That was a good read, Wolfdog. You've got a little flair for story telling!

Great post and pics. I miss those days. Good times

Great post thanks for sharing

Very nice WD.

If more kids saw this in today's world, they would have a much better appreciation of life.

That looks like a group of happy family and friends. I bet it was a good time.

Memories ................ no time for pictures . Tut

Awesome you have that

Never participated in any hog killings but remember them being talked about

And the older people saying "it's hog killing weather" when it was real cold

Fella with the red shirt and overalls is a stud toting that hog carcass. Even with head and guts gone that is some weight to be carrying

We did hog killing all through my young days, the 50's, 60's, 70's and I have a hard copy picture of our hog killing soon after my dad passed in the early 80's. The last year that we had one there on the farm. It was usually a community affair with family and neighbors bringing their hogs over to a killing area. A lot of hard work for sure as we had to haul water and cut wood for the "scalding box" and man handle the hogs out of the box and onto the gambling pole. And after cooking the cracklings to make lard, and eating the fresh HOT cracklings, they never tasted better. Some folks here still do hog killing, but it's mostly for commercial sales.

Roy, what are the dates for the 23 NTA convention? Thanks.

Thanks wolfie, that is part of what makes us who we are, it’s nice to remember the old times.

Great pictures . Like a lot on here it brings back the memories . My best friend back in the 50's was from Eastern Kentucky. Many of his family moved up to Ohio to get out of the coal mines . They knew how to live the simple life and putting up meat was a big part of that . I got to learn a lot from them . Good times .

I worked in a grocery and meat market, after school and on Saturday, When I was going to high school.. They had a small slaughter house. Most weeks we would pick up 3 or 4 pigs , and kill and dress them out. My Job got to be gutting them out. I had a good instructor and got pretty good at it. This helped me get a job as a meat cutter , which I did for 3 years. This training , has really helped me while dressing deer , skinning fur etc. You really learn how to handle and sharpen a knife. Wolfie I enjoyed your pictures , they bring back good memories thanks for sharing..old243

Looks like fun!

Do this, Wolfie! I too have a big box of pictures through the ages of my family. I can recall many of the names but some of them I have no clue. At this point I am pretty much the oldest surviving person and am in possession of the "box". Been waiting to visit my oldest cousin but now have heard she may not be as sharp as she used to be. If I don't do something all that history will be lost.

I also want to commend you on an excellent post! Thank you!

Moosetrot

We had the largest cast iron wash pot I ever saw. It was in a brick furnace under a roof with a chimney. We made lard and lye soap in it. Year late, some SOB broke up the masonry and stole the pot.

I am guessing it was 60” across the top. No telling what it weighed.

Made a killer Brunswick stew as well.

X 2!

My 87 year old mom just gave me a bunch of photos. Neither one of us could figure out who some of the early pics of our relatives were on the unlabeled photos.

For a young fella you have an old heart Wolfie. Loved it!

Great post Wolfe! Sure wish my family had taken pictures. Usually we did 3 steers and 6 hogs each winter for the extended family. Slaughter one weekend and butcher the next. Butchering was done in Grandmas basement. Made all our sausage, head cheese, rice sausage & blood sausage. Only slaughtering I do anymore is if someone is doing a whole pig roast.

We usually just used a 22 and I did the blood letting, remember getting yelled at by Mom to keep its head out of the dirt while she collected the blood.

Only saw this once but does anyone remember the metal rings that would be poured into the concrete of barn floors? Halter the steer and run a rope from the halter through the ring to a tractor. Pull the head down to the floor and grab the sledgehammer!

Wolfie it’s hard to believe how young you are as you’ve been on here forever, but 1991 was yesterday, lol . Great post !

I was going to say, "Stay out of his way." In the pic after that you can see how big he is.

I enjoyed the pics. It was only 30 years ago---some of those folks are still around. Round them up and get together.

Interesting stuff, Wolfie! I've been in on a hog killing or two, but it has been a good long while. I still own a couple "Hog Scrappers" that folks used to use scrapping the hair off after the dip in boiling water. The two I have I actually bought to use fleshing 'coon hides. A fur buyer I used to sell to down in Greenville, Mi. had his fleshing crew use them and I was very impressed with how fast they could clean a 'coon pelt with the scrappers. All I ever could do well with them was cut massive holes in 'coon hides!

Cool story Wolfy.

Its only a by-gone era if you let it be. That's still alive and well in my circles.