500-600lbs of awesomeness!!!

[Jolly Green Giant]

Good on you, I used to hunt moose and after a few animals I thought I'd try processing it myself. Was tired of sending it in to the butcher only to get back someone else's heated up meat back - one package as great, the next was garbage. We'd gut and skin on one day, let it hang for a day then spend the next two days processing. Tired as all hell after but a freezer full of meat.

yep I know that problem . especially with wild game.. plus to butcher my pigs, it would cost more than what I put into it raising it, and I would get less meat... I can normally pull " half " of what ever live weight was from my pigs.. instead of 1/3 of the weight from the butchers, and that's if your lucky!!

[Nuggie]

Hell yeah! It allows you to take the amount of fat and silver skin off of wild game. The nice thing is you don't even really need to know much about butchering, just follow the muscle groups for roasts, burger and stew are easy.

Our packages were lasting up to two and a half years before freezer burn would set in, whereas from the butcher about 10-12 months. Biggest difference I think was I wouldn't hang the animal for more than a day, just enough to let the heat out. This left a lot more moisture in the meat and would freeze like a block of ice. I only did this with young animals, older ones I would most likely hang longer to tenderize.

[Jolly Green Giant]

exactly, with game!! the pig needs 2-3 days to get to that cool point sometimes.. lol a 3" + layer of fat around it's neck/back don't let the heat out as much

[ATPinMotion]

This is my favorite YouTube channel;

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheScottReaproject

Scott makes home butchery not only accessible but also a lot of fun.

When we started raising pigs a couple of years ago, we tried every butcher within 100km (there are 3). The pigs we butchered ourselves tasted the best. I thought it was pride, but our friends and family all agreed.

Obviously there is more than one variable, but I think there is a lot to be said for a quick clean kill. I've experienced this with game animals also - the quality of the meat varies directly with the quality of the kill.

I'm pretty new to raising livestock, but my experiences have biased me strongly toward on-farm abbatoir, and in Canada the only way to legally accomplish that is DIY

[Nuggie]

Agreed, even having to transport an animal to a facility stresses them out and would imagine that experience to not be a positive one for animal or end product. When you can lead your pig down the road away from the others enticing him with fresh greens he won't have a clue that he's about to take a dirt nap.

ATP, it sounds like you've got a piece of paradise there livin off the fat of the land.