Picking Up Two Live 90lb Pig/Boar Breed Mix

Well guys, I was cruising Craigslist and came across a guy giving away two pigs that were crossed with a wild boar and each weighs around 90 pounds and is ready to slaughter! I am probably going to dispatch them there and go ahead and stick them that way they will bleed out and not get it all in the back of my Jeep. Gonna get them home then and dress them out whole and figure out what to do with meat and carcass at that point. Gotta see how much fat is on the animals before I go past that point. I planned on doing one of them whole and the other separating into smaller cuts, i.e. ribs, butts, etc and freezing those for later.

My question is, has anyone ever had any experience cooking a smaller pig whole on any of the their equipment? I am almost at a loss on how to cook these things since all I have is a Weber Performer, a Weber Gasser, a Mini WSM, and a Brinkmann electric, but when I saw that two whole pigs and all their meat was being given away for absolutely free I had to jump. It's just too exciting cooking a whole animal to pass up. That said though, need be I can process them both and freeze the one whole and figure out how to physically get the things to smoke later. I think I might try to build a block fire pit since we have those already and try to rent a spit from somewhere in Alabama. Anyone know of a company in northern Alabama that rents those? I've read online about people renting them but haven't really been able to find ANYTHING close to me.

Any help would be great! Gonna be some damn good eating I have a feeling, but being the one to end an animals life really brings the food scene full circle and makes you appreciate the life the animal gives to sustain us.

Here's a picture of one of the guys -

That looks great from what I saw on her website. I am 90% sure that we already have everything for a simple cinder block pit like that. I see she skinned her pig, which I might do to save the hassle of scalding and scraping/shaving a whole hog.

Yeah, it just makes me sick to think that I am losing all that skin that could crisp up and be oh so good. I know that I am going to skin the one that I break down, but the whole one I am still debating. I guess it depends on when I get the thing home and see what the whole situation is playing out like.

Thanks Ron, hopefully I can get this all done without too much hassle. I may just end up taking the damn things to a processor to be broke down.

Will do! Gonna be my first time handling a carcass alone without the help of my father, but I am 90% sure I can handle it. Done a dozen deer alone before, so this shouldn't be any harder. Cooking it is what I'm most nervous about!

cowgirl thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did you notice any ill effects from torching the skin instead of scraping? I heard from somewhere that it leaves the follicles in the skin and they would end up being almost as bad as full sized hair in the skin at the end of a roast. I really don't know if that is true and if isn't and hasn't turned out that way in your roasts, I am totally going to do it that way. I planned on buying one of the long propane torches anyways for lighting my smokers, so I hope that it will work and I can keep all that skin. So much good food there no doubt!

Never ever though about that. Probably be a great way to get the front split too and seperate the spares from the baby backs and such. I have a bandsaw but it's in the woodshop and is pretty damn dirty.

Thank you so much Cowgirl! I'll give the torch a try and see how it goes. If not I'ma skin the dern thing and say to hell with it. The dogs can have treats for a year with two pig skins.

And I will have pictures soon! We didn't get around to killing them this weekend since my grandma was in bad shape. Dementia is a hell of a disease. The piggies will still be there next weekend though since I'm paying the guy $25 to feed them another week and they will be as good of eating as any still. I guess I'll wait till this weekend too to celebrate my birthday and not today too! LOL. Mighta worked out better.