Weather Still Not Cooperating

Well here we are and December 31st is approaching and the weather is still too warm. Today will be in the 70s. Definitely not hog butchering weather. Oh well, the hogs must go. They are eating and eating and well....eating. So instead of butchering all of the hogs in one day and getting the deed done and over it will have to drag out over the course of the next week and a half until they are all in the freezer. We will start with one tomorrow and the refrigerators will have to act as a meat locker for the hog to "hang" overnight. I have been emptying out the big refrigerator of everything that can be emptied out. I must say I have never seen it so bare before. Last night we finished off two partially empty jars of pickles and we have two large containers of soup that will be finished off today. When the milk is done for today I won't take anymore out of the freezer until the first hog is wrapped and moved to the freezer on Friday. Needless to say this will be interesting and I will be sure to document the process. We were planning on skinning the hogs, but now we have plans to scald. I started thinking about how much money and time we have poured into these beasts and realized what a waste of resources to skin. The skin can be rendered for ever ounce of fat left on it and while it is rendering makes awesome cracklins for cracklin bread. While we won't need that many cracklins the rest can be fed to the chickens, dogs and cats as a high calorie supplement to their food. I really think that the only waste will be the hair by the time we are done. Bones can be saved for the dogs. Organs that we don't eat will be eaten by the chickens, cats and dogs. We rarely have much to dispose of when we butcher, but I think we will have less with the hogs. We will slaughter one tomorrow, one next Thursday and one on the 31st. I am really torn in my emotions over this. I am going to miss the girl's coming over to the fence to talk to me and ask for their daily ear scratches. But I won't miss the mess they make with everything. Having 3 hogs this size and age is like having 3 300lb. toddlers. Yep, imagine the havoc they create! I have never gotten this attached to any of our animals that have been raised around here for food, but these critters have gotten to me. Oh, well...I can't keep feeding them forever and maybe next years pigs will be easier. I at least have the knowledge that their lives have been good with lots of space to root and play. Loads of good things to eat. And many pets and scratches for those itches they couldn't get to. I will try to get an economic breakdown of raising these pigs once I have a breakdown of the different cuts of meat and whatever else we have. I have the feed costs by month and of course the cost of the pigs themselves so now all I need is what all we get. I will try to get that posted this weekend. Blessings, Kat