In this vlog, Victor Justin Rhodes walks viewers through a winter‑time pork harvest on his North Carolina homestead. He begins by lighting a fire and heating water for scalding, describing propane and torch issues in 27 °F weather and the need to keep the water from freezing. He explains the target scalding temperature (around 150–171 °F) and how he monitors and adjusts it with a hose. The video then details the humane shooting process: aiming at the "X" between the ears and eyes, positioning the shot relative to the anus, and the emotional impact of missed shots, especially on a younger family member. After the pigs are stunned, he describes the skinning and evisceration steps, noting timing (about three minutes at target temperature) and challenges such as overheating the water or cooling it too quickly. Throughout, family members (Jonah, Josiah, Lily, and others) assist with chores, learn the process, and share reactions, highlighting the labor‑intensive but rewarding nature of the harvest. He reflects on the total yield—211 lb and 191 lb hanging weights for two pigs, totaling roughly 402 lb of pork—and the value of producing their own organic meat, contrasting it with store‑bought options. The vlog concludes with remarks on winter preparation, water management, and the pride of providing organic pork for the family.
Chapters
I think it's too cold for my torch to work. The propane system. Start this fire. I should have done this last night. Kept these inside. The lighter wouldn't work up there either. Start this fire the old-fashioned way. We actually lit that pretty good. Without the torch. There's a good breeze. It's really good dry wood. Absolutely critical that we get this water heated up first thing. Now we need to drain our hose so that we can use this hose later today. It's— did I say it's 27 degrees out here? So that'll freeze pretty fast. We're going to need it to wash off the carcass later. Practice shooting. Just remember the feel for it. And it's good that you cock it again in case you miss first time. You gonna shoot your first pig today? Maybe. I like it. You got to pay attention to see that the shell pops out or not. Yeah, shell didn't pop out. Shell got caught up in there. Yeah, you have to pay attention. And don't load it if it— because that just makes it worse. Now reload one. Make sure the shell pops out. It did. Good. All right, let's check the fire. We've done chores, we need to check this fire. We need 150. I mean, we really need over 150. We can cool it down a lot. 171. Oh, 171? You sure? Yeah, I just got my glove wet. I hit— I can't— you can't see the bottom, so I slammed my hand into it. No, it's not there yet. It's like 130. Let's load it up. It'll be there by the time we get back. By the time we get over here with the pig, it'll be 150, maybe more. We'll have to cool it down with this hose. 8:40. Josiah, you think we can do this one pig at a time? One pig in 2 hours? Maybe. I think it's worth a shot. Basically, we're hitting the X between the ears and the eyes. The X. And then think about lining up with their anus. Yeah, like that. So you don't want to shoot too far down. You don't want to shoot— you don't want to shoot too far down. Lead them down and then come back up so that they're facing this way. Okay, have you missed a pig? Uh, I don't think I have. Getting close though. Get a couple inches. Catch a couple. Oh yeah, twice. Yeah, you got to get way down low on this one. All right, there he goes. There you go. Gotta get a little closer. Jonah missed. I'm gonna tell you from my own experience, I've not missed with pigs, but with cows twice. It's the worst feeling you can imagine. It's probably the worst homestead feeling ever, missing on slaughter day. Bless his heart, my heart goes out to him. Unfortunately, I cannot show this on YouTube. What we did. If you need to know what to do when, when you miss— 170. Should we cool it down a little bit? We're gonna try it at 170 and then just not have it in as long. We'll see what happens. It could cook it, and that could be the problem. Let me see what Jonah thinks he wants to do. Hey, it's at 170. Should we cool it off? No, just do it shorter time. Could cook it. I'm not too worried about that. I actually think it's Hot. Okay. All right, all right, I got to get a straight curve. Do 30 more seconds. I thought we were good, but I wasn't going at the body— I mean the arms. Yeah, let's do it. That's good. Skin's peeling right there. Yeah, I guess we got it too hot. Just do like this, okay? This is really weird. I'm cramping up. Okay. Okay. Whew. My thumb was stuck just like this. That was weird. I've never had that happen before. What is the matter with your hand? We are at 8:40. We are at 2 hours and we haven't even eviscerated yet. That skull did not work out. 170. We tried it, it just did not work out. It's gonna be worth the effort just to get, um, the water cooled off. Like, you got it? Yeah. Proud of you, buddy. That's gonna help a lot. You're doing this. We're going to get the second pig. You nervous? Yeah. Okay, listen, it's one of the greatest feelings in the world when you nail it right. It's one of the worst feelings in the world when you don't. You know how the ears— imagine there's a net right there, but more pointing towards the butt. Act like you're gonna shoot it out of its butt. Boom. Yeah. Yep. Kind of crazy to think I've got boys that cannot only drive these machines, but they can also harvest the pig. We're at 156. I'm gonna say that's 150. I'm thinking no, because it'll cool off by the time we get get to the second, and we definitely don't— the second half— and we definitely don't want it to, uh, get too cold because then it's really hard to get to. It's easy to cool it off with some water, but really hard if we have to get a fire going again and wait for the water to heat up. Through 2 and a half minutes, it's a little warm. Normally I'm aiming for 150 for 3 minutes. Okay, a bit easier. Probably 25% easier. Not 50% easier like maybe I would have hoped for, but definitely easier. And you know, it is winter. It is just onset winter too, so they had just grown in a bit of a coat. Uh, yeah, I'm glad I didn't cool that off. Maybe it's 146. 1 o'clock. I always underestimate these things. Okay, we still have to eviscerate this one. We still have to package the one Jonah did. They don't even want to break for lunch. I'm like, Lily, will you heat up leftovers? And they're like, we're just gonna go right through. That's a good feeling right there. 8 months. 8 months of work moving them around, making sure they have their deep bedding, making sure they have their water, feeding them. And then 6 hours of harvest. Note to self: takes us 3 hours per pig for next time, not 2. Got him helping me clean up. Feels so good. That is our— going to be our own organic pork. We can only find organic bacon in the store, sometimes sausage. Let alone a tenderloin or a pork chop or my favorite, pork rinds. Boys have a friend over. They've been playing this afternoon. They worked so hard and they had such good attitudes, we went ahead and did their afternoon chores. We had to get an extra water. We had to get ahead of them in the winter because that will freeze overnight. So we have to go ahead and set up tomorrow's paddock with water, and then you just break the surface. You can't, can't run water through our pipes which are on the ground. Not too worried about that because in the winter For the most part, we put people in the pole barn. It's warm enough here in the mountains of North Carolina, usually gets about 40 in the afternoon, and everything thaws out and we're able to do the water. We're gonna sneak away. They're totally expecting to do this. We're not even gonna tell them we did it. We're just gonna try to be cool, and they're gonna come out here and say, huh? They're gonna be confused at first. You're gonna go play with them? Yeah. Okay, well, don't say anything about it. Okay, snuck and did the boy's chores. Oh boy, that's fun. So they're in for a surprise. I think he's walking down to get the mower. Yeah, he's going on chores. Yeah, he's about to get in the mower to go do chores. Uh-oh, my cup fell in. You and your cup. Okay, I got some pictures and a video from Grandma of those pigs going into the butcher. You will not believe what they weigh. Let's cut to those photos. In the video of Grandma taking in the pigs. 211 pounds hanging weight for one of those. I believe the other one was 191. Mucho chancho, y'all. Lots of pig, lots of pork coming our way. Happy day.
