The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: TESS1963 on April 12, 2011, 09:25:48 pm
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Hi - I have brough five Gloucester Old Spot boars up to pork weight over the winter - three going a month ago, who came back with about an inch of fat and because I am always a little bit about boar taint, no sign of it at all. Therefore very pleased. The two remaining, are 24 weeks this Thursday and are booked into slaughter. I am a bit concerned, because these two have been working on each other and being very tame, when they come over to me, talking away, if you bend down close to them, you can smell a very boary smell on their breath. As I said, they are only 24 weeks and have been kept in a single sex unit. Has anyone else experienced this and what did the carcasses come back like - reassurance needed!
Many thanks
Teresa
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Hi,
We have taken boars to 7 - 8 months with no sign of taint.
All I suggest is get them booked in soon, and ask the slaughterman to let you know if they can detect any taint - they seem to have a good nose for it.
Thanks
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Don't worry, they'll be fine.
I'm one of those who can smell boar taint, hubby can't. Before I had pigs and found out about boar taint, I thought there was something wrong with my sense of smell. I didn't understand why only I thought that the (shop bought) bacon had the smell of urine, hubby thought I was going mad ::)
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Why not use the search (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?action=search) function? There are at least 5 threads on this which would have answered your question, and posting there rather than opening a new thread keeps the information in one place and of more use to people in the future.
Thanks :wave:
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Hi, I did use the search for boar taint before posting my question and have read several articles and forum threads
on boar taint, as I am only interested in keeping boars back for meat. What I really wanted to know from others, was
if you abide by all the rules, i.e. sending off between 24 and 26 weeks, single sex units, has anyone ever had meat
come back tainted?
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Our boars went at 7 months and came back fine. That said, some of our bacon was not nice at all ... mostly the streaky. Will do some research on this as I often don't touch pork wioth a certain "smell" but I'm not 100% sure what that smell is!! ;D
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Never had it ourselves, however, we were warned that when males pee the urine can splash up over belly and if they are more mature it may cause the belly in particular to have an odd taste.
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Our boars went at 7 months and came back fine. That said, some of our bacon was not nice at all ... mostly the streaky. Will do some research on this as I often don't touch pork wioth a certain "smell" but I'm not 100% sure what that smell is!! ;D
That smell is taint Loosey :wave:
Some folk think it smells like urine, I think it smells like farmyards and boars ::)
More often women can smell it and men can't. Think it's something like 1 in 4 women that can detect it. I'm super sensitive to it and just can't eat the meat, doesn't bother hubby or the kids though - I only ever get it in shop bought pork because I raise gilts for slaughter or castrated males, so it's never a problem ;)
It may have been the cure used for your streaky though, especially if it was only that which was a bit dodgy.
Karen x
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We went to some friends for dinner last night and they had bought sauasages from a rare breed farm down the road (big set up). As soon as they came out of the oven I knew I wouldn;t be able to eat them. It smells to me a little bit synthetic ... very hard to describe. Havne't had any problems with any of our other pork at all but do remember having some shop bought belly that smelt and tasted horrid ...We too are also only raising gilts now :)
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I'm very sensitive to the smell of it in shop bought meat, especially bacon.
I send my boys off between 7 and 8 months.....Never had a problem with taint with them.
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I've noticed it several times in shop bought unsmoked bacon and couldn't eat it (hubby gobbled up the lot), but never from our own (always entire) boars who are in single sex units, go for slaughter anything up to 28 weeks, and have quite a few times embarassed us in front of visitors trying to mount each other and demonstrating where the expression "getting scr*wed" comes from... :-[
I remember hearing or reading that if you smoke the bacon, the smoke hides the taint smell.
Don't worry, Tess, they'll be fine. :wave: