How to kill pigs

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Mary Ann's Rabbitry

Mary Ann's Rabbitry

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I just had my pigs , tore apart my laying hen and eat her... I am pissed.. So I am going to kill them this weekend.. I have never done this before.. I always brought them to the abbitior .. So , can I use a .22 on them.. then I scaled them like a chicken .. ???
 
A gunshot can be a good way to kill a pig, but I'd be wary of using a .22, depending on the size of the animal. Swine have thick skulls -- a .22 may do the job, but such a small caliber round might not make it through and instead ricochet off the skull. I personally know of at least one instance in which this happened.

The AVMA's euthanasia guidelines have a really handy diagram of where to shoot if using a gun to dispatch a pig. Check out page 59 of this document: https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Docume ... anasia.pdf.
 
Not embedding. Extremely graphic content not for the faint of stomach.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OQ90cKZoM4

We had to put down a sow who had aborted and retained her litter. Hubs used a .45. Unfortunately, pigs seem to know when you're coming to kill them. She put up quite a fuss and attacked him (and I cried a lot). When we intend to slaughter, we're going to be prepared with a grazing pen. Place pig in pen, allow it to root/graze to calm down from being moved, then just walk over to do the deed without much fanfare.

You can either scald or skin. If you scald, you do it before you gut. We're going to try scalding next time. Potbellies aren't too large, so we can get away with a smaller tank. "Normal" pigs...idk. I'd probably go for skinning. You'd need a BIG tank.

Also, get a gambrel and winch for when it's time to clean them.
 
Birds Buns N Bees":yoovanpu said:
A gunshot can be a good way to kill a pig, but I'd be wary of using a .22, depending on the size of the animal. Swine have thick skulls -- a .22 may do the job, but such a small caliber round might not make it through and instead ricochet off the skull. I personally know of at least one instance in which this happened.

The AVMA's euthanasia guidelines have a really handy diagram of where to shoot if using a gun to dispatch a pig. Check out page 59 of this document: https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Docume ... anasia.pdf.
Click to expand...

I agree. We use a larger calibre!
 
So sorry about your hen Mary Ann. Hope everything goes smoothly this weekend. :clover:
 
I (by myself)have slaughtered 11 in a little over a year---everyone with a 22 long. No problems. I skin mine. You need some way to hang the hog and a way to get it to the hanging spot. I separate the hog from the others the day before and hold its feed. The next morning I walk up while talking(to not spook the hog)drop a ear of corn in with the hog and when it bites into it I shoot it. I have a tractor with a frontend loader and it is setting there ready---I Gamble the back legs and pick the hog up and back into the field and quickly cut the throat to bleed it out. If its a male I get rid of All its external male parts while its bleeding. I then skin, and cut it into sections I can put in the coolers. I take it to the house---THEN the Wife looks/washes each piece---we then put Ice in the coolers--placing the meat where some ice is separating each piece. We let it chill in the coolers for 2 to 3 days---adding more ice as needed, keeping the drains open. We then process it the way we want----close 1/2 will be ground, seasoned and stuffed into link sausage.

To ease your mind----In My Opinion---"Its A Piece Of Cake" to do. I do not get into a rush and from the time I fire the gun to the last piece goes into the cooler takes around 1 hour for a 200/250lb hog(doing this by myself). If you were my neighbor---I would be right there to give you a hand.


To make skinning easier---I split the hide straight down the backbone and the stomack. The best Knifes I have found for skinning is the replacable blade utility knives. I use 2 and put a new blade in each one the day before I slaughter. I use a regular handsaw(I bought for this) to do any bone cutting and a hatchet to bust the bone in the groin area so I can get to the anal intestine. I use a case pocket knife to gut and a sharp thin blade knife to cut out the anal tube/intestine.


Edited to add----I do not know how many you are going to do, but I would do them one at a time unless you have some good help. I have shot and hung 3 at one time(these were wild hogs and they were in a trap so I had no choise), but it was a really cool morning.
 
I agree with Fire-Man, I also use a 22 long.
I have never had a problem with them. I shoot in an area between the eyes and about 1 inch up from the center of the eyes, the skull is the thinnest in this area.
I hoist the pig up by it's back feet, gut it and skin it. to dismember the carcass I use a reciprocating saw
with a hacksaw blade in it.
 
We use a 38 behind the ear to dispatch the hog, then remove the innards by opening up the belly from the pooper to the throat.
Peel the skin off, open up the belly and remove the innards, letting them roll out into a bucket.
Quarter the carcass, get it chilling fast to get the heat out of it and keep the meat fresh.
I age meat in the fridge for about a week, trim and portion it up, wrap it, then freeze it accordingly.
 
thanks guys... I am putting this off for now.. Hubby really want to see them grow up more.. We will be doing them ourselves.. to save on money...I found out how the hens were getting into the pig pen.. there were roosting up high at the ceiling.. there was enough space there for them roost and in the morning.. they don't realize that they jump down on the wrong side of them pen.. So I just finished fixed all of that.. ANd there is no way anything than get in there.. I was able to pet one for a second until it realized what I was doing while it was eating and took off then came back.. so they are not aggressive pigs at all.. While I was fixing the problem,.. the both of them were running and playing in there.. I was laughing at them. So they stay for now .. until March at least.. I will be coming back to this post and following what how the last three replies did it..<br /><br />__________ Thu Dec 05, 2013 9:56 am __________<br /><br />wow.. fireman.. that is impressive.. 11 pigs close to over a year.. I wish you were my neighbour.. :) When the time comes.. I might ask you some questions if you don't mind.
 
You can do one now and one later. I got three with that in mind but my then hubs said it was a waste to do one while it was small and why not wait till they get bigger and and and...............

There I was, all alone, butchering 300 pound hogs all by my self! :roll:

But as it has been said, hogs really are easy to do. All I use is a pairing knife - a sharpener kept handy - and a pair of long handled loppers for cutting ribs and toes.

Everything else just gets cut off. We like our loin chops boneless anyway so no need to split the back bone.

Have done many and a many now with five PBPs fattening nicely for the pot right now.

I did miss my kill shot with a .22 once. It was awful! Later I found if I had shot him behind the ear it would have worked, despite his hard head. :(
 

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