[Clarebelle]

There is no abbatoir where we are moving to so we will have to home slaughter our livestock and to be honest this is something i would have considered doing anyway, we have no intention of selling any meat. I just feel that we can make the slaughter a continuation of the good life we intend to give them by making it as stress free as possible. Obviously scale is another big factor when thinking about home slaughter and i know it wouldn't be everyones cup of tea.

[Coeur de Chene]

When we first looked at having pigs, it was a home slaughter that we wanted. We researched it and ended up watching a hundred and one ways of how we wouldn't want our pigs killed on Youtube. There seemed to be so many possibilities for it to go wrong, making it an horrendous experience for all concerned.
I do still believe that it must be the least stressful option, when someone who knows exactly what they are doing is doing it. We didn't think that we would be able to and didn't have the right facilities to do justice to the meat afterwards, so then we decided on abatoir.
Since then, our neighbour has home killed their pig and when I helped with the prep of everything afterwards, they offered us the use of all their equipment and all their expertise when we do ours. They are French country people in their seventies and have always home slaughtered a pig a year. They want the tradition to continue and I know they would slaughter our pigs too, if I asked them. Maybe another discussion with the OH...

[devonlad]

That's beginning to sound a bit like a plan.
This has been one of my very favourite threads and has encapsulated not only the thing I like best about TAS, the chance to have contact with others who  love, care and respect their animals but also live in the real world where it is realised that the reason the animals exist and give so much joy and pleasure is because there is an end result. I have just come in from watching my favourite show of the year, the twilight lamb parade. All our lambs have now got big enough to join in the nightly charge up and down the fence, leaping and twisting with total abandon. God it makes me smile and I cant wait for tomorrow night to see it all again. Later this year over half those gorgeous bounding little creatures will be freezer bound, but before then they will have every chance to run and be care free. My neighbours are lousy customers as they never manage to move on from the cute little mites haring round our field and cannot understand how we devote so much time on them and can then eat them. . instead they go to Tescos and buy lamb of unknown provenance or buy boxed lamb from a farm up the road. anything but eat the lambs they've seen through their kitchen window. thanks for starting this thread I've loved it

[honeyend]

I have not eaten meat for nearly 30 years but last summer I had my first pigs and took them to slaughter myself. They slept in the trailer well bedded down the night before and when they arrived they were chilled and followed a bucket down the ramp to the lairage. If they were stressed they didn't look it. So many animals have a horrible life that making sure your animals are well looked after right to the end is a good feeling.
 I do not treat them as pets, but they live in piggy luxury to the end.

[Cactus Jack]

Couer de chene make the most use of your neighbours that you can, especially if they are old. If they are anything like mine then they will then ask you to help them and then you learn even more.
My pigs go whilst eating a biscuit fed by hand, pure luxury for them, I'm mean with my biccies
No stress at all, only for me, but that's getting better each time.
Pig roast here at my place in June only 23 people coming so far.......

[Coeur de Chene]

Thanks for the thanks Devonlad! It's been fascinating reading everyones experiences. I've been spending so long talking to myself (and to my plants, pigs and pets) since we took this on that to say something and get such detailed and thought out answers has been wonderful!! A real insight into why everyone is doing this.
Cactus Jack, I wish we could join you for a pig roast, your place sounds so lovely and you sound like you've really integrated.
Honeyend, how did people who knew you as a vegetarian take the change? Or should this be a new thread? I've had a few comments...!

[hafod]

What a great thread. The only input I have is to echo what's already been said. Make the whole loading process as stress free as possible. Our first took hours too load - he got stressed I got stressed - not great .
We learnt a lot that day, we now leave loads of time - sometimes load the night before if we have a morning slot.
If you do send them to the abattoir it might be worthwhile talking to someone who works there, finding out about the process, finding out what time to get them there so they don't have to wait around (the bit I don't like the thought of). Our last pigs were in a holding pen for two minutes max while the vet looked at them, then straight through - I was happy with that. 

[hughesy]

It's all relative to the number of pigs you take to slaughter and how often you do it. The first few times we went we had mixed feelings but these days we're at the abattoir pretty much every week and it's just become a chore. We appreciate our pigs as much as anyone but the focus tends to be on the end product once they're loaded for the final trip.

[SallyintNorth]

It's definitely worth doing some practise loads, so the pig(s) know the trailer's okay - and probably expect to find treats or their evening meal in there

They won't like any lack of stability in the ramp or trailer, so make sure it's very firmly positioned and can't tip, and the ramp is fully supported so won't bounce or wobble.  (First time I loaded a full-grown pig, I hadn't accounted for the weight of the pig in the back of the trailer, and as she climbed in, the nose wheel left the ground and pointed at the sky!  So support it front and back if it's not connected to the car when you load.)

I put a heavy mat on the ramp to load my pigs - they didn't like the supposedly 'non-slip' metal surface, and strawing it didn't help much, but they are happy with a nice grippy carpet or mat.  Of course make sure it won't slide about.

I always load the pig(s) the night before, give them a light last feed as they load, and a drink which I take away at bedtime.  Lots of straw to snuffle about in and make a comfy bed in.  Then just drive away in the morning - they usually don't even notice and sleep all the way to the abattoir.  In fact I've had several so relaxed I struggled to get them to come out of the trailer!  (Not through being stressed or scared, just through being comfortable and happy.)

At our abattoir they generally do go straight through, but they are unloaded into large strawed pens at first, so of course they get busy snuffling and rootling, far too busy and inquisitive to worry about where they are, why and what's going to happen next.

If I have to take one pig somewhere, which sometimes happens, I still load it the night before but I have the trailer where it can hear and talk to other pigs.  (Which may mean other pigs spending a night in the byre, but they don't seem to mind.)  Pigs are always reassured if they can hear another pig

If you load earlyish in the evening the night before, you've got all the time in the world and you don't get stressed and anxious if the pig doesn't load straight away.  If you leave it till morning, you have time pressure on you, so, livestock being livestock, that's precisely when they will decide not to load.    And you can't bodily lift a pig, or 'shoo' it, the way you can sheep or cattle.

[Bionic]

I always load the pig(s) the night before, give them a light last feed as they load, and a drink which I take away at bedtime.  Lots of straw to snuffle about in and make a comfy bed in.  Then just drive away in the morning - they usually don't even notice and sleep all the way to the abattoir.  In fact I've had several so relaxed I struggled to get them to come out of the trailer!  (Not through being stressed or scared, just through being comfortable and happy.)


If you load earlyish in the evening the night before, you've got all the time in the world and you don't get stressed and anxious if the pig doesn't load straight away.  If you leave it till morning, you have time pressure on you, so, livestock being livestock, that's precisely when they will decide not to load.    And you can't bodily lift a pig, or 'shoo' it, the way you can sheep or cattle.

Yep, I agree with all of this. Early evening loading the night before is less stressful for all of us. We leave the car attachet to the trailer so it can't tip up and we just drive off with sleeping piggies the next morning 

[GypsyManor]

I always feel so guilty taking our herds to slaughter, as we call it, end of the road, but all of our pigs have names, and always been told never to name what you eat, but it feels better knowing that you've named the animal and have given it the best lease in life you possibly could, some of the pigs we've sent to slaughter have been so upsetting, but it has t be done to eat REAL meat, not some horrible crap that you buy from supermarkets! As much as I love pork, I love my pigs too! They are in the best place Not in some comercial farm breeding 24/7 and having no break from anything!

We love our OSB's, they're our world!