In the interest of getting a bit more conversation here I'll offer up another thread.
What do you guys use to grind up your critters? I have an LEM #8 grinder i traded somebody for, it works great for a few deer or an elk, we also use it for stuffing sausages and grinding hogs and beef as well. It is about a $300 machine, it works well but if I had $700 i would have a #32 grinder instead, once you use one there is no compare!
The beauty of slaughtering your own hogs is we get to keep our own trim vaccuum sealed in 10lb chubs for mixing with the buger or sausage. We also have a 6' high aluminum homemade gas smoker that we can smoke sausges, hams, anything up to a whole hog in. We cut and grind on a dedicated meat cutting table we made out of endgrain hardwood about waist high that is 4'x7' which gives us plenty of room for several guys to cut and work. Elk, hogs or beeves get hung on the tractor and quartered (beeves get halved, then quartered) and brought in the room and hung as quarters, deer get skinned in the other room and torched off before the are brought in and hung to help eleminate hair in the final cutting room. Burger/breakfast sausage gets stuffed in burger tubes and sealed with hog rings, then the roasts are paper wrapped, steaks, chops, bacon and other cuts get vaccuum sealed or parer wrapped depending. If i get a chance to take pic's i'll post them if there is interest.