hog butchering

[Pooh]

im in the process of buying half a pig to make all my venison sausage. im planning on saving the loin, maybe ribs, and belly for bacon or side pork. the rest I want to debone and use for sausage trimmings. does anyone out there do this that can give me a few pointers on how they do it. Ive never done a pig and dont really want to go into it blind.

[reinhard1]

i would buy a half a pig to roast but not for sausage. that's just me. if you do not know how to cut up a hog then that is a further disatvantage. for sausage it is better to ask to buy boneless picnic meat for larger amounts of sausage. or to buy pork butts when they are on sale and get pork fat to make up for a lack of fat. you would be better off saving the ribs, loin, and the hind [fresh ham] for table purposes or smoking. the skin is something i dont use for sausage and other than what i have mentioned, except the shoulder, is basicly fat or bone. most people buy a hog or half a hog and have the place they order from process it according to your order or for a pig roast. you have to remember that places that make sausage dont buy whole or half hogs. they buy trim. how much venison do you have? that is also a factor. good luck.

[thirdeye]

I agree about buying butts for grinding, they are just about the right ratio of fat/meat for my sausage. When mixing venison to pork we start at 60/40, then test and sometimes bump the pork to 45 or even 50.

If you like making your own bacon, check out Buckboard Bacon, it's a cure from High Mountain Seasonings. You use loin or boneless butt, and it takes about a week to cure, several hours to rinse, an overnight rest in the fridge and a few hours to smoke. If you can't find it, you can make a similar cure using Tenderquick.

[reinhard1]

looks great. this spring i will start my adventure into smoking sausage seriously. hopefully mine will turn out as wonderful as yours. a lot of my fresh reciepies will need only tenderquick for the smoking proccess. you sir, get the blue ribbon of this forum. good luck.

[Pooh]

im gonna need about 30 lbs of pork and the plan was to have pork to cut wrap and freeze plus whatever i can get for trimmings and prolly end up trying to get fat or lard for the moisture.

[reinhard1]

do not use lard! stick to pork fat if you need it. you can order it from your local grocery store in the meat dept. my local cub has it for 69cents a pound. some times i get it cheaper. sams club or costco usualy will have the best price for pork butts unless others have it on sale if you need it. hope everything works out for you. if you need any other help get back on the thread and i or third eye or someone will do their best to help. good luck.