Remove the entrails by cutting around the rectum and allowing it to drop down inside, but do not split the pelvis. Open down the belly line from cod or udder to breast bone; take out the paunch and intestines, leaving the liver attached to the diaphragm. It is not best to split the breast. Reach up in the pelvis and pull out the bladder. Wipe all blood and dirt from the carcass with a coarse cloth wrung dry from hot water. Double up the front legs and slip the little cord found by cutting into the fleshy part of the forearms into the ankle joints.
KILLING AND DRESSING HOGS.
Fig. 18.—Manner of holding and sticking a hog.
A good sticking knife, hog hook, scrapers, a barrel or a trough for scalding, and a convenient place for working are the important necessities. Set the barrel at the proper slant with the open end against a table or platform of the proper height, with the bottom securely fastened; a strong tackle built for the purpose is desirable, but not necessary. Hogs should not be excited or heated, and in catching and throwing them bruising must be avoided. However, it is not necessary to stun hogs before sticking them. At slaughter houses they are usually hung up by one hind leg. If there is no hoisting appliances, lay the hog on its back and hold it there until stuck. Two men can handle a hog if they will but work with intelligence. By reaching under the animal, one at the fore leg and the other at the hind leg, they can turn a heavy hog on its back easily. One man, standing astride the body, with his feet close against the side and holding its front feet, can control it while the other does the sticking.
Fig. 19.—Scalding a hog. Note arrangement.
The knife should be eight inches long, straight bladed and narrow, and stuck into the hog’s throat just in front of the breast bone, the point directed toward the root of the tail and held in line with the back bone. This is necessary to prevent cutting between the ribs and the shoulders, which would cause the blood to settle there with waste in trimming of the shoulder. When the knife has been stuck in six or eight inches, according to the size of the hog, turn the knife quickly to one side and withdraw it. The arteries that are to be cut run close together just inside of the breast bone and both are cut when the knife is turned, providing the edges are sharp at the point.
The water for scalding when heated in the house should be boiling when removed from the stove. If put into a cold barrel it will be about the right temperature when the hog is ready for scalding. During the scalding process the water should be about 185 to 195 degrees, if the scalding tub holds only enough water to scald one hog. Water at 150 degrees will scald a hog, but, of course, more time is required. In large packing houses where a large tub is used and steam is continually blowing into the water, the water is kept at 150 degrees. Too hot water is likely to cause more trouble than too cold, and for this reason it is always best to have a thermometer at hand. Of course, the temperature may be reduced by putting in a little cold water. A hog should not be scalded before it is dead or the blood in the small blood vessels near the surface of the skin will cook and give a reddish tinge to the carcass.