[Sarahjane610]

 I bought 2 saddleback weaners a few weeks ago and fully intend for them to be meat animals.  I also bought 2 kune kunes at the same time to keep as 'pets'  - mostly for my children.

Problem is that I am becoming increasingly interested in my Saddleback boys and am honestly going to find it really difificult to send them off for slaughter in a few months.

I do keep reminding myself why I got them but it's really hard when they are following me around their field and rolling over for a tummy scratch.

Sure I can't be the only one - how did everyone else manage their first meat pigs?

[Bluff]

We are into our 6th year of keeping pigs and eating home reared pork so we are still quite new at this game. When our first pigs went to the abattoir I didn't sleep for a week before hand so I really understand how you feel.
My words of wisdom for what they are worth
- HFW says that when you look at your pigs you should imagine the pork you are going to get off them. This helps me to keep focussed on the reason for having them
- remember that although they are going for meat, they will have had a life that is a million times better than many pigs out there
-  that without pork there would be no pigs. Meaning that if we didn't eat them these breeds would have been lost.
Finally enjoy them, make friends with them but look forward to the next pigs you will get - maybe a different breed?
By keeping them so friendly you will make their final journey considerably easier for them and for you.
I still feel sad when our pigs go off but love comparing the pork from different breeds and assessing which are better for bacon or sausage or chops etc etc.
I could go on for hours!!
Good luck. Stay strong. And enjoy the sausages!!

[harmony]

Not only remind yourself why you got them but remind yourself what a nuisance two saddleback boys are going to be if you don't send them. And if you are really finding it difficult make sure you only have boys next time round too. Remember the pigs have no problem about going to slaughter it is only us humans!

[CarolineJ]

I was fine, but other half was having a real wobbly moment until the week before they were booked in to go when he was walking down the field carrying two buckets of fencing equipment which Pig 1 mistook for a food skip.  An enthusiastic 11-stone Gloucester Old Spot charged straight between his legs and sent him FLYING and funnily enough he had no problem loading them into the trailer a few days later!

[Marches Farmer]

Guests staying in the farm holiday cottage sometimes ask me if the pigs have names.  I reply that they do ... Porky, Porky, Porky .....    (Actually we name the breeding sows and boar for ease of reference.)  The pigs don't know what's coming - it's just somewhere new for them to sniff around.  If you feed them in the trailer for a few days they'll be easier to load, which keeps the stress level (theirs and yours) down.  Bed the trailer down well and they'll eat the bedding then go to sleep on it.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

I know just how you feel I feel the same every time i send an animal off to slaughter, it is natural to feel these emotions and don't be embarrassed by them, it just shows that you care and have a heart. 

[devonlady]

The day I don't feel sick and guilty taking an animal for slaughter will be the day I become a vegan!

[SallyintNorth]

Keep it very firmly in your mind, as you tickle their bellies and scratch behind their ears, that you are doing this for them, so that they have a nice life.  Try not to make an emotional connection with them - tbh, I mostly avoid eye contact with the animals I'm planning on eating.  I still talk to them, and look at them, and pet/scratch them, and am generally nice to them, but I don't create that dialogue between their  eyes and mine. 

I've been eating my own livestock for a decade now, and I still feel down when any of them goes away. I can rationalise it a lot, but it is always sad.  By the time the meat comes back from the butcher, though, I am always very pleased to try it! 

[pharnorth]

I'm kind of with Devonlady on this, but maybe I don't so much feel sick and guiltily as thoughtful. But I also feel proud we have some a good job keeping them in a very pleasant (for the pig) way. Also, there is a lot to focus on getting right, especially first time through, booking the abbatior, getting the pigs ready to load without stress, paperwork etc. If you haven't done it before worth a dress rehearsal, go to the abbatior a week or two ahead so you know where to go in, are confident you can reverse in if that is an issue etc. And prepare your cut list. The owner at our small abbatior took me into the butchers to go through the cut list about five minutes after we had unloaded the pigs.  He was quite deliberate about it, he knew they were our first ones and while I took a deep breath at the time he was spot on it really helped switch from livestock head on to cook head.

At this stage you have little real option it is not practical to keep boars as pets and the only alternatives involve off loading on to someone else. I hope you cope ok, we have persevered and found it very rewarding.

[Sudanpan]

Abattoir day is never going to be my most favourite day of the year - it is tough to see livestock that you've diligently looked after being sent off. However THEY don't know where they are going and I remind myself,as several others have pointed out as well, that these pigs are having a good quality of life, with tickles and showers and mud baths and rootling and space to be pigs. I eat meat, I prefer to know exactly where my meat has come from and I can be happy that I have done the best for them.
As said earlier, as soon as I don't regret sending them off that's the day to stop keeping them.

[Hairybathplug]

I told myself from the moment my weaners were born there lives were mapped out.  By staying on the farm or being raised by me, the outcome was the same.  Hopfully by being raised by me they had a much better life. Im sure yours will to.

[Caroline1]

We are on our 4th batch and are enjoying them and giving them a great life.

I don't name them, stroke them very differently to how I would stroke a dog and believe me you are still in the cute stage. Just wait until they are about 4 months old, getting bossy and try and give you a nip because you don't pour their food quick enough, it becomes much easier.    Seriously though, you really do appreciate the meat and respect every mouthful and the taste is amazing. Just keep reminding yourself why you are doing it.

My OH gets more attached than me, but he said as soon as it comes back it is pork not pig. I suppose that may be why people have always called it a different name.