We do about 4-5 hogs a year when it's real cold. We have a big cast iron shallow pit that is about 4 ft wide. We heat the water in drums and cast iron pots and when we get that water to a rolling boil, we shoot the hog, bleed him, and put the water in the pot. Stick the hog in there and roll him around until that hair can be pulled off easy. You may have to get some o the hard to get places with buckets of water by pourin it on them. We also only do the front end and then the back end when it's a big Barr. Pop the nails off with a bucket of hot water and then gut em and then hang em in a tree over night.
We did it almost the same but we dug a hole at a 45 degree angle or so and set a 55 gallon drum in it and slid the hog in head first. Poured the hot water over him until the water ran out of the drum. Rolled the hog over in drum and pulled the hair to see if it was ready.
Once it is ready we pulled the hog out over the plywood floor. We had a few men using large knives scraping the hair off while others pulled the hair off by hand. We worked fast because once the hog cooled off it was hard to pull or scrape the hair. Once cooled off we repeated the process...Also used tote sacks layed over the hog and poured hot water over the sack onto the hog. This steamed the hog and made it easier to scrape and pull hair before having to put the hog in the drum...Do not leave the hog in the drum too long or it will start cooking...
