How to slaughter a pig correctly
Pigs are highly productive farm animals. From one individual, you can get up to 100 kg of pure meat and a greasy layer of high quality. An animal intended for slaughter, when properly fed, grows quickly and is unpretentious in the diet, which allows breeders to recoup the maintenance of a cloven-hoofed animal many times over. However, the method of slaughtering a pig also plays a significant role in the quality of meat. The price of the final product varies depending on the presence of blood in the muscle tissue and the correct cutting of the carcass. Before you slaughter a pig or suckling pig, you also need to carry out a number of preparatory measures to cleanse the animal's stomach.
How to slaughter a pig
Preparing a cloven-hoofed animal for slaughter
The method of slaughter at home and the preparation of the animal depend primarily on the purpose of the meat.
If the product is put up for sale, then before slaughtering the pig, it should be inspected. The results must be confirmed by a veterinarian and issued a certificate that the meat meets GOST standards. The absence of such a document can result in penalties.
Pigs are slaughtered at home using special tools. They should be prepared in advance:
- Long sharpened knife with a sharp blade.
- Blow torch or gas torch to tar the skin.
- Chopping area: iron pallets or a wide stone platform.
- Ropes.
- Iron tray for collecting blood.
- Cloth and napkins.
You should also prepare artiodactyls for slaughter, depending on how much they weigh. A slaughter pig must weigh 100 kg or more. Usually pigs reach such a mark at 8 months of life. At this age, animal meat is lean, since the greasy layer has not yet reached a high percentage. To achieve maximum weight, for several days before slaughter, the cloven-hoofed animal is fed with pure concentrates. If pigs are bred for greasy slaughter, then they are slaughtered by 1.5 years of age. High-quality lard is obtained from pigs, which eat at least a kilogram of concentrates per day and move little.
You can slaughter a suckling pig at the age of 2 to 4 months. During this period, the cub already has a sufficient amount of meat, which, due to the presence of mother's milk in the diet, has a high taste. It was previously considered unprofitable to slaughter piglets, as the carcass of the young will have a low nutritional value due to the small amount of meat.
Before the pig is slaughtered at home, it is not given food and is kept in clean water. A similar procedure is carried out 12 hours before slaughter. The animal's gastrointestinal tract is naturally cleansed and does not contaminate the meat during cutting.
The yard is usually used for slaughter, so hunger will also help lure the cloven-hoofed animal out into the street.In some cases, in order to bring out a large wild boar, an empty container is used: a bucket or a basin. It covers the face of a pig, after which the cloven-hoofed animal begins to back away. Thus, the pig is taken out into the yard. These actions are necessary so that the animal does not get scared. Pigs that are less stressed before slaughter have higher palatability.
The cloven-hoofed animal should be cleaned and washed immediately before slaughter: this will facilitate the handling of the carcass during cutting.
The same procedures are carried out before slaughtering the pig. If the cubs are on milk feeding, then they need to be limited in the usual food. However, mother's milk can be given right up to slaughter.
Optimal time for slaughter
The best time for slaughter is the cold season. Most often, pigs are slaughtered in autumn or spring, since there are fewer insects during these seasons. In winter, you can also kill a cloven-hoofed animal, however, the process of exsanguination of the carcass can be delayed due to the rapid cooling of the body.
Many newcomers to animal husbandry are wondering if it is okay to slaughter a pig in the summer. Experienced breeders claim that it is possible, however, it is better to stab an artiodactyl in the early morning. At this time of day, there is cool air and least of all harmful flies.
The slaughtering and cutting procedure takes on average 2-3 hours if all actions are performed by one person. The presence of a covered area allows pigs to be slaughtered during precipitation.
The quality of the meat also depends on the hormonal levels of the artiodactyl. Sows are not recommended to be slaughtered during the hunt, as hormones in the blood significantly impair the quality of the carcass. It is considered optimal to slaughter a pig 2 weeks after the last day of hunting. During this period of the sexual cycle, the animal has the least amount of hormones in the blood.
Slaughtering technologies for artiodactyls
There are several ways to slaughter farm pigs. They differ in the process of killing an artiodactyl and tools. There is no consensus among farmers on how to properly slaughter a pig, since each technology has its pros and cons. Among the methods of slaughtering domestic pigs are the following:
- Bloodless slaughter. It is performed by dissecting the jugular vein and carotid artery.
- Closed slaughter. It is the killing of an artiodactyl by stabbing it in the heart.
- Slaughter with a stun gun. The pig dies under the influence of the current on the body.
All methods of slaughter are carried out by first fixing the cloven-hoofed animal on its side or hanging it. The pig should not be cut while standing, since the animal behaves very aggressively before death.
During the application of any technology, it often happens that the farmer does not kill the animal with one hit. In this case, the cloven-hoofed animal can escape from the grasp alive and injure farmers or property. This often happens when a large wild boar is slaughtered. It is not always possible to reach the heart or carotid artery of an animal the first time, therefore, before cutting the pigs, they are stunned with a sledgehammer, butt of an ax or a special pistol. This method is considered humane, since the damaged brain paralyzes the nervous system of the cloven-hoofed animal, and the pig does not feel pain. In addition, it immobilizes the animal, facilitating the process of exsanguination.
Bloodless method of slaughter
The bloodless pig slaughtering technology allows you to bleed the carcass as much as possible before cutting. Such meat is highly valued in the market, so many farmers resort to this method of killing artiodactyls. The disadvantage of this method is its inhumanity. The exsanguination process can take up to half an hour, during which the animal will slowly die.
The process of slaughtering farm pigs has the following sequence of actions:
- The pig should be distracted with food and a rope should be tied on its hind legs. If a large wild boar is going to be slaughtered, then you should take more people to help.
- The ropes must be thrown over a strong beam and pulled up so that the artiodactyl hangs at a comfortable height.
- If the boar weighs more than 100 kg, then it is better to fill the pig on one side and fix it with ropes.
- Wait about 15 minutes for the artiodactyl to calm down, after which, with a single movement with a sharpened knife, cut the carotid artery and jugular vein. You don't need to cut your throat completely.
- Place a tray under the open wound to collect the fluid. Pig blood can also be used in cooking or medicine.
To determine the location of the incision, you should study the anatomy of artiodactyls in advance. For beginners who do not know how to slaughter a pig correctly, you can watch a video or chat with specialists.
Closed slaughter method
Many newcomers to animal husbandry are wondering how to kill a pig quickly. For this, the method of closed slaughter of artiodactyls is used. It consists in disrupting the integrity of the heart muscle with a stabbing knife. In this case, the animal dies much faster, but the disadvantage is a small hemorrhage in the chest, which slightly reduces the cost of meat.
You should be aware that when using this technology, after stunning with a sledgehammer, the boar can reflexively try to get up, so the ropes must be made of durable material. Also, it is not always possible to kill an artiodactyl with one blow.
The procedure for fixing the animal is the same as for the bloodless method. The scheme for slaughtering farm pigs looks like this:
- Place the pig on the right side.
- Deliver a sharp blow to the sternum of a cloven-hoofed animal between the third and fourth ribs.
- Keep the knife in the wound for a while.
The carcass is exsanguinated in the same way: the neck of the animal is cut. To remove the blood that has leaked from the damaged heart, the pig's sternum is opened and the fluid is scooped out. The remains are wiped off with a cloth or napkins.
Before stabbing a farm pig in the heart, you can watch videos or training workshops. Otherwise, the breeder may not have enough experience to kill an artiodactyl with one blow.
Slaughter with a stun gun
This technology is often used by beginners to kill large boars. This method is discouraged by experienced breeders, as rapid muscle contraction can impair the flavor of the meat and the product costs less on the market. In addition, the method of killing with a shocker causes unbearable suffering to the animal and is considered the most cruel.
The slaughter procedure is quick: the animal is stunned with an electric shock, after which the neck or sternum is cut. Technically, it doesn't matter where exactly to touch the shocker, but farmers prefer to use the tool on their heads.
This method is technologically fast and minimizes the risk of harm caused by a heavier male. On large farms, the current method of slaughter is very popular. Livestock breeders use electric lines to slaughter pigs.
Piglets slaughter
Before slaughtering a suckling pig, the animal should be weighed. Large cubs are slaughtered using the same methods as adults. If the piglet weighs less than 60 kg, then it is slaughtered using special equipment made from a stool.
The cubs are killed with an injection in the neck, after which the piglet quickly dies. Beginners are advised to watch a video of how piglets are slaughtered at home, so as not to make mistakes and not spoil the tender meat.
Post-slaughter meat processing
After slaughter and bleeding, the carcass should be tarred with a burner. After that, the bristles are scraped off with a knife along with the top layer of rough leather. You should carefully burn the belly of a cloven-hoofed animal, since the skin is very thin there.
You can use not only a torch, but also a blowtorch or straw. Pork carcasses are often ground with straw to give the meat a special flavor.Some pig owners use special herb varieties to enhance the palatability of their products.
Soot should be washed off with water and wiped off with a cloth. If the skin is removed, then the carcass does not need to be heat treated.
Carcass cutting
Chopping work has a clear sequence of actions. If the cutting rules are not followed, then the meat may lose its nutritional value. The scheme of this procedure looks like this:
- The head is cut off.
- An apron is cut out on the abdomen of a cloven-hoofed animal.
- The ribcage is cut in the middle.
- The esophagus is tied at the end and pulled out of the body.
- Remove the heart and lungs.
- The intestines and stomach must be pulled out carefully so as not to tear the film.
- Before removing the liver, the gallbladder must be removed. It is important to be careful in your actions, otherwise the bile will saturate the carcass and the meat will taste bitter.
- The fat is cut from the sides of the pig and the subcutaneous fat is removed.
- The bladder and kidneys are removed. Care should also be taken when cutting out the bladder.
After cutting, the carcass is wiped with dry rags. It is not recommended to rinse the inside of the body as this will shorten the shelf life of the product.
Conclusion
So, there are many ways to properly slaughter a farm pig at home. For private households, a bloodless or closed method of killing is used. Large enterprises prefer to use electric slaughter lines. It is recommended for beginners who do not know how to stab a pig to watch the training video. You can also consult with experienced farmers and ask them to demonstrate how pigs are slaughtered visually.