[welshlass181]

Hello all  your friendly pig keeping noob here he he. 

As most of you know i have kune kune crosses on the land that i have.  I called up about a pure kune kune boar to keep as breeding stock but when i spoke to the lady i offered to take the 4 boars from her (she needs shot of them due to health reasons) so we're making a new pen and ark for them with lots of elec fence to keep the lil buggers in until we need them.

3 of the boars above and 2 of the piglet boars that i have (when piglets get a touch bigger) and 3 or 4 of the gilts are going to slaughter when they are a worth while size.  Just spoke to my "local" abattoir and they told me that to kill and cut them is over £50 a pig !!!!!!! i was horrified  i felt that there was no way it was worth that money sending them to slaughter and we were better off keeping them ...... really disheartened.  Anyway, i spent some time on the phone yesterday and spoke to some other slaughter houses in Wales.  Spoke to a really nice guy who put my mind at rest and i was quoted £0.60 per kilo kill and cut.  Need to phone back tomorrow morning and speak to the lady there about the different cuts they do as i have no idea what i am asking for and as i have boars in there whats best to do with them.  This abattoir is not local to me but we felt a lot happier as the guy was happy to help and not curt or anything ...... well anyway.

Getting the boars next week now as we've just bought the stock fence, mesh elec fence and posts and need to make the ark.  Bit daunted about keeping a boar (or 4 boars) with ours but it's no biggy really as the whole field will be done by the end of the month and they can roam as much as they want.

[Liquidator]

Not sure how big the field is but if it's a fair size it may be worth sectioning it and letting them strip graze it.

Our local slaughterhouse charges £31 per pig to slaughter regardless of weight, then our butcher charges £45 to do the cuts and make the sausages.

If you are selling your meat you will quickly recover your costs and if you are keeping for your own use it's good value pork.

Be very precise about what you ask for from the butcher. A couple who bought two of my weaners (which they named Cameron & Clegg!!) to fatten for the freezer got a local butcher to do their cutting and he ended up making all their sausages with Garlic and herbs in them. He'd asked them in the passing if they liked garlic, which they both agreed that they used a lot in cooking so he decided to make all of their sausages with garlic through them.

Good luck

[Cobra]

My slaughter house has their own butcher near by. I pay £36 slaughtered and butchered per pig; which I realise is a good price, obviously sausage etc is extra.

[welshlass181]

My land is 2 acres and to be honest as soon as they have done their jobs in turning the field i shall be culling them down to maybe 2 or 3 sows and a boar but keep them seperate and staggering the litters so we don't get over-run with piggies.  Going to speak to a lady in the slaughter house Friday morning to go through the cut options.  We've got 5 boars to kill so we'll prob end up keeping 2 for hog roasts and the other 3 will be jointed ready to make sausages.  Nothing is set in stone yet i'm still playing this very much by ear

[littlemisspiggy!]

our local abb only charges £15 +vat for kill and £10 +vat for chops and joints! so including vat its £30 a pig!!! i cant believe how expensive some places are!!!!!!!

[Eve]

Can't believe how cheap yours is! 

[littlemisspiggy!]

i know its great!! and its a big place aswell very proffesional etc...feel ver lucky!

[plt102]

Our local abbatoir is MutchMeats in Witney and they will slaughter and butcher for about 40 quid for a pig of about 80 kg, which seems reasonable to me. They charge more for pigs over 100kg. They are really good and friendly and I would highly recommend them.

[Beewyched]

Welshlass 

You mention that you are getting an ark to keep the new boars in - do you mean 1 ark?  Are all the boars litter brothers?

[welshlass181]

Welshlass 

You mention that you are getting an ark to keep the new boars in - do you mean 1 ark?  Are all the boars litter brothers?

Hi yes i mean one ark as they all live together where they are now.  My main aim is to rotate the females he has so i am not inundated with piglets all the time.  I am getting 4 Kune boars that are from the same lady and have lived together since weaning, i am going to keep one and send the rest to slaughter.  I'm also getting a load more sows/gilts/boars and lots of wearner from the lady i got my original pigs from as she is cutting down on numbers.

We've done all the fencing now and we were ready to turn the 9 that we have now out together when my electric fence energiser died on us new one not here for another few days.  We were meant to be getting the 4 Kune boars today but we decided that we need elec fence with boars seeing new females for the first time ....... anyway.  We've got 2 wooden arks in their own pens with stock fencing and elec fence on them so we can house a few boars in there and in the field itself we've got 3 plastic oil tanks (that are being covered with earth in a week or 2) and another plastic ark that we botched up.  The end goal is to have 1 boar that we use and between 5-6 arks in the main field for the girls and we'll also have the boar pen, a holding pen (for mart/slaughter) and a couple farrow pens.

Lots of work to be done for "end game" but getting there.

[Beewyched]

Hiya Welshlass 

Sounds like you're gonna be busy 

Just keep an eye on the KK boars - I know they've been together since weaning BUT they may start fighting as they mature, especially if they can smell a girl in-season.

We "rescued" a couple of registered unrelated boars (long story  ) - who had been together since weaning - they were about 6 & 7-months old at the time & one of them really been having a go at the other, so much so that we thought the placid one had damaged hips    He's ok now & has matured into a nice lad & we are keeping him for stud - just be careful - boys will be boys 

[welshlass181]

Hiya Welshlass 

Sounds like you're gonna be busy 

Just keep an eye on the KK boars - I know they've been together since weaning BUT they may start fighting as they mature, especially if they can smell a girl in-season.

We "rescued" a couple of registered unrelated boars (long story  ) - who had been together since weaning - they were about 6 & 7-months old at the time & one of them really been having a go at the other, so much so that we thought the placid one had damaged hips    He's ok now & has matured into a nice lad & we are keeping him for stud - just be careful - boys will be boys 

We picked them up yesterday and i have to say they are lovely.  We've decided to defo keep 2 of them 1 is going to be our stud boar and the other will be a "pet" and he's going to be castrated.  Hubby wants to keep all 4 and have 3 snipped but i'm not quite convinced just yet lol.  We turned them all out in the field and there was a few scrapes with the biggest boar and the biggest sow but they've all settled in now and will feed together.  They have 5 arks to share and 2 acres to roam and a massive natural water wallow.  Happy piggets

[white-blazes]

The slaughter house charged us £25 each yesterday, and the butcher also wants £25 each to do sausages and cuts.

[Hilarysmum]

If the carcasses are for your own use and money is tight it is worth getting a book or video or even searching the web, for butchery info and having a go at doing it yourself.  Easier if the carcasses are small and cut in half. 

[TheCaptain]

My slaughter house has their own butcher near by. I pay £36 slaughtered and butchered per pig; which I realise is a good price, obviously sausage etc is extra.

You're a Somerset man, Cobra, who do you use?