We had a hog that was really long overdue for Freezer Camp. That’s our way of saying finished… or processed. Oscar was our summer hog who turned into our fall hog and then our summer hog. He was fast approaching spring hog and it was just time!
You see I made a mistake that I will not make ever again. I forgot about deer season when it came to using our regular processor. I thought, hey, no problem, they can just slip my hog in between the umpteen million deer that they are doing. What is another carcass? Well… sorry. They do nothing but deer for nearly two months straight. Some amazing number… 800 in like the first two weeks. Really. And they are just not set up to do anything else.
So they asked if I would wait until around Christmas. So, I did. Well, then we got hit with this HUGE snowstorm and then well, the winter of hell hit and there were several feet of snow and ice on the ground. No way to get a truck in the back and no way to really get the hog up to a truck in the front without shoveling out pathways for him like some sort of pork bob sled track! So, we decided to wait until the weather broke.
Well, that took almost four months! And then our processors closed down. What was I going to do! Oscar was eating more crack corn and feed than a small third world country! If we let him, he would eat fifty pounds of feed a DAY! He was giant!!! And once they get to a certain point, they stop putting on meat and start just putting on fat. Not a good thing.
My friend Sarah, a fellow homesteader, heard about our hog issue and told me about her Amish neighbor who butchered for a very reasonable fee. And that our friends Justin and Steve could help us get him into the truck and there. So we got ready one very chilly morning and backed their little trailer to the courtyard gate and got ready.
Everyone was wondering.. why are their taking the pig away… hmmm…. I wonder if they thought they might be next for a ride… the long ride!
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Surprisingly, it was really not too hard to move Oscar! As you can see by the video, it only took five minutes and he was pretty comfortable with the process until we came to the little stream! It was rather surprising that a big old hog would be concerned about a little bit of water! Still, even with the water issue, he was loaded up and ready for his ride in less than 5 minutes! And off to Mr. Jonas R.s farm in no time!
That was a Monday morning… and then the following Wednesday, he was all ready for pick up. Except for the smoked meat, that would be Saturday. When I first arrived at the farm, I was a bit early, so they asked for a bit more time and I didn’t mind at all. I went and drove around and looked at the neighboring farms and such.
I love Amish farms! I love how neat and tidy they are. And how efficient they are.
They are just no frills and I think sometimes that is the way to go. It’s so easy to get caught up in all the decorations and foo-foo that can clutter up your life and spend your cash on things that really end up not working out how you want.
I loved seeing all the buckets and such on the maple trees… it’s sugaring time! Just about every farm had some sort of set up to collect that sweet nectur… some used traditional metal pails but most were utilizing 5 gallon plastic buckets. A few had 55 gallon drums in the works and I saw one farmer with a 275 IBC Tote bucket! Now, that is some serious maple syrup production!!!
Isn’t this a cute little old house? I suspect it might have been a school or some sort of township building. I love the old wood work on the front porch.
This is the school parking lot! Haha…. I loved seeing several cart loads of young kids driving their ponies to school. They all smile and wave, just sweet kids. I really enjoyed just wandering about in the lower Michigan community near Hillsdale. And I just loved chatting with Mr. R. about hay and hogs and all. He liked my old car Blue and we got to go down the road a bit in her to pick up some of our hog from an English neighbor that had a big chest freezer that he would borrow when he had too much meat for a customer. Pretty good arrangement.
Oscar weighed in pretty well, over a hundred pounds of quality pork. He was a lean Durroc hog, not known for their fat… but he was a good addition to our learning and our freezer! No more keeping hogs over the winter! I will be certain to watch the deer season schedules for sure. However, I think we will be using our new Amish friend’s services in the fall for our FALL hogs!!! It’s hard enough to keep all your other livestock happy and hardy without adding big fat hogs to the mix!!!
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