[Hilarysmum]

As one who is desperate to be a granny and far more than 40+ but substituting piglets for Grandchildren (some say what is the difference - you can eat a badly behaved piglet NSPCC frown upon this action for grandchildren).

I am not sure with saddlebacks, in my own experience only - tamworths are much slower, tamworth cross gos are much quicker, as early as 5 months, (which is why we separate ours at around this age).  This of course could just be our particular genetics.

It is probably best to push them on at around 5 months old and send them off, you will get small pork but delicious.  I know this sounds horrendous, so have 2 more (preferably same sex or neutered male) lined up ready so that as soon as the 2 go you have another couple.  (Bribe father in law with the gorgeous chops).

Pigs with 5 back legs would be nice, but possibly not practical with the walking?  Then again a 2 headed pig would be a disaster.  Especially if it followed Kate's saddleback Laura and bit bottoms!!!!!

Dont worry plenty of time yet, just keep your eye open around 5 months.  HM

[pigsatlesrues]

Our Saddleback X was successfully active at about 6 months old and caused us a nightmare with 5 young gilts. We normally castrate very early, but he just got left for some reason so no one to blame but ourselves, and he broke out one night. The females can come into season just as early and once he got a wiff of the them that was it.

A young male Tamworth from our very first litter was left intact and at the time we chose not to castrate him but knew he had to go to slaughter early. Unfortunately he 'jumped' on his sister litterally en-route to the barn and the result was a litter of five, 3 of which were deformed. One died at two days old, mum sat on her, and the other two are still here - the female is deaf, has no ear holes, has tiny stumpy little ears and has the strangest shape. Her brother is also a strange shape, and has ears that look as if the have been trimmed with a pair of scissors. Both are darlings, but a good advertisement for NOT in breeding.

I think you are going to have to process yours early as HM says, and in future only have females or castrated males. Once the hormones kick in two males together can get very rough with eachother and the tussles can begin quite early on, and the consequence of both sexes you know.

It is all good fun and this is a good learning curve for you. You never stop learning, we still make mistakes and I am sure will continue to do so, that is what makes it fun I suppose!!

Enjoy you pigglys and keep us posted on their goings on - there are bound to be some excellent piggy tales to tell!

Kate

[AMunro]

Hi to all of my friends here - I haven't forgotten all of your fab advice from the beginning of my little journey & for those of you who don't read my blog, here's today's posting...  btw, I get 2 more weaners this weekend....


:
I woke up this morning with a headache & eyes that looked like a sheep's fanny. I made the big mistake last night of going in to see E & T (can no longer call them by their full names) after a couple of glasses of wine to say goodbye. It was awful, I just couldn't stop crying & felt physically sick at the thought of what I was going to do today. I gave them lots of cuddles & a good brush until Jeff came and rescued me - I think I would have ended up sleeping with them if I'd been left to my own devices...

So this morning, my eyes were puffy & red & I was absolutely dreading Trevor's arrival at 8. With every minute that passed, my heart was beating faster (literally, even though I know that sounds a bit dramatic). When he turned up, I just went into auto-pilot. I didn't think about what we were doing, it was just all hands on deck to try to get these two fairly huge pigs into the back of Trevor's trailer. I thought that not feeding them this morning would've helped, but to be honest it didn't! They came out of their pen ok, but then wanted to sniff & poke at bloody everything in sight. Trevor was behind them trying to push them along a bit faster with a big piece of board & Jeff was at the side of them guiding them in the direction we wanted them to go & I was in front of them with a feed bucket doing my best to get them to follow me. We got them to the foot of the trailer eventually, but getting them up the ramp was not easy. There was quite a bit of protest squealing & grunting & maybe a little bit of swearing but we finally got them up into the trailer. I've no idea how we could've done it any easier - if anyone out there has any tips, they'd be greatly appreciated...

So off Trevor & I went to the abattoir which is only about a 20 minute drive from here. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, although I was a bit put off by the size of the place. It's apparently a 'medium-sized' abattoir and I understand there are no longer any small ones near here, but I'm going to research that a bit more for my next pigs. There were quite a lot of vehicles pulling in at the same time - not huge trucks, but trailers. Nothing actually happened there which made me worry or believe they were going to be treated badly, nothing like that, but because they had a reasonable amount of livestock to deal with, E & T were left in a holding pen & Trevor & I had to leave them there. I was told they would be there an absolute maximum of 30 minutes, but I wasn't that happy as we drove off. They were actually fine - it's a lovely sunny day here & to be honest, I think they were just wondering what all the fuss was about - they happily trotted off up to the pen & were last seen snuffling around, marveling at the new sights & smells. There were no terrible noises coming from inside the building, I just would have rather them go straight in & be dealt with. Of course I know that nobody was mean to them after I left, but there's always a niggling voice telling you otherwise, isn't there? Especially when you're a worrier like I am! As Trevor said though, it's us who put a human perspective on the whole process - those two pigs were absolutely none the wiser about what was going to happen & I do honestly believe that.

I did get a bit teary after I'd seen their fat bums waddling off up the ramp, but I'm fine now, just a bit shell-shocked I suppose.

I'm still a little bit worried that I wont be able to eat their meat, but I'm sure after a couple of days, I'll feel differently. Trevor will have butchered E for us after they get delivered to him tomorrow & I'm going to pick the meat up on Friday from him. He's going to keep T on ice until the wedding party... So, all being well, we might just be having pork for Sunday lunch this weekend. I'll obviously let you know how that all goes!

So, lessons learned from this experience:

- never go in to say goodbye
- don't get so wound up about the whole thing, it's actually not that bad
- before the day of reckoning, get them used to moving from one area to another!

I'm amazed I've managed to do this, but I'm really proud of myself for doing it. Living in a city, I was so far removed from the food chain & never gave any of this stuff a second thought. This is real life and maybe if everyone got a little closer to it in some small way, we wouldn't have so much animal cruelty in the world, all for the sake of our tummies...

I'll have a drink to my two pigs this evening, I hope you'll all join me.

[Rosemary]

I will raise my glass tonight to you and your pigs! Well done!

First time is the worst and reading your post, it was exactly as I felt when we took our first pigs to slaughter. I'm sure you'll be able to enjoy the meat - safe in the knowledge that it was properly taken care of.

Rosemary

[Hilarysmum]

Its the same for everyone, I still resort to a bottle of wine night before slaughter.  However, stern talking to here....

Your pigs had a wonderful life, would you rather they had been shut up with 30 others in a barn or stall, never eaten grass, seen the light of day until they went in a crowded lorry to slaughter.  You cried, thats good, its a sad day when someone who has taken so much care of an animal can casually wave goodbye at the slaughter house door.

Now eat some chops, remember them with joy, remember too that without people like us, pigs like them dont get the chance of a decent life and death with dignity.

Ok lecture over, just pour a glass of wine and start planning the recipes.  You are about to have a taste experience that so few people are ever priviliged enough to enjoy  in this mass produced meat world.  HM

[Jayhawk]

Well done Alex. I'm raising a glass to you and yours

[pigsatlesrues]

I too felt every pang! The end bit doesn't get any easier for me, and I always have a few tears, but for me I have to do the cuddle thing, and I have to give them a little love when they are 'all done' as well. When the meat is in front of me I can say goodbye and move on. 

The next bit of the process is really important for me because it is then that I have to work out how I can use every bit of carcuss and not waste any. I just couldn't bare to do that even if it means the scraps go to the dogs.  So far I think I have acheived my goal, although up to now I haven't used the blood. That is my goal in the near future to make black pudding then I will feel that I have totally respected my dear little friend and 'done right by him/her'.

There really isn't anything quite like the taste of meat you have raised yourself, and I quite agree with
AMUNRO - I'm amazed I've managed to do this, but I'm really proud of myself for doing it. Living in a city, I was so far removed from the food chain & never gave any of this stuff a second thought. This is real life and maybe if everyone got a little closer to it in some small way, we wouldn't have so much animal cruelty in the world, all for the sake of our tummies...

I lived in a town but it is still the same. There meat is found in the cold counter in the polistyrene dish covered in clingfilm. It is anonomous in every way. It wasn't born, didn't live, it just appeared in Tesco's!

Well done to all of us - our  animals have a face, have had a life and they bl***y enjoyed it - and so did we!

Kate      

[AMunro]

Ahh, thanks everyone - it's lovely to know you're all out there experiencing the same highs & lows as I have done & will continue to do!  I agree that I'm determined not to waste anything - I'm unable to get their blood as it hadn't been pre-arranged with the abattoir (something I didn't realise I had to do - another lesson learned!), but I've given Trevor (the butcher) a list of how I want the meat butchered & even the bits I find too gross to eat (sorry, there's still a bit of townie left in me yet), will be given to Buddy (our dog).  I'm even going so far as to make brawn with the head - I've never tried it myself, but if I can get past the thought of what it is, I've a feeling it might be quite tasty & my grandpa who's a bit poorly loves the stuff so I'm making it mostly for him...  The other whole pig is going to provide a hog roast for our wedding party guests.  A fitting end we feel.

So, onwards & upwards - new weaners (gilts this time! don't want that worry again!) come on Sunday & I'm feeling a little braver now...  I'm even thinking about the possibility of breeding from one of them....!

Bye for now.  Keep reading my blog if you don't already!   (www.thevirginporker.blogspot.com)

Lots of love to you all and your piggies

The (not quite a ) Virgin Porker  x x x

[Blinkers]

I've only just read all of this as didn't join the forum until earlier this year.....but.....oh how it brought back the memories of those first weaners.    But good for you and I'm SURE you'll eat and thoroughly enjoy your pork  knowing exactly how it was reared and the wonderful life it lead.     If there was a gold star in the Smilies above, I'd put one on here.     And now I'm gonna go and read your blog......well in between switching screens everytime someone comes into my office 

[Pebbles]

Well done VP.

Brilliant job! Can't wait to hear about your new adventures with your gilts - keep us posted.

Pebbles