Jacob Wiegand

Photojournalist

Of Hogs and Hotops

School: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

The oldest boy of Rueben Hotop&...n rural Perry County, Missouri.

The oldest boy of Rueben Hotop's 13 children, Ronnie Hotop of Perryville, Missouri, lights a fire under a cooking pot shortly prior to 7 a.m. before the start of hog butchering on a farm in rural Perry County, Missouri.

Handling hog from left: Nathan ...ks, pork chops, ribs and bacon.

Handling hog from left: Nathan Richardet, Brian Leible, Mike Hotop and Mike's son Austin Hotop take a hog off the trailer for butchering. Seven hogs were butchered on the occasion. Mike said some of the products from the butchering would include sausage, pork steaks, pork chops, ribs and bacon.

JD Jenkins of Marble Hill, Miss...recently decapitated hog heads.

JD Jenkins of Marble Hill, Missouri, (left) and Pat Hotop of Perryville, Missouri, (one of Rueben Hotop's 13 children) work with recently decapitated hog heads.

From left: Brian Leible, Mike H...pa always butchered.”

From left: Brian Leible, Mike Hotop, Mike's son Austin Hotop and Pat Hotop tend to butchering a hog. "I'm 53 and I don't ever remember a year not doing it," Mike, one of Rueben Hotop's 13 children, said. “Even when I was little my dad and my grandpa always butchered.”

A tag displaying the name &...fter slaughtering and cleaning.

A tag displaying the name "Hotop" is seen on the body of a hog. Ronnie Hotop said the numbers indicate the hog's "live weight on foot" and the weight after slaughtering and cleaning.

Andy Kliefoth of Kansas City, ...hing of that nature.

Andy Kliefoth of Kansas City, Missouri, (left) and Pat Hotop put hog parts into a pot to cook. Diane Mahnken of Perryville, one of Rueben Hotop's 13 children, said normally they take the cooked meat and, using the hog blood, make blood sausage, but this year the blood wasn't kept like it was supposed to be. This year Mahnken said they'll use the cooked meat to make either head cheese, liver sausage or something of that nature.

Avoiding hog splines, Adam Hoto... and livers into a cooking pot.

Avoiding hog splines, Adam Hotop, 15, (left) and Pat Hotop put hog hearts and livers into a cooking pot.

From right: Julia Kliefoth, Ste...as sausage casings are prepped.

From right: Julia Kliefoth, Stefanie Kuntz, Austin Hotop, Valerie Hotop and Terina Dillahay share a moment as sausage casings are prepped.

Terina Dillahay of Perryville,...into sausage casing.

Terina Dillahay of Perryville, Missouri, (left) and Austin Hotop work with hog meat shortly after it was put into sausage casing.

Mike Hotop (center) gives a pie...it’s like.”

Mike Hotop (center) gives a piece of meat to Roger Schremp of Apple Creek, Missouri, next to Julia Kliefoth (right) while also working with Stefanie Kuntz (far left) and Pat Hotop (second from left) to take cooked hog meat off the bone. "Honestly, when I was a kid, used to just love it. We used to run and play and up and down the creeks and always playing outside and all adults did all the work," Mike said. "And then, as it went, then we started doing it cause we like the fresh pork. You know doing it ourself. We like to do it. We had the facilities. We had the equipment. … Decided to keep it going. Make our kids know what it’s like.”

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Public Project

Of Hogs and Hotops

Copyright Jacob Wiegand 2025

Updated Jul 2023

Location Perry County, Missouri

Topics Spotlight

Summary

For the Hotop family, hog butchering is a decades-old tradition passed down from generation to generation.

Paul Hotop said his late father, Rueben Hotop, taught him how to butcher and his father taught him.

“It’s something our dad did whenever he was young, he taught us to do it and now I’m teaching my boys to do it,” Paul said. “Not many people do it anymore. We like to know where our meat comes from.”

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