Butchering Pigs
If you have the skill, time and equipment you can of course butcher your own pig carcass. Not many of us do have those things, and will need to employ a professional butcher to turn the massive carcasses into manageable joints, chops, sausages and everything else you want to get from your pig.
Our abattoir delivers straight to our butcher, which means we never have to handle the meat - this is important for us since we sell half-pigs, and otherwise we would need to be licensed by environmental health and inspected. There's no way our kitchen would pass muster!
Assuming you are using a butcher, give him or her plenty of notice of the date of delivery. Most butchers these days are extremely busy, and can't accommodate a sudden delivery of 3 or 4 porker carcasses for butchering. Take the opportunity to discuss exactly what you want them to do. If, like us, you're selling meat on, ask your customers first. A family of 2 won't want large, 3-4lb joints of pork, and similarly a family of 6 won't want a 1lb joint.
If you're not confident about which parts of the pig equate to which cut of meat, take a look at the Wikipedia article on pork cuts - it will give you enough information to decide what you want. Don't forget to ask for the head, offal and trotters - they can all be used to make something delicious, or for dogs if you're not feeling adventurous.
Since we make our own sausages we get all the trimmings, back fat and odds and ends of meat from the butcher. We also take the bellies whole for bacon, and occasionally the loin, for back bacon. Your butcher may be willing to make sausages and bacon for you, but be prepared to pay more.