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!!!!!