Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
people like to save it. Continue and pull the animal's hide down over its hips. You should be
able to pull the hide from the hips and back off and slide it over the hips. This will leave lay-
ers of fat on these sections of the carcass. You may need to use a knife to cut between the skin
and the fat in some cases if large sections of fat are coming off when you remove the hide.
Some fat needs to remain on the pig to protect the meat inside, to give the pork flavor later
when it is cooked, and for curing some of the cuts. You will be able to decide during the meat
cutting process how much fat you want to leave on each cut.
Hoist the carcass to its fully raised position. Cut open the hide down the back of the forelegs,
and remove the hide on each side of the forelegs. Proceed to skin along the inside of the fore-
legs and the neck. Move to the shoulders and jowls and then to a halfway point to the back of
the carcass, skinning as you move along. You can pull down and out on the hide slowly and
remove it from the animal's back. The skin should come off easily, leaving the fat beneath it
intact, but if the fat does begin to tear, you can use a knife to pat it back into place. Continue
pulling the hide as far down the back as possible. When it become difficult to remove the hide
around the animal's neck, you can complete the removal with your knife.
If you intend to save the pig's head, you will need to skin over the animal's head and down
the face, cutting at the snout. Remove the front feet by sawing just below the knee joint.
Evisceration
Evisceration
refers to removing the pig's organs and intestines. During the evisceration pro-
cess, you will need to be careful not to allow the contents of the stomach, the intestines, or the
other organs to come in contact with the carcass and meat. Some of these organs contain bac-
teria and fermenting food that can harm your meat and cause it to spoil. You will be removing
the
leaf fat
, or the fat around the pig's kidneys, used for making lard. The pig's head also will
be removed. By the time you are finished with this part of the slaughter process, only the meat
sections of the carcass will remain.
Your pig should be hanging, head down, from the gambrel. It is a good idea to have a large
tub positioned under the pig in order to catch the intestines and other organs as they come out.
You will begin the evisceration process by removing the pig's anus. You do this by cutting
around the anus and making a cut deep into the pelvic canal. Pull the anus outward and cut
any remaining attachments to it. Be careful not to cut the large intestine, as its contents could
