Like pigs to slaughter
Posted: Saturday 3 July, 2004
Our pigs are booked into the abattoir for Tuesday 13th July. As before we're borrowing a trailer from a friend - we couldn't justify the expense of a livestock trailer of our own at the moment. The butcher is also sorted, with instructions for what is to happen to which pig.
The largest pig we will keep half of and sell half of, and the belly will remain intact for bacon-making. I'm planning on building a smoker in the next couple of weeks so we can produce smoked bacon and ham, and experiment with cheese, eggs and fish. The smoker will probably be based on HFW's description in his first book - basically 2 inverted metal dustbins, the top one slighter smaller than the bottom one, on top of a heat source (I'm hoping to find a gas burner or an electric hot plate which will do the job rather than a bbq or similar), on top of which sits a tray with the wood chips. Progress (success or disaster!) will be reported here.
We've sold 4 half pigs and will be keeping a whole pig ourselves this year. It is economic - we'll make a small profit and will have a whole pig in the freezer which should do us a year.
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