Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
contaminant the carcass. Once the anus is loosened, tie it off with a piece of string so it will
not cause any contamination.
When slaughtering a barrow, you will need to remove the penis or “pizzle.” Cut through the
skin and the fatty tissue that lies along each side of the penis and around the opening. Lift the
penis upward and make a cut beneath it along the midline. Cut along the penis and between
the hams, then pull the penis upward and remove it where it attaches at the base of the ham.
There is a natural separation between the hams. You can continue the cut you made between
the hams and expose the white connective tissue. Cut through this connective tissue to the pel-
vic bone or aitchbone. Continue to cut through the cartilage between the pelvic bone and sep-
arate the two hams. You should be able to do this in young pigs; however, you may need to
use a handsaw to split the pelvic bone in older pigs.
Next, you can proceed to open up the pig's chest cavity. You can make a cut from the place
where the pig was stuck to the upper end of the sternum or breastbone. Insert your knife at the
top edge of the sternum and make a downward cut. It is best to cut slightly off-center. Proceed
to open up the chest cavity.
Then, open the animal's midline. Begin at the opening you made to split the pelvic bone. In-
sert the handle of the knife in the opening and point the blade outward, away from the inside
of the pig, in order to avoid cutting the intestines. Open the midline all the way up to the
breast opening. Let the intestines and the stomach roll out and hang. Do not let them fall out
because they are still connected to the esophagus. If they tear at this point, they will spill their
contents into the carcass and contaminate the meat. Proceed to pull the loosened large intest-
ine past the kidneys. Cut the connections to the liver, and remove it by pulling outward on it
and cutting the connective tissue. Next, you can remove the gall bladder from the liver. Cut
beneath it and pull. Do not allow the contents of the gall bladder to spill onto the liver.
Carefully pull the stomach and intestines out, and cut through the diaphragm. The diaphragm
is a thin sheet of muscle and white connective tissue. It separates the stomach and the intest-
ines from the lungs and heart. Next, pull outward on the lungs and the heart, and cut down
along the sides of the windpipe to cut its attachment at the head. You also will need to separ-
ate the heart from the lungs. You can do this by cutting across the top of the heart. Split the
heart open, so it can be thoroughly washed. Clean the heart and liver thoroughly, and put them
in ice or ice water so they can be prepared later. Many delicious food dishes can be made from
the heart and the liver of the pig.
