Pig Butcher Day Prep Part Two - Tools

I'm still sitting around on the couch thinking about our impending pig butcher day. Folks usually ask me what tools we use so here is my list. Note: you probably have most of this stuff. But if you don't, now is a great time to get your tools lined up.

My tray of tools.

* We love our Bacon Wagon of Doom.. otherwise known as a garden cart. Get the extra heavy duty one. This trolley is great for hauling a huge hog carcass up the hill. Plus if you put the sides down it's a great work surface do skin the pig. Then you can just hose the whole thing off. Easy-peasy.

* Sawsall. Yep. You heard me. Sure you can use a meat saw- and I think everyone should have one of those especially for the parting up day - but the sawsall with a clean blade makes taking off the trotters, cutting off the head, and opening the chest cavity a breeze. We love this kit - it includes a bunch of hand dandy tools for general farm work including the Sawsall.

* A couple of good knives. I'm completely gaga for my Henckels knives that I've had forever. But nothing makes you feel like you've smited your enemy and thrown his ruin upon the mountainside  like this bad boy.  A warning tho, a scimitar is not for the novice. So keep your eye on the end of that blade and tell everyone to stand back.

* Lots and lots of heavy duty half sheet pans.These are better than the average cookie sheet from the store. They are extra heavy duty, can take a beating, and keep your fridge from being filled with bloo..er.. pig juice. I have a stack of these and use them for everything. 

 And it helps if you have a couple of good dogs as back up.  Remember when Kai did such a great job?

My Excellent Good Dog with the Bacon Wagon of Doom.

So that is pretty much all of the tools that we will use for the first day. We still need to figure out exactly how we'll get that carcass cooled... but we think we'll be OK. Today I'll go down and get a bunch of ice for our biggest cooler and then make as much room as possible in the fridges. We think it will work.

Happy Friday everyone! What do you think - what tools do you need for your butcher day?

 Editors note: Gosh, it's been a while since we've had any affiliate links to my Amazon store - so I've loaded up this post with sales links. These are tools that I actually use and have right now.  Do you need anything Amazon? You can support this blog by just clicking one of these links. Or using the black Amazon search box on the right side of this page. This gets me a tiny percentage of the sale and doesn't cost you once cent more. If you like this blog, or if I've helped you at all in your farming efforts, just make a purchase from Amazon from one of the links, my store, or the black Amazon search box on the right side of this page. You can order anything you want and need to purchase anyway. I never know who orders what. THANK YOU for your purchases!