What are your views on this farmhouse reunion?

Question

a group of housewives go on a holiday to a holiday farmhouse and by sharing the cost, they buy a pig for a feast.

Will it be considered cruel if they actually get together and kill/butcher the pig themselves for it's pork?

please no jokes just good honest answers!

Answer 1

HAHAHAHA.....I'd like to SEE a group of housewives butcher a pig!  My husband and I have been raising our own food for years.  We butcher the "smaller" animals ourselves.  Sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens, turkey, ect.

For the larger stock, we would ALWAYS call a professional butcher, who comes to our farm, and butcher the animals here.  So cattle, and pigs would always have a professional butcher called.

It's a very high priority for us that the animals NOT suffer.  We want quick, clean kills, with as little stress and trauma to the animal as possible.

How are these housewives going to kill the pig?  How large is this pig going to be?  Do they have any idea how to gut?  Do they realize that their pig is NOT going to taste like the ham, and bacon they are use to, without first having cured and seasoned the meat?  Do they know that pigs are dipped into vats of boiling water, to scald them, so all the bristles can be scraped off them?

If they plan to kill it any other way, besides a clean shot to the head, they will s***w up, and the pig will die a horrible death.

They are going to have a huge pile of guts they will not have a clue what to do with.

They probably will not have a clue how to properly cook an entire pig, or cut it up and cure the meat.

They will probably overflow any vat of hot water, and scald their own feet if they manage to get so far as killing the pig.

However here's what I think would actually happen.  Pigs are terrifically strong, with a very low center of gravity.  They will bring their prize back to the farmhouse, and try to remove it from whatever they carried it in.  The pig will set up it's eardrum shattering squeeling, struggle violently, and be FREE!   Then little piggy will scamper for the nearest woods, where it will live a very happy life as a feral pig.

~Garnet

Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

Answer 2

I think you are pulling our leg.  As a child we butchered our own hogs and trust me, it is a BIG job and needs to be done by those who know how, and when, during the coldest time of the year, to do it.  When you say housewives, I immediately laugh.  You have some good suggestions here, mine are too far in the past.

Answer 3

It is not impossible to butcher a hog yourself if you know how.  If you have no experience I wouldn't recommend it though.  We ususally just make whole pork sausage, keep the loins and thats about it.  If you want chops, hams, etc it is a whole lot simpler to go to a butcher.  Just ask around for a good packing plant, because some are not as good about getting you back the right meat as others.  You can take the hog but sometimes they will not kill for you, you may actually have to kill the hog on site of the packing plant.  But if you do decide you want to do this yourself, DO NOT DO IT IN THE HOUSE!!!.  Outside in a big area like a shop or garage with lots of room to work and set up all your stations before hand like butchering weighing and packing areas.  Also we kill our hogs in the evening and let them hang overnight (usually from the tractor forks) and always in cold weather because the meat doesn't take long to go bad.  

If you just want to barbecue the hog it is even harder because the best is if you clean the hog and leave it whole.  A lot of hard work for women or men.  I always make my husband do it and want no part!

Answer 4

I don't know many housewives that would be willing to kill the pig themselves. Are they going to have a pig roast or just parts of the pig

to have over the time period of their stay?

Or is the "pig" a metaphor for an ex husband?  LOL

just kidding.

Anyway, I would have it done by a butcher, easier, less messy and they can enjoy the piggie without all the hastle. And the butcher may be able to suggest some to roast the little guy.