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9:03 am
December 25, 2009
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bonnieblue
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| Big Chicken | posts 34 | |
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This was our first year raising pigs. And Christmas eve dinner was supposed to be our first home raised, organic ham. It was terrible. Dh said that it wasn't terrible, it just wasn't GOOD  We have to eat it anyway, I can't feed a whole hog to the dog.
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9:07 am
December 25, 2009
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Pete
| | WV | |
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Fresh hams are very different from the processed ones. For most, it's an acquired taste…
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Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!
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9:24 am
December 25, 2009
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BuckeyeGirl
| | N.E. Ohio | |
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Oh yes, fresh ham is an acquired taste, most of the rest of the cuts will be more what you are accustomed to, and you will find ways to prepare things that will be wonderful.  Please don't be discouraged!
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If tomatoes are a fruit, then isn’t ketchup technically a
smoothie?
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6:53 pm
December 25, 2009
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bonnieblue
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| Big Chicken | posts 34 | |
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We've raised beef before — nothing like home grown beef.
But this is just DIFFERENT, I don't know how to explain it. This was the first pig dh had ever butchered. The tenderloins were ok, but not great. My male neighbor said they were wonderful. His wife said she wasn't eating a pig that she knew and she wouldn't even try a taste. 
Hopefully the meat will improve with age, or the dog is going to be eating A LOT of pork.
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10:49 pm
December 25, 2009
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Heidi533
| | Hersey, Michigan | |
| Mighty Chicken | posts 192 | |
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Mostly, you probably just aren't use to the taste of home grown pork.
I've heard that feeding milk to pigs makes the meat taste better.
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Heidi-
http://henhousediaries.blogspot.com
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6:38 am
December 26, 2009
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CindyP
| | Hart, MI | |
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We get a pig that my sister raises and it's the best pork I've ever eaten. I believe the flavor you get from meat is what is fed to them. It very well could be the difference of commercial pork and home fed pork. Do a google search "raising pids for meat", there are so many things I read that I didn't know……..a male pig must be castrated for better meat… really?!
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“Learn all you can from the mistakes of others. You won’t have time to make them all yourself.” ― Alfred Sheinwold
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8:50 am
December 26, 2009
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Angela P
| | SW Michigan | |
| Mighty Chicken | posts 157 |
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I was just wondering about the pork, we raised pork and it was the best! What kind of pigs do you raise and are they males or females? 
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2:42 pm
December 26, 2009
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Joyce
| | Western WV | |
| Mighty Chicken | posts 178 | |
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I am so sorry you were disappointed with your ham. We have raised several pigs over the years and the only problem we had with taste were the first hams we cured. We tried to cure them the old fashioned way with lots of salt and other ingredients, t hey were impossibly salty even after soaking and also pretty hard. If you want to raise a male pig to eat they must be castrated when young or they taste and smell dreadful. Was it maybe what you fed them? my Uncle butchered a steer in the Spring when it had been in a pasture with wild onions and garlic they finished up having to get rid of most of the meat as nothing would disguise the taste. The taste also gets into a cows milk and makes it unfit to drink (even the calves make a fuss) I do hope that you will be able to use your meat and that you will not give up trying as home raised really is best, either beef or pork.
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4:20 pm
December 26, 2009
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bonnieblue
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| Big Chicken | posts 34 | |
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This was a Russian (out of wild pigs) sow. She was supposed to be second generation tame, but both of her parents were wild. After I bought her, dad said the meat would be terrible.
She was fed properly, not really organic, because they had corn every day, but no steroids or antibiotics. I can't eat store bought meat anymore because of those. Mom said we just didn't let the meat hang long enough — there is a learning curve to everything and next year we will have a nice DOMESTIC pig.
We did smoke it with mesquite in the smokehouse and I must have gotten lucky and gotten the salt to pork ratio right, because it wasn't overly salty. It just wasn't good. But dh reminded me that I don't like ham anyway. I couldn't eat the last pork tenderloins we got from the store (the dog was REALLY happy!). I like bacon, tenderloin, and the spam part (pork shoulder)
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7:43 pm
December 26, 2009
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Flatlander
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From a forum I was before I came here, we had a big thing about homebutchered pigs.
One member said that he always fed his pigs lots of apples starting 3 weeks before butchering, that added flavor to the meat.
I don't know if it helped..I gave my turkeys they whey with chop..AND lots of apples before butchering and they tasted awesome.
We had the same plan with pigs…I actually ordered 2, but I know I can't eat them…so we won't try.. but you miight if your next pig is not what you expect either?
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7:51 pm
December 29, 2009
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Gizmo
| | KY | |
| Mighty Chicken | posts 183 | |
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bonnieblue said:
This was a Russian (out of wild pigs) sow. She was supposed to be second generation tame, but both of her parents were wild. After I bought her, dad said the meat would be terrible. 
She was fed properly, not really organic, because they had corn every day, but no steroids or antibiotics. I can't eat store bought meat anymore because of those. Mom said we just didn't let the meat hang long enough — there is a learning curve to everything and next year we will have a nice DOMESTIC pig.
We did smoke it with mesquite in the smokehouse and I must have gotten lucky and gotten the salt to pork ratio right, because it wasn't overly salty. It just wasn't good. But dh reminded me that I don't like ham anyway. I couldn't eat the last pork tenderloins we got from the store (the dog was REALLY happy!). I like bacon, tenderloin, and the spam part (pork shoulder)
Please be careful not to feed the dog too much pork. It can cause pancreatitis.
We started raising our own pork a couple years ago. We will never buy pork again! And yes it is true….if you feed them milk, the meat does taste sweeter.
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Life is an adventure – Enjoy the ride!!!
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8:18 pm
December 29, 2009
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Maud
| | Virginia | |
| Mighty Chicken | posts 180 | |
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Wild boar (even the domesticated ones) have a taste different from domestic pigs. It's a gamier, wilder taste. I like it but I was taught not to compare it to 'pork'.
Try cooking it in wine with mushrooms and garlic.
This link has some excellent information and suggestions. If I lived near you, I'd gladly buy your surplus boar.
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Edible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm. ~Ambrose Bierce
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4:37 pm
January 16, 2010
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Moi
| | Oklahoma | |
| Banty | posts 10 | |
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I'm coming in late on this thread but we've raised hogs, on and off, for years now. This winter, we gor our first pair of domestics (boar is Duroc; sow is Chester White x Hampshire) — before that, all we raised were wild ones. We're raising the new ones on only pasture and free slop (food waste) from the Chinese buffet in town. I hope they taste like egg rolls! 
You do not have to castrate them at all, btw. Lots of folks prefer the stronger taste of intact boars and we have friends who are willing to do anything for the, um, oysters. For that reason, we always leave them intact. That said, I don't really like pork much but the rest of the family does.
We've always, with the exception of one time, butchered them ourselves but have never done any curing of hams or bacon. Hubby plans to build a smoke/curing house later this year or next and we'll start experimenting then.
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