# Butchering a 2.5 year old sow



## lisarichards (Dec 6, 2004)

One of my sows was a bad mother last year, then didn't get bred last fall when she spent 3 months with a boar. That farmer told me this spring that very few of those girls caught and he went off to freezer camp, and I should give Ginny another chance. Well, she spent the winter with Albus and doesn't look at all pregnant to me, so off she goes. I was going to give her until July to see, but looking at her next to the other ones, I don't think she's pregnant.

So our date with the butcher is June 2. She will be 2 years, 4 months old. I bet she is near 500 pounds.










She's right in the middle, fourth from the left. She's a big girl.

Would you turn all the meat into sausage? Or could I get some chops and bacon that would be good as well? I definitely want all the lard. Anything else you'd do different for a sow rather than a male?


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## makizoo (Jul 6, 2005)

I'd have it cut up like you normally would and try it. If cuts are tough you can always grind later. You can't go back once you make sausage though. I had Lemay's do a big sow for me last year. I took the bacons and tenderloins and ground the rest. 210 lbs of sausage. Thats a lot of sausage. If you have a market to sell it thats one thing but alot of sausage for one family


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

If she has been fed good and gaining weight she should be okay. I've butchered several sows and never had a problem. Unless you don't like your pork chops T bone size.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

We were given an 850-900 lb sow once. We butchered her and the meat was almost normal sized under all the fat. The chops were great, so were the roasts. And lots of lard. But we did make a few hundred pounds of sausage since our normal weight butcher hogs just don't make that much.


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## woodsman (Dec 8, 2008)

We just butchered an almost 900 lb sow that failed her pregnancy and the meat is so tender and delicious we haven't had anything else but pork for the last couple of weeks. She had a lot of fat on her - we rendered over three 5 gallon buckets of lard out of it. We were putting rice bran in her feed and that is supposed to make the meat softer. The people who bought some of the meat from us are coming back for more - they claim it was the best pork they've ever had


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## PlowGirl (Nov 16, 2005)

Lisa,

I raise Tams too, and have butchered several older sows. The oldest was a 6 yr old at 525#s. All the usual cuts and they were absolutely fine, just much bigger even than the ones I usually butcher at 350 to 450. I have noticed with my girls, that they quit conceiving when they get too big. The sows that stay under 350 seem to be the most fertile, for the longest duration. They are running with 3 mature boars year round so I've found no other likely culprit, other than obesity. The smaller sows, of all ages, are still having litters regularly.


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## RedHogs (Jul 7, 2006)

> I raise Tams too, and have butchered several older sows. The oldest was a 6 yr old at 525#s. All the usual cuts and they were absolutely fine, just much bigger even than the ones I usually butcher at 350 to 450. I have noticed with my girls, that they quit conceiving when they get too big. The sows that stay under 350 seem to be the most fertile, for the longest duration. They are running with 3 mature boars year round so I've found no other likely culprit, other than obesity. The smaller sows, of all ages, are still having litters regularly.


this is exactly right, I get so tickled when people brag about how big thier sows and boars are.... it's something to be proud of if you can keep a productive boar or sow in the small range for many years.... it's safer and more profitabe... huge sows should be a sign your doing something wrong...

I raise durocs which are the largest breed of hogs, and my older retired boar at going on 6 years old is under 500 lbs.... I have a digital scale and weigh all my hogs, so that makes them lose 150 lbs atleast.....HIPS and joints won't hold up under the stress, skinny when they wean is about right.


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

Our sows seem to last about five years or so of productive time. Then I make excellent sausage, hams and bacon from them. All the meat is good eating. 

Our sows top out around 700 to 800 lbs live after a few years and stay at that weight other than the fluctuation of gestation and nursing. Since they are kept on pasture that is a very fit condition, not fat.

Do monitor the condition of your breeding stock. You do not want fat animals. I have read in numerous articles that obesity can reduce both fertility and litter sizes. Note that different breeds grow to different sizes.

Larger pigs do very well on pasture. In another management system the numbers would crunch differently. Figure out what will work for how you raise them.

Measure their length and girth before you take them to the butcher and then get their hanging weights and back fat measurements. It would be interesting to know.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org


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## tyusclan (Jan 1, 2005)

I always put older sows in sausage.

I tried keeping the chops on a sow once, and they were so tough we could hardly eat them. She was in excellent condition when butchered as I fed her well for about 30 days after weaning. I don't mind a good firm texture in my meat, in fact I prefer it, but I don't want it so tough I can't chew it.

We eat a lot of sausage, so it just works better for us to do it that way.


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

There is a trick. I experimented with aging by hanging an older sow. Just like with lamb and beef the meat tenderizes. See:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/2007/08/hanging-around.html

There is a lot of research into hanging, including pork. Major issues include proper kill, bleed, and interestingly enough, not chilling down too fast - certainly don't freeze before the muscle fibers have time to relax.


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