Pork Tragedy

A few days ago I was made aware of a practice that has bothered me ever since.  A while ago I wrote on here that many times hog farmers have available pigs that have a belly rupture.  While this sounds worse than it is, truthfully it is only a hernia.  Most times the farmers will sell these at a lower cost because they usually cannot send them out with the rest of the herd to the processor.  We have had one of these hogs and there was nothing at all wrong with it in the end.  It tasted amazing!  The processor does have to be careful, though, when butchering so they don't cut into the intestines that have come through the abdominal wall.  If this happens it contaminates the meat.

A few days ago, I learned there are some confinements just killing these hogs before they are full grown since they can't send them out with the rest.  I'm not talking about 1 or 2, but tens to hundreds of them.  Basically, they aren't worth the trouble to them.  I'm not sure if everyone else knew this was happening or not.  I had no idea this was happening and to me with all of the people in America who are struggling to make ends meat that this practice is such a waste!

If there was a place that would take these hogs and finish raising them it could make a difference helping to feed those that are struggling.  Most of the time, though, they would rather kill them than give them away!!! 

I do understand that these companies are in the business to make money, but it doesn't cut into profits to give something away or even to charge a small fee for it if you were going to dispose it of anyway.  

I would love to hear thoughts on this and any ideas for encouraging these places to do something different with these pigs. 

Pork at a Discount

While I do love bacon, pork chops and sausage I do not love pigs.  As much as I love to walk around and interact with all of our animals, I did not love having a pig.  We raised a pig for butcher a few years ago and I don't know why, but I just couldn't like it.

It was kind of a costly endeavor by the time we bought all the feed and while we enjoyed having pork in the freezer for anytime we wanted and we knew exactly what it ate, it didn't really save us any money.  After that, we started buying a pig from a local farmer to take to the locker.  This wasn't much cheaper than store prices per pound, either, but we like to buy local and know what we are eating.  

Recently we have been wanting to purchase another, but hog prices are a little higher than the last time we got one.  I was enlightened one day to the fact that I could purchase a "belly rupture" hog for less than the price of a regular hog.  I, not knowing what that meant, said absolutely not at first.  I assumed there would be something wrong with the end product.  After doing some research on it I found that all a belly rupture hog is is one with a hernia.  Absolutely no impact on the meat unless it gets ruptured during butcher!  

We got our hog and it's at the butcher right now.  I am very excited that I will pay a grand total of a little over $1.50 per pound for the pork.  That is so much cheaper than grocery store prices!  

If you are in the market for pork check with your local hog farmers.  I was told that they cannot send the "problem pigs" out with the others for butcher.  They have to send them to another facility.  The farmer that we purchased ours from was more than happy to get rid of one to us.   

And as always -buy local and support the farmers in your area!!