Such pigs are called milk pigs, and their meat is considered softer and more tasty. In some situations, it is more profitable to slaughter young piglets, since their further rearing and care will not be economically viable. For example, the Vietnamese breed is always slaughtered at the age of three months.

No extra help needed to slaughter a suckling pig.

It will be difficult to cope on your own only if the weight of the animal exceeds 20 kg. The piglet is placed sideways on the prepared surface and a puncture is made on the neck, after which the carcass is butchered. It is not necessary to pre-stun the animal, since it is easier to slaughter a small pig than a large male. Piglets are weaker and cannot offer significant resistance. If the animals show great activity or lack of experience, slaughter is carried out according to the standard rules, as in adults.

Bleeding

An important piece of advice for beginner pig breeders is to bleed the pigs. The presence of blood in the meat has a bad effect on its quality, gives a sharp taste and provokes accelerated spoilage. To avoid negative consequences, you should try to bleed the pig as much as possible after slaughter. If the slaughter method is used by puncturing the carotid artery in a vertical state, then most of the blood comes out of the carcass of the animal.

If a pig has been slaughtered by a heart puncture, blood clots will accumulate in the chest cavity. It is opened and the accumulated blood is scooped out with any suitable device, and the clots are removed with a rag or napkin. In order for the blood to flow out of the animal better, it is recommended to hang the carcass by the legs and leave it hanging for 5-10 minutes. Collected blood does not have to be thrown away, as it can be used to cook some types of sausages and various dishes.

Skinning

After bleeding the cattle, they proceed to basic processing. The skin of the pig is singed to blackness to eliminate the stiff bristles. To do this, the entire surface of the carcass is treated with a blowtorch, first on one side, then on the second. Firing is carried out evenly so that an even dark layer is formed. It is important not to hold the blowtorch in one position for too long to prevent cracking of the leather.

The belly is burned less intensely than the reverse side, since the skin on the belly of cattle is tender and cracks more easily. In case of damage, subsequent cleaning becomes more difficult and the presentation of the carcass deteriorates. Experienced pig breeders roast the skins with straw, which gives the meat products an unusual taste. For this purpose, the slaughtered and bled animal is covered with clean straw without foreign elements and set on fire.

After firing, the carcass must be thoroughly washed and cleaned. To simplify the procedure, the carcass is placed under a dense fabric and poured with boiling water. As a result, the skin is steamed, and it becomes easier to clean it. The fabric is left on the carcass for 5-7 minutes, after which carbon deposits and dirt are carefully cleaned with a blunt knife. When cleaning, it is important not to violate the integrity of the thin skin. In order to more effectively remove pollution, the carcass is constantly poured with water, and before cutting it is wrapped in cloth and allowed to steam well.As a result, the skin softens and is easier to cut.

Cutting

The cutting process is performed in a certain sequence to avoid violating the integrity of the gallbladder and bladder and not to hurt the internal organs. The sequence of actions is as follows:

• cut off the head and cut out an apron on the abdomen;
• cut through the sternum in the central part, feel for the esophagus, tie its end and pull it out of the carcass;
• removing the heart, diaphragm, lungs, intestines and stomach;
• pull out the liver and cut off the gallbladder;
• remove all fat, cut off kidneys and discard bladder;
• wipe the carcass with dry rags from the outside.

Useful tips for beginners

For inexperienced farmers, slaughtering a pig is a difficult test, so it is important to consider a number of tips.Before slaughter, it is recommended to stun the cattle. A puncture is easier to do on the neck than in the heart. The strike between the ribs is more suitable for professionals. Before stabbing, it is better to see how professional farmers perform the procedure, since theoretical knowledge is not enough to prevent all problems and understand the intricacies. If a person is not mentally ready, then it is better to entrust the slaughter to specialists.

Pork storage after slaughter

For long-term storage of meat products after slaughter, favorable conditions must be provided. If necessary, store pork for up to three to six months, the meat is frozen. The disadvantage of this method is a decrease in nutritional value and a change in taste characteristics.

You can also store meat in the refrigerator at a temperature of 0 to -2 degrees. Pork will retain its taste, but the shelf life will be no more than 12 days. As a container for meat, it is better to take plastic, glass or enameled dishes.It is not recommended to store products in plastic bags.

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