hog question

[certherfbeef]

I know all about this being a cattle forum. BUT, lots of hobby guys have more than cattle. Thought I'd come here for a quick answer and a long argument.

ANYHOW, my son's hog broke her leg. She probably weighs 230-250. Well finished. She was supposed to be a "brood cow" for him but stuff happens.

Local butcher can't get her in till november something and will not do it tomorrow because of the flow of hogs after the county fair.
The question is...can you slaughter a down hog? It is a front leg and as of right now she can get up and move around.

I don't want to have to butcher her myself but I can. It is just too warm right now for my facilities.

SO, if she goes down before I find someone less lazy than me...can we butcher a downer hog?

 

[Dusty Britches]

First - I don't have pigs - at least not the domesticated kind.

I would shoot her in the head for a quick and painless death - same place as on a cow. I'd gut her and skin her and take her to a butcher. You have to be careful - not all butchers are licensed to process hogs.

If gutting and skinning her is too much work - just gut her.

 

[MikeC]

I know of no USDA rules that would deny you to harvest a downer hog.

 

[Bullbuyer]

We have raised many hogs and the answer is simply yes - with a "if" attached to it. If you wait and the hog's leg becomes infected then that will be thrown away during the killing/gutting process. If the hog was down, running a fever and acting odd - then I would say shoot and bury.
I think when we're talking about downer cattle or other animals the primary concern is that they have some disease process which is undetermined and may pose a threat to the consumer.

 

[certherfbeef]

She simply has a broken leg. Happened yesterday evening. I said she still gets up and gets around. No fever and she is not sick in anyway. Not off feed and is otherwise alert.

I just wanted to know if you could butcher a down hog in case she got down before I got her to town.
I also said it is too warm for my facilities and I don't want to have to butcher her.

I know of no USDA rules that would deny you to harvest a downer hog.

Thanks Mike. Information that I wanted in a short and to the point package.

 

[cowspider]

I have had hogs break a leg and than have it heal before we got it butchered. It depends on how bad the break is. They can get around good on 3 legs. I have only raised about a hundred pigs though so this could be differnt. :cboy:

 

[andybob]

I have butchered many 'downers' euthanised for welfare reasons. First heat about 20 gallons of water to just below boiling and have your winch ready set up.
Shoot with a small calibre weapon where the lines between the left ear and right eye intersects the line between the opposite ear and eye. Bleed the pig as soon as she is down, then when there is no more movement, submerge in the water, then moe the submerged portion where you can access it to scrape off the hair, lids from ordinary tins work well, you want to scrape out the hair not shave it off. When clean (unless you have a use for the head, don'tscrape it-too much hassle).
Hoist the scraped pig up and gut,the skin is the best part-crackling! As you have said it is a lot of work.

 

[ga. prime]

Good answer Andy bob!

 

[Just Curious]

Ya know there was a three legged hog down the road a piece... One day the 'ol farmer was there feeding it when I drove by and I stopped ta ask... "Why does the hog only have three legs?" Well he went on about what a fine pig this was and how it had done some miraculous things like dig him out from under a tractor that had rolled over on him the past spring while out turning up the field...
Sooo I asked him again about the missing leg and he replied... "Well, ya know, a fine hog like this one you just don't eat all at once!"
I say amputate!

 

[Chris H]

My dad raised hogs for many years. I remember one gilt who broke her front leg. She hobbled along just fine except she couldn't fight for food with others so she got fed separately. At this point I don't remember if she broke her leg before she was bred, or after. What I do remember is she was a fine brood sow for a number of litters. Her broken front leg never healed like new, it was always curled up a bit. But she never acted like it hurt.
I'd say watch her, she still could be a brood sow but I wouldn't put her in a crate. And she'll most likely be fine to butcher whenever you get her in.

 

[aplusmnt]

I would think you could baby her along till butcher time opens up. Probably depends on how bad it is broke. Could you splint or wrap it?

Hogs can be kept in pretty small areas, Some put in Farrowing crates and leave them for 6 weeks. Maybe if you make sure she is in a small area she will be able to keep from moving around to much.

 

[Carlos D.]

I use to have a few thousand pigs If getting her killed is a problem she will heal --You'll be surprised at how fast a pig can heal--I've seen little guys with their whole side ripped off and be up and going like nothing happened in a few days--Like I said before pigs have amazing healing power

carl