The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: white-blazes on April 12, 2013, 09:11:37 am
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Hi all, I responded to an advert for 23 week old saddle backs, but as time has gone by they are now 33 weeks old.
Not had this breed before for our own pork only large whites/middle whites/welsh, basically pink skinned.
If we buy these and keep for a few weeks, (3 boars) are we likely to get boar taint at this age?
Thanks in advance :thumbsup:
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They're way over age now,they must be huge; straight to the butchers would be my advice. We aim to get boars away by 28wks max. You will be able to get both pork and bacon from these.
hth
mandy :pig:
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Thanks Fowgill, not actually seen them yet, hoping to go today and if good take delivery Sunday, then slaughter as soon as 3 week standstill is up. £40 each seems a good price don't you think?
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Do you have pigs already?
stand still rules, exemptions taken from Annex A Version 32
f. Movements to slaughter
Animals may move off premises direct to a slaughterhouse, slaughter collecting centre, dedicated slaughter collection or dedicated slaughter market irrespective of whether livestock have moved onto those premises in the previous 6 days (or 20 days for any pig on a holding onto which other pigs have been moved). From a dedicated slaughter market or dedicated slaughter collection, no animal may return to its premises of origin or move to any premises other than a slaughterhouse.
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No, does this mean standstill wouldn't apply?
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edited my previous post :wave:
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Ah I never knew that, thanks :)
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I don't believe that it applies when you take them to slaughter anyway.(Ah Hassle posted as i did!)
£40 sounds way too cheap for 33wk old pigs, whats the catch, i'd be a bit suspicious, they're not stolen are they?
Mandy :pig:
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No catch, they have 6 this age and another two litters due in the next month. Only trouble is our abattoir is 2 hours away lol :excited:
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Also
Current legislation dictates that movements of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs off a holding can only take place after complying with a stand still period.
The standstill period where cattle, sheep and goats are moved onto a holding is 6 days. Where pigs are moved onto a holding the standstill period is 20 days in circumstances where pigs are moving off. If cattle, sheep or goats are moved onto a holding then no cattle, sheep, goat or pig can be moved off the holding within 6 days of that movement. The standstill period does not include the day of the event. For example, cattle, sheep or goats brought onto the holding on a Saturday will mean that cattle, sheep, goats or pigs will be unable to move off the holding until the following Saturday. If pigs move onto a holding then no pigs can be moved off the holding within 20 days. However, any cattle, sheep or goats on that holding will be able to move after 6 days of the movement on.
For example, pigs move on to a holding on the 1st of the month, cattle sheep and goats can move off on the 8th and pigs can move off on 22nd of the month
I hope this helps and explains the initial stand still rules better for you :wave:
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White-blazes
Also have a look at the abattoir list up above and ask around.
I have some large abattoirs within the hour of me and a butcher shop that still has it's own, I use this it's small friendly and I quicker, due to less queueing. There may still be a butchers near you that does it?
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Duh, hubby has a follow-up dentist on Monday due to root canal surgery so we couldn't get to abattoir then (they only do pigs Mondays) so it looks like we'd have to do the full standstill. We'll go see them today or tomorrow and suss it out. It was the taint that was my main concern. Thanks peeps, you've been most helpful x
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Hassle, we've done this thoroughly the last 2 years. We have a local butcher/abattoir who did our first batch and then let us down badly with the second lot at Christmas despite us booking in in October, so plenty of notice. Others don't do pigs, just sheep. We're on an island so found Wrexham the most helpful as they took ours in that December at short notice. We've used them again since and as they supply another local butcher we arranged for him to collect our carcasses and so meat was picked up locally, so only the one long trip to do.
Heather
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OK no worries, good luck
Kind Regards
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No catch, they have 6 this age and another two litters due in the next month. Only trouble is our abattoir is 2 hours away lol :excited:
Its still going to be very cheap pork You've found a real bargain, the people selling them will have lost shed loads of money on them. It begs the question as to why they are still continuing to breed more pigs.
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There is no standstill on animals going to slaughter.
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There is no standstill on animals going to slaughter.
Correct. You could buy them today and take them to slaughter tomorrow.
I would be vary wary of the quality of meat at that age. Could be ok but also could be very fatty. It will depend on how they've been fed.
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So we could take in 2 weeks?
Another friend is overrun, as they all work they've not got round to advertising/separating so got quite a few now.
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Definitely no standstill on pigs going to slaughter!
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Thanks all. Pigs arriving shortly, will add pics later hopefully.
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Not the same breed, but;
We have taken older KK's that have been used at stud before now & not experienced any boar-taint ...
But, they were totally free-ranging all their lives - which I am told makes a difference. I've also been told that freezing the meat before using it can reduce/prevent taint too.
I would guess that these won't have been "working", so :fc: they'll be :yum:
:love: :pig: :love:
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Thank you. New to this breed so they are smaller than I would have thought at 33 weeks. We'll keep them a couple of months I think, providing the grass spurts now it's a bit warmer.
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I wouldn't worry about the grass growing. If they're saddlebacks you won't have any left in a few days they love to root.
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These seem to be wimps, they're huddling in the shed out of the rain.
This was last Friday, the day they arrived...
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/524136_10151319377815755_1294685714_n.jpg) (ftp://https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/524136_10151319377815755_1294685714_n.jpg)
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Look nice pigs, a good size, Put a tape measure round their chest behind the front legs if it read 40+ inches they're ready to go to the butchers for pork.
HTH
Mandy :pig: