Preparing for Pork

I've mentioned the pigs.  Not to be disrectful of them, but their time is going short.  I've been spending some time thinking about what must be done to prepare for harvest.

David says he expects each of them to be larger than 325 pounds.  It's pretty amazing to think that he's got the better part of a half ton of pork on his hands right now.  But all will be settled soon.

Last night, I placed an order for some butchering knives with Cabela's...spending about $120 on a set of three: an 11-inch cimeter, a 108-inch straight butchering knife, and a 6-inch stiff boning knife (typical manly error that, adding two inches to the size of that knife).  Looking at these knives (the white handled ones in the photo) I probably should have invested in the cut-proof glove as well...I still might do that. That was a bit of an investment - I suppose it means I will likely be part of this again sometime.

Turning from the practicalities of getting there to the ultimate goal of filling the freezer, David recently walked me through what I could expect as far as meat production goes.  Here is a photo sampling some of the output: 

• loin roast
• sausage (bulk)
• bacon

This represents something like only 5% of the total output of the pig - which led to some further concerns on logistics.  There will likely be 20 times this much food at the end of the day, and some of the cuts will be fairly difficult to handle - the hams, the shoulder roasts, and the ribs. 

We are still in discussions about whether we'll buy casings and make link sausages.  And given that there is going to be a lot of scrapple...a LOT of scrapple - maybe 25 pounds, I have been recruiting some Alexandria neighbors to take some.  So far, three takers.

Mary and I have got to get started making room in the freezer.  Fortunately, we're splitting the take with Chris.