We slaughtered Pork Chop this morning - it was definitely a learning experience. He noticeably went off his feed yesterday morning, and hubby said he had looked "off" and listless Monday evening at late feeding time. I couldn't see any other obvious symptoms, so rather than lose him or let him suffer or waste away, we decided to slaughter him this morning.
Hubby was able to stun-kill him with an air rifle and .22 hollow point bullets. Porky was not inclined to stand still to give hubby a chance to aim perfectly, and neither of us could really blame him for that either. I tried to stick him, and discovered pigskin is tough! I'll need to study up on pig anatomy a little better to hit the vena cava and branching vessels like I need to, but Porky was already dead from the bullet so he didn't suffer from my ineptitude.
Rough estimates on feed versus meat: It cost approximately $21 so far to feed him (half of three bags at $14 per bag) plus the initial purchase price of $2, and the broken bathroom scale says we have roughly 25 pounds of cleaned meat with some fat (and the bones). We skinned him instead of scalding and scraping, and I can see a lot of fat adhered to the skin. It won't go to waste, as I have it in the 23 quart pressure canner, along with the head and all the organs, cooking out on the back deck on a hot plate for Hammy and the chickens and maybe the guineas, too.
Slaughtering and butchering even a young half-Pot Belly pig is some work! I don't know about hubby, but I am wiped out from it. I'll do the big chicken update later.
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