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That's one big pig

Posted at 9:31 AM on July 9, 2008 by Sareen Dunleavy Keenan

Confession: I am not good at taking pictures of the great moments in the Keenan house. While this is only mildly annoying for you, think of how baby feels... I miss most of those photos too!

We bought a pig. Not just any pig. From what I can tell, this was a big pig. This is our second time buying a full four legged animal and the experiences were quite different. With the cow, we knew both the live weight and the processed weight of the animal. We paid by the live pound, and could choose any or all of the quarter cow segments. This was a bit of an adventure because we had no idea what the cow was actually going to tip the scales at. In the end, she was a hefty heifer and we paid a bit more than $800 for her. A year and a half later and we still have beef. I am happy with the investment and trying to assess when the next cow should make it to our house.

But for now, we are celebrating all things swine. This pig wasn't priced per pound, live or processed weight. Instead, we were quoted a flat rate for the pig. Three hundred dollars for the whole animal. I was scared, I was sure that somehow this would mean that I would get taken. How could I possibly assess if this was a "good deal?" I mean, why wouldn't the farmer just underfeed the animal, or send me the smallest one? What would be the benefit of fattening up the pig when the farmer gets no additional money for those pounds?

Relax. Breathe. Of course the answer is simple. You are working person to person. The pig is treated the same way that all the other pigs on the farm are. With love and care. The farmer isn't trying to cheat me, in fact, we got a great deal considering the huge spike in feed prices recently. The same deal could not be made again (at least that is what we were told). This pig was raised on the farm at Pastures A Plenty and judging by the samples I have had and the photos of his living situation, it had a good life. The "good deal" is to be had in the quality of the meat, not the quantity or price per pound.

Whew. Now that I got that off my chest, I could focus on the one tricky thing about buying a whole animal. There are a variety of ways that it can be processed. You can cut the loin into chops, or leave it as a roast. You can have baby back ribs or just bone in pork chops. I always want everything. Yes, give me all of those. Well, that is impossible. We found that with the beef we bought, we weren't clear enough. There was a lot more ground meat then we needed or wanted. We would have preferred to leave a lot of that trim un-ground, processing it if and when we needed to. But we were just learning.

This time, instead of simply trying to relay our preferences and hoping for the best, Brendan took the matters into his own hands. Literally. We went from too much butchering in the case of the beef, to virtually none in the case of the hog. This was a dream come true for Brendan. If he had his way, butchering would be a skill that he has mastered. What better way to give it a go?

Slicing, sawing, swearing and sweating lead to all of the pig eventually making it into my freezer. I haven't seen or tasted the handy work yet, but I am sure that "come apart you stupid #*@()#" really means: "thank you pig for making us such a tasty meal, I appreciate you." Or something like that.

More pig appreciative posts to come, but for now, I must eat the turkey enchiladas that are on the menu for the week. We had to get the turkey out of the freezer to make room for the pork.