Learn Appalachian Hog Butchering: How to scald the hog and remove the hair

hey there folks this is Josh Stony rich farmer welcome back to the farm we are off the farm we're at flock Retreat Farm today and we are going to be processing a hog So today we're going to take a hog from the field to the freezer almost okay so we're going to show you guys how we dispatch the hog and we're going to show you guys how we scal the hog and then this hog is going to be used half of it for a picnic uh a little party we're going to have out here for Thanksgiving and the other half is going to be ground in sausage and the various Cuts so come along today this is kind of going to be a quick down and dirty video about how to scald a hog to get your water temperature just right we got Dad here we got a lot of experts and we're going to have some [Music] fun so guys if you've never been to the Stony Ridge Farm Channel please hit that like button subscribe we are heading up to where the Hogs are I'm riding in the back of the Gator is bringing the tractor and the so you guys know this is my friend Tony's Place Tony is building a first generation Farm here without a second generation also uh got to open the gate a little bit for the tractor to get through here he's pasturing his Pig so they were in this pasture before now they're in this second pasture up here and I forget what kind of hogs these are but we'll find out Tony what kind of hogs are these dur Rock think dur rock yeah my dad know okay de Rock so I'm totally unsure as to how they're going to process this hog and all the things that go along with it because I'm not in charge if this were my place I'd tell you step by step exactly what we're doing but first we got to dispatch the hog we got to talk about that and how we dispatch the hog now I can't show you the hog being dispatched but I can show you exactly where the bullet needs to go then we'll hook to the hog and we'll take him over to the scotting pot after I fall off the side side by side these are the piggies so Guys these Hogs are right around 300 to 325 lbs and the piggy we're going to be dispatching which one is he one with hair on the back and the black head one with hair on the back and the black head okay this guy here yep all right so this is the fella that's going to be making pork guys so you know when we dispatch the hog you need to make an imaginary Square between his ears and his snout and when you shoot don't SHO shoot this way shoot straight back into the brain so he passes away very very quickly The Next Step there will be to cut the jugular vein so a big sharp knife cut the jugular vein that dropped him cut back here next to the Achilles and then press the single tree through like for a hole hard right are you going out that way the other C we got the hog up on the Single Tree guys and we're going to go ahead and get this tightened up to where we can lower this down into the scotting pot we'll take over to the scotting pot here in just a second the Pig needs to bleed out in other words you need to get all that blood out before it starts to clot within the muscles and the vascular system of the pig we need to make sure this goes up high enough to where we can get the pig into the scalding pot so we're around back where the scalon pot is and what we're using is just a regular tartar Farm and Ranch uh water tank right here Dad's getting the water ready ready what temperature do we need to be we want 145° okay so 145 and the temperature needs to be coming up not going down okay so the temperature needs to be rising we're at about 89° right now we're trying to get the temperature on up got a little fire built up underneath here so we'll put a cup of shelled lime in here which is basically lawn lime almost and that helps the hair to release and what we're trying to do is trying to get the hog into the pan into the pot here then bring him back out and scald him there's a few techniques that we need to think about as we do that so as dad says how do we know when he's ready to come out of the scalder when the hair turns it loose on the flank on the flank so right down here on the so he's in the scaler for somewhere around a minute to a minute and a half these are hog scraping tools Guys these are the tools we're going to use to take the hair off the hog we're not just pulling the hair off it's taking the top layer of skin off also [Music] okay we back up a little bit when we're all in the there taking free samples already y I hope the rest of tastes better now should be bottom guy ears we're hitting with another bucket the so we're giving it about a second dip here just so we can get all those little tight nooks and crannies in the head right there no piece of the hog goes to waste here so the head will be used for some something again we probably won't go into all that detail but I wanted to show you how we scald and scrape the hog so again water temperature water temperature water temperature very very important and getting the lime in there so that the hair releases there any extra hairs we can go in by hand and pull them and if if all else fails we can go with a little burner and burn them off a little tight that's my dad by the way he's been doing this since before I was born learned it from my great grandpa right R go back to the little guy Mitch you got a YouTube channel tell them what it is horn and Hammer horn and Hammer I'll post the link in the video description for you guys he's got Kiko goats so guys a tendency is to get this big area right here first but in all actuality the best way to do this would have been to have the whole hog laid out on a table and everybody start working a different area the head is where we really need to start the head and the feet and then we get to the larger areas like this uh so guys this is kind of an oldtime tradition in Appalachia to uh process a hog in Virginia uh Virginia hams are second to none what we're doing here is a little bit different typically with me and Dad and I'll post a link to our video we've got a full three or four part series on how to go from the hoof all the way to making the country hams and sausage and everything but today we're not going to be doing all that that's why we're probably only going to show you the scalding part and then we'll cruise on show you the rest of it in a future video on on our farm so the hog is all scalded out right here got a few stray hairs here and there we'll have to rinse them off wash them down real good with hot water once again water temperature 144 to 148 we need to put about a cup of uh lime in there to help release the hair and then when we have extra hairs on here just like Daniel right here is doing we'll burn those off okay sometimes it's hard to get a good scald on a hog like this especially with a setup like this at our place typically we have a little bit larger pot and right here beside this we'll have a big table so we'll take pallets and stack them up and we'll put two 4x8 sheets of plywood that way when the hog comes out it goes on the table and everybody can hit from various angles and we can run and we can toss water on there so this wasn't ideal but this is the first hog that they processed on this farm so that's how you scald a hog The Next Step we'll be splitting down the middle be taking the intestines out and we'll be splitting the hog but you'll see that in a future video on the Stony Ridge Farm hope you guys enjoyed this if you have any questions please put them down there were at flocks Retreat Farms I'll post a link to their Facebook page uh this is a brand new Farm here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Stoneville and near Eden North Carolina thanks guys take care have a great day on the Stony Ridge right guys woo there you go bring your kids we living life pure and sweet that's the way supposed to be Stony R this should be some funny Austin Powers action right here hello I'm Austin follows I'm stuck in the hallway guys that's Kelly Kelly's one the guys that helps out on the farm here all these are really good people this right here it's my good friend Ricky Bobby this my local Farm Bureau agent who who hit a deer last night there bud everybody yeah