# Bought a pig, strong smell and tasting meat?



## TracyB (May 24, 2010)

Hi everyone! 
We bought our first pig from a farmer here in Oklahoma a few weeks ago. 
Well, I say we bought a pig but really we just said "Do you have any?" and he said yes, 150 lbs. 
I said "Ok" and he sent him to the butcher for us. 
We never actually saw him alive. (and I would have had a hard time if we had boo hoo!) 

Anyway, we got the meat and I started cooking it up. The first thing I noticed was that it smelled STRONG, 
like the hog farm. It wasn't gamey like deer meat can be but it was just kinda...dark? 
I don't know how else to describe it but it was not good. 

I went ahead and cooked it up like we do grocery store meat and we tried to eat it, but it was just too nasty. 
Bacon was dark too. We didn't even try the sausage. 

So my question is this - did we just get a bad pig? Was it the way it was fed, kept, or something else? 
Should we try again? New farmer?

I really wanted to try to feed our family fresh meat instead of the grocery store stuff but I'm kinda discouraged after this.

Thank you for any replies.


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

Maybe you got boar meat. I've heard it tastes kind of like strong body odor smells.


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

Most boar meat definitely has a strong odor.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

I agree with the last poster. It was probably an intact male pig that was butchered. Or perhaps it was castrated too late, so the boar taint was already there.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

Same here, boar taint is my guess, could be the environment, but my guess is boar. Farmers like that make a bad name for all of us. > Thanks Marc


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## DWH Farm (Sep 1, 2010)

I would think the same thing but wouldnt a 150 lb pig have to be a bit young to have boar taint? Unless it was a PB of course.. Just curious as we usually dont keep boars around much longer than a few months, with the exception of our LB boar, who (THANK GOODNESS) has never had a noticeable odor.. Whatever the reason I would let the guy know that you are not happy with the meat. Maybe he is a stand up guy and will want to make it right. I also applaud your decision to feed your family farm fresh meat and hate that this was your first experience with it.. It is NOT the norm..


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## TracyB (May 24, 2010)

fffarmergirl said:


> Maybe you got boar meat. I've heard it tastes kind of like strong body odor smells.


This was it! I bet you're right. It tasted very similar to that nasty unwashed smell. 

Is it common for farmers to sell boars like that?


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## TracyB (May 24, 2010)

Nivensfamily said:


> I would think the same thing but wouldnt a 150 lb pig have to be a bit young to have boar taint? Unless it was a PB of course.. Just curious as we usually dont keep boars around much longer than a few months, with the exception of our LB boar, who (THANK GOODNESS) has never had a noticeable odor.. Whatever the reason I would let the guy know that you are not happy with the meat. Maybe he is a stand up guy and will want to make it right. I also applaud your decision to feed your family farm fresh meat and hate that this was your first experience with it.. It is NOT the norm..


What is PB and LB?

I will call him this evening and let him know. He seemed like an all business kind of guy so we'll see if he wants some repeat business lol. 

It probably costs alot to grow one up and to have someone say it's nasty might just make him mad.


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## olivehill (Aug 17, 2009)

It's not uncommon to butcher boars, but most farmers who do so have tested their lines for taint before selling intact boars to the public. I would definitely call and talk to him. 

PB = Pot Belly 
LB = Large Black


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## Rogo (Jan 1, 2006)

I understand that boar taint is not common. Some sell their boar meat on a weekly basis to restaurants. Age of the pigs doesn't matter. It can also be bred out of the pigs. It also can be removed by how the pigs are fed. My PBPs come from a line of no boar taint.


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## DWH Farm (Sep 1, 2010)

TracyB said:


> What is PB and LB?
> 
> I will call him this evening and let him know. He seemed like an all business kind of guy so we'll see if he wants some repeat business lol.
> 
> It probably costs alot to grow one up and to have someone say it's nasty might just make him mad.


I suggested letting him know because if it were me I would want to know that people were unhappy with the product that I sold them and would want the chance to make it right. I am not saying that he will but you never know..


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

We butchered a 220 lb boar two weeks ago. Great meat, no smell. That is about the 5th boar we have raised and eaten without taint. Saturday, we butcher the old herd sire. I'm betting his meat is fine since he made most of the good young boars we've butchered.


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

My first thought was boar meat. Bad feeding can cause off tasting pork, though, and if the meat smells like the farm smelled, maybe he was feeding something weird to his pigs.

I'd call and tell him the meat isn't good. Maybe he will take it back.

If he won't, here's what you do with it. Get yourself a good Mexican cook book and slow cook that pork with lots of chilies, cumin, and onion. The pork will end up really tasty and you won't have to throw it out.

The boar meat I've eaten smelled bad when cooking but it didn't actually taste bad. Good pork should be light colored and the loin should cook up nearly white. So dark meat, especially dark colored bacon, really sounds very "not right" to me.

By the way, good home raised pork should have considerably more flavor than store bought, so it might not be what you are used to, but it should not taste yucky.


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## Rogo (Jan 1, 2006)

=== Good pork should be light colored and the loin should cook up nearly white. ===


Pork here is a rosy color and cooks up nice and brown. M-m-m-m good!


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

Rogo, what breed of pigs do you have?


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

Did the farmer raise the pig or trap it?


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## HeritagePigs (Aug 11, 2009)

The pork from our LBs and GOS is also dark colored. Many heritage breeds are that way. The "other" dark meat


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## livinzoo (Aug 29, 2007)

Even the hamp/ york crosses we raised were rosey colored and cooked up dark.


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## nehimama (Jun 18, 2005)

I wonder if you took a "good" pig to the butcher, and yours was swapped out for a "bad" pig. Not to impugn your butcher, but not ALL are totally honest. Just sayin'.


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

In addition to the possibility of boar taint (which happens in a minority of breed lines) there is a good chance the animal was not slaughtered, bled or hung properly. If the animal was too riled up at slaughter it would release stress hormones giving a bad taste to the meat just like you're saying. Bad bleed out would produce the dark color to the meat that you're describing and make the meat taste irony or coppery rather like liver. If the carcass was not chilled properly and hung at too high a temperature or hot cut this could also produce bad tasting meat.

Pasture raised pork will be darker than the Confinement Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) / "Factory Farm" pork you see in the stores because the pigs live a healthier outdoor life getting exercise. But it also shouldn't be too dark. Too dark is a sign of slaughter stress, bad bleed out, bad temperatures, etc.

We sell boars every week to stores, restaurants and individuals. There is no need to castrate our boars since they don't have taint plus boars grow bigger, faster and leaner than barrows (castrated males). But we tested our line of pigs for years before we began doing that, gradually trying older and older boars. If someone is selling boar meat they should do the same sort of testing to be sure. However, as an interesting side note even sows and gilts (females) can have "boar taint" and the vast majority of boars don't have any boar taint. It's complicated.

As to "good" vs "bad" butchers, we had some experiences with bad ones. We stopped using the bad ones. We need reliable, honest, professional work done. Word gets around between the farmers about the bad butchers. We love the butcher we work with now - just wish they were close by. We have to drive past three others and 7 hours to deliver our animals each week. There is a reason we past by two of the others. The third is simply new.

In any case I would contact the farmer and talk with him in a non-confrontational way. It may not be his fault - e.g., if the problem happened at slaughter/hanging/butchering. Work with him.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa


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## RedHogs (Jul 7, 2006)

> Pasture raised pork will be darker than the Confinement Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) / "Factory Farm" pork you see in the stores because the pigs live a healthier outdoor life getting exercise. But it also shouldn't be too dark. Too dark is a sign of slaughter stress, bad bleed out, bad temperatures, etc.



Now i have seen some bad info on here, but this is unreal...

Pork coloring is tied directly to the dietary levels of Fe in the hog's feed...

If if the diet is supplemented with more than 90ppm of Iron the pork color will darken.

Pork color is measured on a scale of 1 to 6...

The market determines what the color of the pork will be... the consumer wants and expects a certain color of pork... if they want darker... that's easliy fixed with an increased amount of Fe in the mineral supplement...

but to say darker is better is insane.....

A pasture farmers pork color is a direct result of the soil quality on the farm...

different farms and there will be a different colors.

Google and read about Iron's effects on pork coloring.... and lets not make this another evil factory farmer ( that probably knows enough about hogs to understand Fe supplements) vs. the little man.

even pork coloring is becoming political on here...but don't let me or the truth break up a good rant.


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## DavidUnderwood (Jul 5, 2007)

RedHogs, I agree completely.
And I'll go so far as to say anyone who
would raise a male intended to be eaten,
and not castrate is making a big mistake.
You may get away with it and you may
not. And when you don't, you've just ruined
a hog. Conventional wisdom is "conventional"
for good reason. Do as you wish. Not me.


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