On-Farm Workshops with Luke Dougherty & Brian Burke

Hog & Beef Butchering and Hog Processing

Friday & Saturday, September 15 & 16, 2023

Making Bacon, Sausage & Capicola; Processing a beef quarter

Friday, September 22, 2023

Beef Processing Day

Saturday, September 23, 2023

Holy Family Farm, Toronto, Ohio

Join Luke Dougherty and Brian Burke in learning to butcher and process hogs and beef. The first Friday morning will complete the dispatch of 2 hogs, which will be skinned and halved. The afternoon will include the dispatch, skinning, and butchering to quarters of a 18 month old steer. The following day the hogs will be processed out and packaged. The goal of this weekend is to walk through the basic steps of butchering your own animals using basic tools and techniques. The butchering and processing will be done using hand tools and other affordable butchering implements. Simple meals will be included. The butchering will take place at the Burke homestead, a small holding of 5 acres, with a dairy cow, pigs, chickens, and a garden. A home made cold room for hanging the meat will be utilized, and an overall tour of the farm and discussion of the butchering set up will be discussed. The first weekend will end with the hanging of the beef quarters, and processing and packaging the hog.

The following weekend there will be another two days of processing. Friday is going to have two parts, with one focus on how to make bacon and sausage and other specialty cures such as capicola. A beef quarter will also be processed out on Friday. Saturday will be focused on the processing and packaging of the three remaining beef quarters.

There is a special price for all four days of workshops of $550/person, or $1000 for a couple.

For those who cannot do all four days, the costs breaks down as follows:

Friday & Saturday, September 15 and 16 – Hog/Beef butchering & hog processing: $300/person or $550 for couple

Friday, September 22 – Bacon, Sausage & Capicola; Processing one beef quarter: $150/person or $275 for couple

Saturday, September 23 – Beef Processing Day: $150/person or $275 for couple

All days will include on-farm lunch and dinner.

Please note that this event is an opportunity to learn the basics of butchering and processing the meat. Participants will not be taking meat home with them from this event as the animals being butchered are ones that will have been raised by the Burke family for their consumption.