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Author Topic: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery  (Read 4259 times)

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« on: September 02, 2019, 02:08:05 pm »
I have two GOSxPietrain pigs. They are approximately 7 months old and I’m starting to think about the “final chapter”.

I’ve measured them up and so estimate one at 80kg live weight and the other at 68kg. Estimated carcass weights are 57kg and 49kg.

I have read about baconers and porkers and was hoping the larger one would reach a bacon weight - I’ve read this is around 100kg?

I am planning on a home slaughter. If anyone has done this where did you hang them? I don’t have a cold room but could utilise an outbuilding, however that is some weight for a roof to bear!

The person that would do the slaughter also butchers. What sort of cuts would I expect to get back? I’m in the process of ordering up a large chest freezer and hoping it’ll all fit in.

Is there an optimum weight for slaughter that I should aim for? I understand that they shouldn’t be too fat and I don’t think they are as I can feel their nobble at the base of their tails...

Any advice appreciated as usual :)

bj_cardiff

  • Joined Feb 2017
  • Carmarthenshire
Re: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« Reply #1 on: September 02, 2019, 02:34:05 pm »
Why don't you take some pics of them and post them - other people should be able to assess how ready for slaughter they are and guess the weights. 80kg liveweight is an ok weight, but mine at a similar age usually come back at around 80kg. You can still make good bacon form a smaller/lighter carcuss, but the loin will be smaller so less bacon and smaller slices.

Are you totally sure about a home slaughter. As I understand it you can't even legally serve home slaugthtered meat up for guests, its only able to be eaten by your imidiate family? Why don't you take them to the abbattoir on the Gower and they will talk you through all of the different cuts etc. and they would even pre-pack and label if you asked them to. They have always been very helpful to me.

PipKelpy

  • Joined Mar 2019
  • North Shropshire
  • Dreamer with Mary, (cow) and sheep.
Re: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2019, 09:51:03 pm »
I can rear them, love them, feed them, load them, deliver them, say bye to them, walk away from them, fill out paperwork then return in a week's time and pick up meat boxes!! So if you can do them in and not feel anything, well done! I cant! Abattoir day is the one day that I actually feel sick in my stomach. Always has been! Mainly getting the little buggers in the trailer cos pigs don't have anything to grab on to. Grab ears, they squeal, and the squeal is loud enough to inform anyone in the neighbourhood that you're having a set to with pigs!! I once had a ministry plonker come and do a spot check just as we loaded 3 into the trailer! I could have killed him, told him so too. What made it worse was that he was one of those 'farmer' ones that the ministry hired to go around and tell other farmers how to go around their business!! He was known in the area as being a pratt, apparently! He could see we were loading, but still had to approach the trailer, scraping the gate open after shouting through it. Pigs, frightened by the sudden noise, turned tail before I had time to shut the trailer gates and all 3 hurtled for safety (their bed)! Mum swore at him, he just shrugged his shoulders and said that he would walk the land himself! I told him that he can bugger off until tomorrow as my land was private and I had to get pigs reloaded due to his stupidity and have times to keep etc etc!! Needless to say, the next day he was very subdued, I'd also put in a call to DEFRA and complained!! When I'm ratty, ones brain gets major wound up!!!!!  SO, killing at home, without all the squealing, easier yes, but not for me.

Freezer wise, a tall upright should do, unless you're getting more meat. I have a fridge freezer, 2 tall uprights and 2 chest freezers, 1 full size, 1 3/4 size but when full i have a whole beef, lambs, couple of pigs. Me and mum munch our way through them quite steadily. Sold all lambs as springs this year so that we could clear all freezers for next year, beef still calves (bless their little cotton socks) pigs and lambs not yet born! If in lamb, 4 ewes should lamb so depending on what we get we might eat all or some. I had 4 lambs done last year and knowing that we were stretching it out, we probably have just under 2 left. We buy goat burgers in at £1 per burger (£20 a time) to stretch out our meat and mix and match. I am also holding beef for a relative as she bought 1/4 beef off me last year but she doesn't have as much space. Her beef is in an upright. The only problem with having all this freezer space is at the moment, with the meat down, it's great, we have room for chicken breasts brought in bulk (muscle food) for the dog to have her pills in, mum is partial to ice cream, so we buy that when it's On offer, frozen veg (bought, not ours) butter is purchased when On offer etc and is frozen. Come next year, i'll have 2 Angus X's to depart, lambs and hopefully some pigs. Where am I going to put all my junk food? Got no room for another freezer! That's what got me into this pickle! Had a beef coming back, someone mentioned he would be a lot of meat (29 month Brown Swiss bullock) so out a quick call in to the electrician for some proper rewiring, another tall upright delivered, beef come, fill 2 chest freezers (big ones) 2 tall uprights, the freezer part of a fridge freezer and left overs in the fridge! Let's just say we ate fresh cooked beef every day for the rest of the week!! It is nice though to open your freezers and see them jam packed full several months later and not be able to see where it's gone!!!!

Enjoy your pork!!!!! The pietrain should keep them lean as the pigs i buy are saddleback x pietrain!!!!!



Halter train the cattle to keep them quiet but watch your back when they come a'bulling! Give them all names even those you plan to eat. Always be calm. Most importantly, invest in wellies with steel toe caps and be prepared for the clever cow who knows where the toe caps end!!

Kiran

  • Joined Apr 2019
Re: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« Reply #3 on: September 03, 2019, 09:29:57 am »


Why don't you take them to the abbattoir on the Gower and they will talk you through all of the different cuts etc. and they would even pre-pack and label if you asked them to. They have always been very helpful to me.

Which abattoir is that please? I was trying to do some research as we are planning on getting some livestock and I couldn't see if there was anyone that did private work.

Roughly what would they charge of a pig, appreciate this could vary depending on what cuts etc.

Thanks

bj_cardiff

  • Joined Feb 2017
  • Carmarthenshire
Re: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« Reply #4 on: September 03, 2019, 10:28:46 am »
I'd say it was roughly £60 for kill and cut (butchery) for one pig. The costs do go up depending on what work you want, if you want the shoulders boned out etc. and if you want any sausages, or bacon making from the trim etc. If you give them a call they will talk you through it. I've always found them to be very friendly and helpful

Address and number.  CJ & AJ Butler Ltd T/AS Hugh Phillips Gower Butcher     Penclawdd, Swansea     01792 850789

Kiran

  • Joined Apr 2019
Re: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« Reply #5 on: September 03, 2019, 03:01:47 pm »
That's great, thank you for the info, much appreciated.

harmony

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« Reply #6 on: September 03, 2019, 09:10:27 pm »
I have two GOSxPietrain pigs. They are approximately 7 months old and I’m starting to think about the “final chapter”.

I’ve measured them up and so estimate one at 80kg live weight and the other at 68kg. Estimated carcass weights are 57kg and 49kg.

I have read about baconers and porkers and was hoping the larger one would reach a bacon weight - I’ve read this is around 100kg?

I am planning on a home slaughter. If anyone has done this where did you hang them? I don’t have a cold room but could utilise an outbuilding, however that is some weight for a roof to bear!

The person that would do the slaughter also butchers. What sort of cuts would I expect to get back? I’m in the process of ordering up a large chest freezer and hoping it’ll all fit in.

Is there an optimum weight for slaughter that I should aim for? I understand that they shouldn’t be too fat and I don’t think they are as I can feel their nobble at the base of their tails...

Any advice appreciated as usual :)



We take our lops to 100 kilo lw. I would have thought at 7 months yours should be at least 80 kilo's a piece. You need to feel along the back of a pig. It should feel firm and covered but not sqidgy.


Home kill means the owner of the animal undertaking the slaughter process ie. you. Slaughter men and butchers are not licenced to do home kills generally.  Have you thought about how you will dehair? Dispose of the guts? How you are going to cope with two pigs at the same time. Where are you going to do the butchery? At an abattoir they split the pig into two halves before they butcher.


You need to decide what cuts you want.


Why are you thinking home slaughter?




tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Re: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2019, 10:00:47 pm »
Well after some thought, and a conversation with someone I know who has pigs themselves, they’re all booked in for 2nd October at the slaughterhouse in Tregaron (slightly closer for me than the Gower!)

Originally I thought a home slaughter would be less stressful for the pigs, although the logistics were bothering me. When I learnt you have to dip and scour etc it topped it off and I called the abattoir. Will cost approx £55 for slaughter and standard jointing if hung weight is under 75kg. Over is around and extra £10-15. They said when we get there we can say what we want, like sausages and bacon which is all priced separately. So we will prob rack up a huge bill, but on the plus side our chest freezer arrived today so have (hopefully) plenty of storage!

I must say it’s a weight off my mind. Sometimes I get an idea and feel like I have to commit to it. I think it’ll be easier on us to take them and drop them off. Otherwise I would have been present and it would have prob haunted me! We will put the trailer in the field and feed them in it for a week before so they get used to it.

Loved your post PipKelpy :)

Jim Bob

  • Joined Mar 2018
Re: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2019, 02:46:59 pm »
Got 2 pigs slaughtered in August for home use. Wasn’t sure of what size of chest freezer to get so went for a 300 litre one. Turns out it held all the meat will no room to spare.
I bought mine of a farmer/butcher who when I had kept them for 3 months , took them to the slaughterhouse and collected again and did my butchering as well. Vacuum packed and labelled.   Great job all round. Produce is top notch.

harmony

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2019, 05:47:02 pm »
Well after some thought, and a conversation with someone I know who has pigs themselves, they’re all booked in for 2nd October at the slaughterhouse in Tregaron (slightly closer for me than the Gower!)

Originally I thought a home slaughter would be less stressful for the pigs, although the logistics were bothering me. When I learnt you have to dip and scour etc it topped it off and I called the abattoir. Will cost approx £55 for slaughter and standard jointing if hung weight is under 75kg. Over is around and extra £10-15. They said when we get there we can say what we want, like sausages and bacon which is all priced separately. So we will prob rack up a huge bill, but on the plus side our chest freezer arrived today so have (hopefully) plenty of storage!

I must say it’s a weight off my mind. Sometimes I get an idea and feel like I have to commit to it. I think it’ll be easier on us to take them and drop them off. Otherwise I would have been present and it would have prob haunted me! We will put the trailer in the field and feed them in it for a week before so they get used to it.

Loved your post PipKelpy :)



There's nothing wrong with looking at all the options and I think most of us would struggle with carrying out the actual slaughter of an animal. And to be honest I think the less stressful option for the animal is the slaughter house one if you couldn't guarantee to carry out a quick and humane dispatch of the pigs.


There are cutting lists on here you will find helpful. Any processing, bacon, sausage curing is always extra.

bj_cardiff

  • Joined Feb 2017
  • Carmarthenshire
Re: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« Reply #10 on: September 09, 2019, 07:25:24 am »
Well after some thought, and a conversation with someone I know who has pigs themselves, they’re all booked in for 2nd October at the slaughterhouse in Tregaron (slightly closer for me than the Gower!)

Originally I thought a home slaughter would be less stressful for the pigs, although the logistics were bothering me. When I learnt you have to dip and scour etc it topped it off and I called the abattoir. Will cost approx £55 for slaughter and standard jointing if hung weight is under 75kg. Over is around and extra £10-15. They said when we get there we can say what we want, like sausages and bacon which is all priced separately. So we will prob rack up a huge bill, but on the plus side our chest freezer arrived today so have (hopefully) plenty of storage!

I must say it’s a weight off my mind. Sometimes I get an idea and feel like I have to commit to it. I think it’ll be easier on us to take them and drop them off. Otherwise I would have been present and it would have prob haunted me! We will put the trailer in the field and feed them in it for a week before so they get used to it.

Loved your post PipKelpy :)

Everything is a learning curve when your starting off - when you have an idea that sounds like a great one this forum is a great way of sounding it out. Usually if not many people go down a route its for a very good reason! Abbatoiir in Tregaron is very good, hope your happy with what comes back, be interesting to hear the weights.

Might be an idea to teach the pigs to load before your 'date' they can take ages to get on the trailer and I think you need to be at Tregaron pretty early?

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Re: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« Reply #11 on: September 09, 2019, 03:59:20 pm »

Everything is a learning curve when your starting off - when you have an idea that sounds like a great one this forum is a great way of sounding it out. Usually if not many people go down a route its for a very good reason! Abbatoiir in Tregaron is very good, hope your happy with what comes back, be interesting to hear the weights.

Might be an idea to teach the pigs to load before your 'date' they can take ages to get on the trailer and I think you need to be at Tregaron pretty early?


Yes, we’re booked for half seven but think that’s prob the latest. They offered earlier but considering our first time I thought I’d give us as much leeway as possible. Apparently it can be tricky to find so have a little map someone did for me as well!

Will definitely feed in the trailer in the week leading up, that way they’ll hopefully be used to trotting up the ramp in the morning. Have I read some people load the night before? Not sure how great an idea that’d be though with them weeing and poohing in it...

I wouldn’t have done this myself. There’s a guy who does it for you but I think I would’ve felt obliged to be there to make sure done properly. Apparently he has a bolt gun with gunpowder and not on a gas cylinder and has a second shot ready in case the first goes wrong  :o

People we know had him to do two sheep and they had one done next to the other. This is something else we were trying to figure as we didn’t want that done, we didn’t feel it fair on the one to go second at least. I think their opinion was it was only another 30 secs and they’d be done too but just didn’t sit right with us.

harmony

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« Reply #12 on: September 09, 2019, 04:11:41 pm »

I wouldn’t have done this myself. There’s a guy who does it for you but I think I would’ve felt obliged to be there to make sure done properly. Apparently he has a bolt gun with gunpowder and not on a gas cylinder and has a second shot ready in case the first goes wrong  :o

People we know had him to do two sheep and they had one done next to the other. This is something else we were trying to figure as we didn’t want that done, we didn’t feel it fair on the one to go second at least. I think their opinion was it was only another 30 secs and they’d be done too but just didn’t sit right with us.



So he has a WATOK licence to do this?

Jim Bob

  • Joined Mar 2018
Re: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« Reply #13 on: September 10, 2019, 11:27:51 pm »

Everything is a learning curve when your starting off - when you have an idea that sounds like a great one this forum is a great way of sounding it out. Usually if not many people go down a route its for a very good reason! Abbatoiir in Tregaron is very good, hope your happy with what comes back, be interesting to hear the weights.

Might be an idea to teach the pigs to load before your 'date' they can take ages to get on the trailer and I think you need to be at Tregaron pretty early?


Yes, we’re booked for half seven but think that’s prob the latest. They offered earlier but considering our first time I thought I’d give us as much leeway as possible. Apparently it can be tricky to find so have a little map someone did for me as well!

Will definitely feed in the trailer in the week leading up, that way they’ll hopefully be used to trotting up the ramp in the morning. Have I read some people load the night before? Not sure how great an idea that’d be though with them weeing and poohing in it...

I wouldn’t have done this myself. There’s a guy who does it for you but I think I would’ve felt obliged to be there to make sure done properly. Apparently he has a bolt gun with gunpowder and not on a gas cylinder and has a second shot ready in case the first goes wrong  :o

People we know had him to do two sheep and they had one done next to the other. This is something else we were trying to figure as we didn’t want that done, we didn’t feel it fair on the one to go second at least. I think their opinion was it was only another 30 secs and they’d be done too but just didn’t sit right with us.

My pigs only saw the trailer for the first time when I was loading them. I eased off on the food for a day or two beforehand and I walked to the back of the trailer and scooped the food from a bucket- a sound they had become very familiar with. They knew it meant food.. they were hungry and they were used to me anyway. So they walked straight onto the trailer. It was so easy but something I wasn’t sure about until the moment.

bj_cardiff

  • Joined Feb 2017
  • Carmarthenshire
Re: Two pigs - slaughter and butchery
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2019, 06:57:02 am »
My pigs only saw the trailer for the first time when I was loading them. I eased off on the food for a day or two beforehand and I walked to the back of the trailer and scooped the food from a bucket- a sound they had become very familiar with. They knew it meant food.. they were hungry and they were used to me anyway. So they walked straight onto the trailer. It was so easy but something I wasn’t sure about until the moment.

Pigs are such individuals and what works one year won't work the next! like you say, you can't say for sure how they will react until the moment! The last few times I've loaded pigs I've brought them in the night before and kept them in a stable overnight, which has worked for me!

 

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