How to slaughter a pig

Pigs are farm animals with high productivity. With one individual, you can get up to 100 kg of pure meat and a high-quality sebaceous layer. An animal intended for slaughter, with proper fattening, grows quickly and is unpretentious in the diet, which allows breeders to repeatedly pay for the content of the artiodactyl. However, a significant role in the quality of meat is played by the method of slaughtering a pig.The price of the final product varies, depending on the presence of blood in the muscle tissue and the proper cutting of the carcass. Before slaughtering a pig or milk pig, you also need to carry out a number of preparations for cleaning the animal’s stomach.

How to kill a pig

Preparing the artiodactyl 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 cutting the pig, it should be examined. The results must be confirmed by a veterinarian and issue a certificate that the meat meets the standards of the guest. The absence of such a document may result in penalties.

Slaughter of pigs at home is carried out using special tools.They should be prepared in advance:

1. A long sharpened knife with a sharp blade.
2. Blowtorch or gas burner to grind the skin.
3. Place for chopping works: iron pallets or a wide stone platform.
4. Ropes.
5. Iron tray for collecting blood.
6. Cloth and napkins.

You should also prepare artiodactyls for slaughter, depending on how much they weigh. A pig for slaughter should have a weight of 100 kg or more. Usually, pigs reach this mark for 8 months of life. At this age, animal meat is lean, because the sebaceous layer has not yet reached a high percentage. To achieve maximum weight, for several days before slaughter the artiodactyls are fed with pure concentrates. If pigs are bred for greasy slaughter, then they are slaughtered by 1.5 years of life. High-quality fat is obtained from pigs that eat at least a kilogram of concentrates per day and move little.

You can slaughter a milk pig at the age of 2 to 4 months. During this period, the calf already has a sufficient amount of meat, which, due to the presence of mother’s milk in the diet, has high palatability. Cutting piglets earlier is considered unprofitable, because the calf’s carcass will have low nutritional value due to the small amount of meat.

Before they slaughter a pig at home, they do not give food and keep it in clean water. A similar procedure is carried out 12 hours before slaughter.The animal’s gastrointestinal tract is cleaned naturally and does not contaminate meat during cutting.

A yard is usually used for slaughter, so hunger will also help lure artiodactyls into the street. In some cases, in order to bring out a large boar, use an empty container: a bucket or a basin. A pig’s face is covered with it, after which the artiodactyl begins to back away. Thus, the pig is taken out into the yard. These actions are necessary so that the animal is not afraid. Meat of pigs that have experienced less stress before slaughter has a higher palatability.

Immediately before slaughter, artiodactyls should be cleaned and washed: this will facilitate the processing of carcasses during cutting.

The same procedures are carried out before cutting the piglet. If the cubs are milk-fed, then they should be limited to normal feed. However, mother’s milk can be given right up to the slaughter.

Optimal time for slaughter

The best time for slaughter is considered the cold season. Most often, a pig is slaughtered in the fall or spring, because these seasons have the smallest number of insects. Artiodactyls can also be killed in winter, but the process of bleeding the carcass may be delayed due to the quick cooling of the body.

Many newcomers to animal husbandry are wondering if it is possible to slaughter a pig in the summer. Experienced breeders argue that it is possible, however, it is better to stab artiodactyls in the early morning.At this time of day there is cool air and the least harmful flies.

The procedure for slaughtering and cutting takes an average of 2-3 hours if all the actions are performed by one person. The presence of an indoor site allows slaughtering pigs during rainfall.

The quality of meat also depends on the hormonal background of artiodactyls. Sows are not recommended to be cut during hunting, because hormones in the blood noticeably worsen 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 reproductive cycle, the animal has the least hormones in the blood.

Artiodactyla slaughter technologies

There are several methods for slaughtering farm pigs. They differ in the process of killing artiodactyls and tools. There is no consensus among farmers on how to cut a pig properly, since each technology has its pros and cons. Among the methods of slaughter of domestic pigs, the following can be distinguished:

1. Bloodless slaughter. Performed by dissection of the jugular vein and carotid artery.
2. Closed slaughter. It is the killing of an artiodactyl by stabbing it in the heart.
3. Slaughter with a stun gun. A pig dies under the influence of current on the body.

All methods of slaughter are carried out, pre-fixing the artiodactyl on its side or hanging. A pig cannot be cut while standing, because the animal behaves very aggressively before death.

During the application of any technology, it often happens that the farmer did not kill the animal with one blow. In this case, the artiodactyl can escape from the capture alive and cause injury to farmers or property. Often this happens if a large boar goes for slaughter. It is not always the first time you can reach the heart or carotid artery of an animal, therefore, before cutting pigs, they are stunned with a sledgehammer, ax ax or a special gun. Such a method is considered humane, because a damaged brain paralyzes the nervous system of the artiodactyl, and the pig does not feel pain. In addition, it immobilizes the animal, facilitating the process of bleeding.

Bloodless slaughter method

Bloodless slaughter technology allows pigs 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 process of bleeding 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:

1. The pig must be distracted with feed and tie a rope on the back legs. If there is a large boar for slaughter, then you should take more people to help.
2. The ropes need to be thrown over a strong beam and pulled up so that the artiodactyl hangs at a convenient height.
3. If the boar weighs more than 100 kg, it is better to roll the pig on its side and fix it with ropes.
4. Wait about 15 minutes to calm the artiodactyl, then cut the carotid artery and jugular with a single motion with a sharpened knife. vein. It is not necessary to completely cut the throat.
5. Under the open wound, place a tray for collecting 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, you can watch a video or talk with specialists.

Closed slaughter method

Many newcomers in animal husbandry are wondering how to quickly kill a pig using the method of closed slaughter of artiodactyls, which consists in breaking the integrity of the heart muscle with a piercing with a knife, in which case the animal dies much faster, but the minus is a slight hemorrhage in the chest This reduces the cost of meat a little.

You should be aware that when using this technology after a stun with a sledgehammer, a boar may reflexively try to stand up, so the ropes must be made of durable material. It is also not always possible to kill artiodactyls with one blow. p0> The procedure for fixing the animal is the same as with the bloodless method. The scheme for slaughtering farm pigs looks like this:

1. Lay the piglet on the right side.
2. Apply a sharp blow to the sternum of the artiodactyl between the third and fourth ribs.
3. Some knife time to keep in the wound.

The carcass is bleeding in the same way: they cut the neck of the animal. To remove the blood that has flowed out of the damaged heart, the pig is opened the sternum and scooped up the liquid. The residues are wiped with a cloth or napkins.

Before you slaughter a farm pig in your heart, you can watch videos or training workshops. Otherwise, the breeder may not have enough experience to kill the artiodactyl with one blow.

Slaughter with a stun gun

This technology is often used by beginners to kill a large boar. Such a method is not welcomed by experienced breeders, because rapid muscle contraction can impair the taste of meat and such a product is less on the market. In addition, the method of killing with a shocker inflicts unbearable suffering on the animal and is considered the most cruel.

The slaughter procedure is quick: the animal is stunned with a stun gun, after which the neck or sternum is cut. It doesn’t technically matter where exactly to touch the shocker, but farmers prefer to use the tool on their heads.

This method is technologically quick and minimizes the risk of harm that a male with great weight can do. On large farms, the method of slaughter using current is very popular. Breeders use electric lines to slaughter pigs.

Slaughter piglets

Before slaughtering a piglet, weigh the animal. Large cubs are slaughtered by the same methods as adults. If the pig weighs less than 60 kg, then it is slaughtered using special equipment made of stool.

Cubs are killed by an injection in the neck, after which the pig quickly dies.Beginners are advised to watch a video of how pigs are cut at home so as not to make mistakes and not spoil tender meat.

Processing meat after slaughter

After slaughter and bleeding, the carcass should grind with a burner. After that, the bristles are scraped off with a knife along with the upper layer of rough skin. You should carefully burn the cloven-hoofed belly, because the skin there is very thin.

You can use not only a burner, but also a blowtorch or straw. Often, the grinding of pork carcasses with straw is carried out to give the meat a special flavor. Some pig farmers use special varieties of herbs to improve the taste of the produce.

Soot should be washed off with water and wiped with a cloth. If the skin is removed, then the carcass does not need to be subjected to heat treatment.

Carcass cutting

The cutting works have a clear procedure. If the cutting rules are not followed, then the meat may lose nutritional value. The scheme of this procedure is as follows:

1. The head is cut.
2. An apron is cut on the stomach of the artiodactyl.
3. The chest is cut in the middle.
4. The esophagus is tied at the end and pulled out of the body.
5. The heart and lungs are removed.
6. The intestines and stomach must be pulled out carefully so as not to tear the film.
7. Before removing the liver you need to remove the gall bladder. It is important to be careful in actions, otherwise bile will permeate the carcass and the meat will be bitter.
8. Lard is removed from the sides of the pig and subcutaneous fat is removed.
9. The bladder and kidneys are removed. When cutting the bladder, care should also be taken.

After cutting, the carcass is wiped with dry rags. It is not recommended to wash the inside of the body, as this will reduce the shelf life of the products.

Conclusion

So, there are many ways to properly kill a farm pig at home. For private households use a bloodless or closed method of killing. Large enterprises prefer to use electric slaughter lines. Recommended for beginners who do not know how to stab a pig, watch a video for training. You can also consult with experienced farmers and ask them to demonstrate how they slaughter pigs, clearly.