[ferretkeeper]

Hi guys,

Been a bit hectic since this happened on Thursday...

I took a pig in for slaughter on Wednesday, I usually get CCIR back later that day and I did indeed get one that afternoon saying all ok.

Then I get a call from the abattoir on Thursday morning to say the pig had to be skinned, the skin was splitting, in the tank, very rare but happens...I said I'll need to speak to the vet on duty to get the full SP...spent the day worrying and googling scalding tanks etc etc

I called the restaurant who were taking this pig, they weren't fazed, just said if we could get the skin for crackling that would be good, I said I'd ask, but it wasn't likely to be much cop.

Later on Thursday I get two more CCIRs come into my email, both the same, both saying erysipelas lesion present on skin - WTF!!! Now spend evening on TAS looking up ery!

So I pick up my boy on Friday morning to deliver to the restaurant, and the same vet is there, along with the abattoir staff. Start getting a different story now - skin didn't split at all, vet said it was urticaria OR ery lesions, very early stages of disease. He checked the kidneys and they were ok but the skin was removed and binned along with head and trotters.

NONE of my pigs are showing any signs of any skin condition, I said should I be worried about the remaining animals, knowing full well theyre fine, the vet was very politician like in dodging my questions and I didn't get a straight answer, he just spouted some shite about black pigs and hair follicles - he was an iron age pig so very easy to see marks on, not black at all, just darker than a pink pig and more hairy!

This isn't the first pig I've sent there, nor was it the first iron age or non pink pig.nt hey don't do many private kills though and I don't see many pigs there at all.

I left feeling very suspicious about the whole thing...I'm wondering was there a cock up from slaughter to prepping the carcasse and theyre covering something up? I don't know enough about the process and timings to be sure.

 Luckily the restaurant were ok about it but they like to use the whole animal, so head and trotters are requested, not to mention having no crackling. I lost several kilos and a lot of moneys worth of meat but all the vet would say was I'm lucky he didn't condemn the whole pig!!!

Anyone had anything similar in the past? I don't want to go back to this place but it's nearest the restaurant and a good price...but do you only get what you pay for?!


 

[kja]

  years ago we lost part (very small patches) of the skin due to straw mite we were given the report and when we arrived the butcher asked if they had been on barley straw as he had only ever seen it in barley straw at the time we were using barley we now run ours on wheat straw.

[Tudful Tamworths]

The only time I've ever had pigs skinned by the abattoir was when they were considered too big for the scalding bath.
Erysipelas can be active for a while without lesions showing. Also, pigs can carry it around without being affected by it themselves - while others they come into contact with (e.g. if they are moved to join other pigs or if new pigs are brought in) can be susceptible.
As you're currently buying in stock from various places, I'd err on the side of caution and vaccinate everything.

[ferretkeeper]

Thanks liz, yes I'm vaccinating and keeping new animals apart but my concern is the abattoir blatantly lying about something or at least not being completely open and honest. If there was a mistake I'd rather they said so and perhaps offered to cover my losses than fob me off with different stories 

[Tudful Tamworths]

Yes, they should have been straight with you. Not sure who you would complain to about them, but would suggest the Food Standards Agency, which licenses abattoirs.