# Castration - Pigs



## TDBone

I got a few questions and figured some of you might be able to offer a few answers or opinions. 

I am trying to understand it better (Not to do it, but just to understand the purpose.).

So, the purpose in castrating boars is that...

- They grow fatter

- They are less sexually aggressive: Don't kill other pigs, etc. (Breeding purposes) 

- The meat tastes better because the bad odor, that is usually dispersed throughout the meat via hormones, etc., doesn't happen when they don't have testicles. 

As far as the taste goes...I assume the testicles must be cut off prior to the kill, prior to reproductive age actually because the storage of the steroid hormone in fat and it's subsequent and continual release is what makes the meat taste bad, I think. I say that because I heard someone say they will cut the testicles off the boar after they kill it so that it won't taste bad - to me, that doesn't make much sense, because the cause of the odorous meat at that point is beyond the testicles...the liver breaks down the testosterone which then, in a different form, is stored in fat and that form is what causes the odor. So, cutting off the testicles after the kill would do nothing to the taste of the meat.

Is my thinking correct?

Thanks.


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## REDMOND1858

Iv never herd of cutting em out after he is dead but after we catch one we cut them out and let him sit in the pin for about a month and feed corn to them and then kill them. Makes the taste better but sometimes cant tell a difference


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## boarbutcher

some people castrate them and pin them to keep the "meat from tasteing bad" but never tried it we just eat. others castrate or "barr" them and turn them back loose so that they can grow to be bigger and grow bigger tusk. they don't break them cause they don't fight.


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## Yotedawg

It's best to get them out early if possible. It's a lot less stressfull on the pig to do it that way. I grew up on a hog farm and castrating 200 lb. boars is iffy. We've had several die from it.

I've got a friend who got a few wild pigs(under 100 lbs.), grain fed them for 2 months and then we butchered and cooked one to make bar-b-que for the church. It was excellent. No wild taste what so ever.


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## gigem

We barr hogs according to the moon fase.Alot less fatalities. You need to feed them out for 2 months.The worst thing in the world for a dog hunter is group of barrs!


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## sghoghunter

People cut them so they dont taste rank or gamey tasting.They also like to feed them out so they wont be so rank tasting but if ya want to pen feed one just go to tha grocery store and get one it will be the same tasting.


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## TDBone

sghoghunter said:


> People cut them so they dont taste rank or gamey tasting.



I hear that. 

But, your not talking about cutting them off after the kill thinking that will cause the meat (Thats already dead) to taste less rank, right? That's the line of thinking my friends were on and from what I know, it doesn't make sense. It appears the testicles must be cut off prior to the kill and a good while before the kill at that. 

What I am trying to find out is if my line of thought is correct...that, cutting the balls off a DEAD pig is not going to make the meat taste better - it won't do anything. In order for the meat to taste less 'rank' or gamey the balls must be off a good deal in advance of the kill.


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## gnarlyone

*nads*

tdbone..you are correct.


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## Derek Edge

TDBone said:


> I hear that.
> 
> But, your not talking about cutting them off after the kill thinking that will cause the meat (Thats already dead) to taste less rank, right? That's the line of thinking my friends were on and from what I know, it doesn't make sense. It appears the testicles must be cut off prior to the kill and a good while before the kill at that.
> 
> What I am trying to find out is if my line of thought is correct...that, cutting the balls off a DEAD pig is not going to make the meat taste better - it won't do anything. In order for the meat to taste less 'rank' or gamey the balls must be off a good deal in advance of the kill.




Yes, while I think your assumtions are correct, you will be hard pressed to prove this to a LOT of old timers, especially the ones I know.  Some guys I know will tear out through the woods to cut the hog after the kill.


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## bear-229

I have heard many say if you don't cut them right the kill they will not be eatable. I also know some who will not touch the meat if the think it is a boar.
I took a friend hunting, he killed a 225lb boar and a 150 sow. We got together a week or two later. He had cooked some of both and I could not tell the difference.


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## fishndinty

If you take care of the meat right after the kill, any hog of any sex and any size will provide matchless table fare.  The key is, with larger hogs and with boars, to soak the meat for a few days in ice water with a bit of vinegar added.  This bleeds the meat out and also gets rid of any gamey flavor.  I fixed up a rank smelling 180 lb boar this way after quartering him, and he was the most delicious wild game I have ever eaten. Bar none.


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## Tpr 325

Cutting the  Balls off after  they are dead does nothing for the taste of the meat...They need to be cut before they are killed and  would probally be best if they  were  cut  for several months  before they are killed..ALSO..Mostley what people  run to  the hog after they are down is to  bleed the hog  out...I don't mean to cut their throats ,,,You can  stick the hog at the point of their neck that would be  where a person's neck meets  their chest...You have stick him with a long enough knife that you can reach the main arterty in his goozle...Let the hog bleed out good and the meat will be better..............This is the way all us old Folks that was raised on the farm and had Hog killing every year does it.............


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