[Kitchen Cottage]

She is my saddleback breeding sow.  She is now 6 and didn't get in pig this year because of a sterile boar.  I decided therefore to give her the summer and then send her to slaughter ad I can see it being difficult to get her in pig next year after a 2 year break

I always said I couldn't eat Charlotte but, well, I think I probably can....

She's got about 7 weeks before I think about sending her

a, would you start cutting down her food now?  She isn't terribly fat but I know previously her litters have looked lean and then had a lot of fat....

b. do you think you could use her for bacon as well as sausages.... my butcher says she's only good for sausages... but he doesn't like doing bacon so he makes a lot of excuses. 

Given her size, it would be a HUGE exercise to home sausage her I think ...

any views or comments.

The only reason I'm not sending her now is that we had NO summer last year and I want her to feel a little heat on her back first

[kja]

sausages

burgers

mince

I would not bother with bacon.

[langfauld easycare]

  we did a berkshire sow a while back . burgers .sausage ,mince and bacon. i am getting another sow done shortly she will just be sausage and bacon .unless your good at the sausages i wouldnt tackle it on my own  . big bits of bacon mmmmmmmmm

[Hassle]

I'd find another butcher  a good butcher should look at the meat on the bench and give you options and recommendations

However, I'd sausage her as you can never have enough sausage.

as to fat I'd probably go with a visual assessment, feel for ribs and back bone and then look at what she is on if she has been with you that long you probably don't want to starve her mind, and you do need a bit of fat in sausages

[Berkshire Boy]

I slaughtered a 3 year old sow a few months ago, the bacon is the best I have ever had and the sausages are better than from the young pigs. I had some ham done and that is great. I had 1 leg boned and rolled for roast and it was fine just need to cook slow and longer. I will definately do one again.

[hughesy]

We're in a similar position with a sow that last had a litter last august and hasn't been able to get in pig since. I'm thinking  sausages. Just got to plan how to shift 150kg of the damn things!

[Tamsaddle]

Does your abattoir have a weight limit for sows?   Ours does, max. 250 kgs, above that they have to go through the cattle line, with slaughter costs about 4 times as much as when they leave the skin on through the pig bath.   Worth checking out.    One of ours was 240 kgs and was allowed through, the other one was 270 kgs - had tried putting her on a mini diet for a few weeks beforehand, but don't think it had much effect.


So far all our sow meat has been very tough indeed, although tasty, and the part I really don't like is the greasy, slimy fat, sort of wobbly like cellulite, and very different from the nice firm fat on young pigs which makes such delicious crispy fat when you fry the bacon.   Tamsaddle