Hog Hair removal? Last night we caught him in a snare. Soon we will have fresh meat to share!

Aloha Everyone!

This angry fellow has been destroying our neighborhood's gardens and raiding my sweet potatoes like you wouldn't believe. While I do appreciate the help with the tilling and keeping the tall grass down, I know there are less destructive ways to accomplish those tasks.

Last night he found our snare and soon we will have fresh meat to share.

Do you have suggestions on hair removal? We've been burning it off with newspaper and tried adding some sawdust. That seems to help the process. I want to get better at this process because I know that there are more hogs in the area.

Thank you for your help!

-Alana

 

We always skin our pigs.

Our sows usually dress at 350#, and boars at 800#.

 

Propane torch.

 

Ohh sweet a sow, Skin it other than that pour scalding hot water on the area you want to scrap.
Plenty u-tube vids on how to, Gud luck!

 

Dip'em in a tub of hot water ,, scalding them ,, loosens the hair ,, scrape'em with blade ,, just like shaving them . Pouring the scalding hot water over the towels sounds like it would be easier than dipping in a tub of hot water ,, if ya don't have the ability to do that . But skinning him sounds like a good idea as well .
It's been a lot of years since I've helped dress out a hog .

 

I used to scald and scrape IT IS NOT WORTH THE EFFORT! I just skin them now much easier and doesn't take long if you are even halfway fast with a blade.

Being a wild one be sure to cook that meat to 160 to the center! USDA/FDA dropped the safe temp to 145 a few years back..... Never Trust the Government! No such thing as safe rare or medium rare pork in my book! Risking the worm for it just ain't worth it.

If you really want to scald and scrape a 55 gallon steel drum over a open fire wood or propane burner will work, want to scald it until the hairs pull out easy with fingers. If you over scald you got a real greasy mess to work with...... I know this because I have done this For scraping I just used my fleshing tool that I scrape coon, fox, muskrat and coyote pelts with. Basically just a 10" pretty dull draw knife with a wood handle on either side of the blade.

 

That is one seriously well endowed *Sow*

 

My folks were in the meat processing business, and we had a hog dehairing vat and machine. The hot water in the vat loosened the hair and rotating paddles in the dehairing machine removed most of the hair (we still had to use a hand scraper to remove some of the remaining hair). It is a lot of trouble, but that is how the customers expected it to be done!

 

Anyone remember the HUUUGE cast iron cauldrons? We used to use them to scald and scrape.
Then had another smaller one to make cracklin's/pork rinds. And also to render down the lard.
Man I remember how the women loved their lard.
This post brings back good memories. Back before the advantage of inaccurate weather forecasts. The rule of thumb from the farmers wives was. When theres ice on the mud puddles....its time to butcher. It was great as a kid. We got to use our bestest pocket knives and other sharp thingys, plus got to stoke the fire etc. Lol

 

Shot lots of pigs when I lived in Commiefornia and always skinned them.

 

At the slaughter house we had a tank and lift and used hot water with just a touch of lye to dehair them, machine removed about 95 % of the hair and last was removed with scraper, flat or circular. In woods usually skinned them and was about 50 50 when done at a farmers place.

Hog Scraper

One of the ag schools has an outline of the butcher process that is worth a quick look and gives those of us who did it 50 years ago or have never done it an overview.

At-Home Hog Slaughter

 

Thank you this is helpful. The first pig I ever trapped was a sow. I could tell that this boar is much tougher and more challenging to process.

 

Thank you! I always wondered what we would do if we caught a pig in the snare. It wasn't easy to get to this point He was angry and jumping and charging. It was an adventure and I'm happy to be sitting at a desk again. Of course, when I walked down the stairs there was another one in my driveway, but that will have to be on another day. I can apply all of the good advice I got here!

 

Where da nutzs old man? Probably someone's free range gilding. That got snared?

 

Possible it is a escaped barrow. More likely a young boar that has not developed a set as impressive as a old boar has yet. Looking at the tusk I can see I would put that one at around 12-14 Months old. The way he is hanging his berries would be behind the skin ridge between the legs out of view. What is obvious and in view though is the corkscrew sheath

 

We just skin them. You ultimately cut most of the skin off when you cut the meat and peel the bacon, so just skip the extra work and skin them out to start.

 

Find out when and location so we can help and everything?