Body Cleaning.
—A most important feature in dressing hogs is the matter of getting the hair off, the skin cleaned and washed before opening the hog. Inspection requirements as to cleanliness practically demand this, and it is a proper method of dressing.
Ham Facing and Cutting.
—In ham facing care should be used to see that the workmen cut off the fat down to the lean meat, and at the same time do not cut the striffen. In opening the hog it is requisite that the opening cut should be a straight line from the stickers cut to the bung. The breast splitting and opening over breast bone is made so as to equally divide the sides and avoid trimming when cutting hogs; the intestines are removed without cutting or breaking.
FIG. 104.—HOG SCALDING.
Leaf Lard.
—Pulling the leaf lard just before the splitting, should be done with care in order that the leaves may be pulled clean.
If this operation is performed in an indifferent manner, a considerable amount of the leaf lard will be left in the carcasses and it is afterward scraped out. Lard left after pulling the leaf, should be scraped out, as it is often worth more as lard than if left as meat. Its presence greatly disfigures the meat.