Tuesday, May 27, 2014

SSC (Swine Summer Camp)

So we now have a pig.

But our pig doesn't live with us. We decided that she would have more fun spending the summer with other pigs at pig camp. This camp touts a large yard where she can run free, play flash light tag and do a ropes course and zip line (not pictured).  They also serve organic sides in addition to the daily menu of grain.  And! The pig gets to sleep in an A-frame cabin with all her piggy buddies.



 our pig is on the left

We weren't too sure about the co-ed sleeping arrangements at first but seeing as this is her only summer (ever)....

Did I just write that?

Okay.  Well, the real(er) story is that we have some wonderful neighbors who wanted to get pigs and heard that we had talked about it in the past.  They have a super, fenced in yard that used to be a large garden connected to a smaller yard with a A-frame shed where our previous neighbor kept Ham (a pig).  Our neighbors help out at a vegetable farm where they have access to organic vegetable seconds which can be brought home to supplement the pigs' feed.

How perfect is all of that?!


So we occasionally walk over and visit our pig although we don't want to get close.  She's a 50 pound cross between a Yorkshire and a Hampshire.  And pigs can be quite dangerous as they get larger.  Ham was 455 pounds at the end of his life.


The big question remains.  Once she's ready for butchering will we do it ourselves (with the help of a friend who has done it before) or have it done?  Have you ever butchered your own pig?  And if so, would you recommend it?

Also, she has yet to receive a name.  If you feel strongly about a good pig name, make yourself (and the name) known. Pin It

20 comments:

  1. As the wife of a hog farmer, I can tell you that we always have our pigs processed for us. For all the time, cutting, smoking, wrapping, etc. we find it worth the price to hire it done.

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  2. Summer camp for the family pig...Love it!!

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  3. I was in FFA in high school in the city no less. I raised hogs that entire time and really enjoyed it. My first two hogs I named Champagne and Xavier, I had wanted to name them ham and bacon. We butchered/dressed on the farm and then took the meat to a local meat cutter/butcher. If your able to have the hams and bacon sugar cured , I highly suggest it! There are also many choices for breakfast sausage and cased sausage, if the eye of loin will be Canadian bacon. I wish you well in this endeavor! Carroll <3

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  4. We got two pigs last week. Named them Pork and Beans :)

    We also get ours processed for us. Worth it in our opinions, tho I do think it would be a great learning experience at some point.

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  5. I had a pig named Millie, but my brother persisted in calling her Bacon or Breakfast. Good luck!

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  6. Growing up in Europe my family used to grow and butcher our own pigs. Some of my siblings still do this themselves. Where I live I can't have a pig on my property but we usually buy from a local farmer who does the butchering, cleans the hair off and gives us the pig in quarters. We get the pig early in the morning and spend the day processing it. We freeze some of the meat and we make sausages and bacon that are smoked the second day. Some of the meat and bones is salt cured It is labor intensive but can be done. Best of luck to you.

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  7. Friends of ours raised a pig for us last year, and his name was Barabbas. Your li'l piggie looks more like a Petunia... :)

    At processing time, they were taken to professional butchers who did an amazing job, and the sausage that came back was quite easily the best we ever had.

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  8. this post really cracked me up! Lucky you, to have your own bacon. I'm not sure I could name the animal I intended to eat. I'll be curious to see how this goes for you.

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  9. You should read the beginning of Little House in the Big Woods - bladder balloons, smoking, sounds like fun. I would also struggle to name it if I knew I would eat it - You may end up in a Wilbour situation where she ends up as a Show Pig vs a Food Pig.
    My dad was a hunter, and he would clean the deer, but would always take the meet to the butcher to be processed. He'd make his own sausage, and I remember the house smelling like meet for days after. And occassionally we'd find interesting pieces in the freezer. It makes for family memories to say the least.
    Keep us posted, living in the City makes it hard to do this ourselves, but living vicariously through your stories is a close second!

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  10. We have no pigs. Good luck with yours. She is so pink...how about Pinklet?

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  11. Are you familiar with the blog Reformation Acres? She has included lots of helpful info about hog butchering there. (http://www.reformationacres.com/p/homestead-hog-butchering.html)

    Enjoy that meat - I'm sure it will be delicious! :)

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  12. We keep talking about adding a pig to our menagerie but haven't yet. We would probably send it out to be processed, but we also like to learn how to do it ourselves. I would probably make the sausage myself, just because I have always wanted to learn how. Then again, we are empty-nesters, so our time is a little less taken up with schooling and child-rearing these days!

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  13. My husband's family had a couple of pigs when he was growing up. His dad named them Pork and Chop so they wouldn't forget that they were going to be dinner, not pets.

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  14. I wouldn't name it Wilbur. There might be a crafty spider in the A-frame who just so happens to save his life :) BTW, I'm completely jealous. I would live on pig meat if I could.

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  15. We had Wilbur and Toni one summer and loved it. I'm sad you can't get close because ours were incredibly sociable and gentle. We paid for the butchering and processing because it was worth it to us.

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  16. What an absolutely perfect camp for your pig (and friends)! Pork raised so naturally will be the best you've ever tasted.

    Our last two pigs were Zeke and Pearl . . . cause they are old-time names and raising your own pork surely harkens back to days gone by. We had ours butchered, but if/when we do it again, a good friend has offered to do it in his facilities and we'll take him up on it 'cause we should learn all about it and he really knows what he's doing.

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  17. Awww. She is a precious little thing! good luck.

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  18. How wonderful to have a place for your pig to grow and play and thrive....until that day. I cannot help but think of "Charlotte's Web" when I read that this would be her only summer...too funny. Hmmm...I agree with the others who mentioned that naming the pig might make it a little harder to eat...unless the name is of the food variety. :) My friend raises cows and there was one in particular that was so ornery that they enjoyed eating her!! I hope you enjoy your pig while she's here and when she's your meat. Many Blessings, Camille

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  19. You are really going to give her a name and then slaughter her? Maybe you should just call her "the pig".

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  20. We always butchered pigs when I was a kid. But it's a huge deal, and requires a vast amount of equipment, know-how and man-power. It was a family affair for us-at least 6 adults and it still took days from start to finish. That said, Butchering Day is at the top of the list of favorite family memories. The smells, the food, the togetherness....if I could do one day of my childhood over, it would absolutely be a butchering day. Maybe if you really want to experience it, you could ask around and offer to help out/hang around at someone else's hog-butchering, and have yours sent out. The best of both worlds.

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Just a friendly reminder, if you know me personally please try to refrain from using my name. There are those who may try to locate me, break into my pantry and steal my pickled beets. Thanks:-).

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