[redborneschoolfarm]

For any of you that have to send pigs to slaughter in Bedfordshire. I sent a 25kg weaner to Evans and Son in Martson Mortaine, Bedforshire, to be killed and prepared for a 'suckling pig'. The restaurant that wished ot trial this pig requested the weight etc and evans said they could produce the goods. We took our pig on teh Monday and despite being quoted £15 plus VAT for the kill they charged £25 plus VAT. The pig I collected today (Wednesday 25th April) and they very kindly bagged it and loaded it in the van for me.

I am know well aware why. During the scalding process the pig had been flailed so badly it was in places cut through to the bone. The limbs and head were very badly damaged and even teh main carcass had cuts and marks through the skin of teh pig and well into the fat below. The animal looked as if had been mauled. When I asked to discuss the issue I was simply told it was my problem as I produced black pigs and rare breeds took 4 times longer to be scalded. When I queried I was told in a very aggressive manner that I could take my pigs elsewhere in future and would be refused service. It was only after I warned them that we ould inform all of our customers of our treatment that they offered to put me through to the meat inspector the following day. I would very strongly advise anyone to avoid these people as if they are this aggressive to their human customers I am not happy sending animals to their facility. They massacre good quality products and have an extremely poor level of customer service. They are a must to avoid.

[princesspiggy]

thats not good.
im curious about the suckling pig tho.
how much can you sell a suckling pig for? and what age is that?
 

[kegs]

Thanks for the info.  I live in Bedfordshire too!

[smudger]

Pity some people in business don't know the basics: good customer service costs nothing whilst  bad/rude service costs reputation and business (aka money). I think your sentiment is right - if that's how they treat the carcase and people, how do they treat the animals?

[redborneschoolfarm]

thats not good.
im curious about the suckling pig tho.
how much can you sell a suckling pig for? and what age is that?
 

Suckling pig is traditionally one that is still feeding from mum i.e. pre weaning. we don't feel comfortable taking a piglet that young and most restaurants wouldn't find it commercial in terms of portions etc. So what we do is sell at around 12-14 weeks as the pigs being rare breeds have had time to put on some decent carcass weight and it does not add to teh stress of mum and piglet. We sell at £70 per pig and they have apporximately a 15kg carcass weight. We wouldn't usually sell that cheaply as you have to factor in slaughter costs etc but as it was for a very high class restaurant and teh publicity for the school afrm would eb excellent then we made an exception.

[sabrina]

What a horrible experience   

[lill]

not a nice experience for you or your animal, the meat inspector should over see every kill in the slaughterhouse, what they told you is crap,they screwed up probably tried to hide their mistake.

[suziequeue]

Make sure it gets onto the Good Abbatoir guide on here redborne

[Eve]

That's the place where our pigs had such a horrid time in 2010!! (Some may remember the topic?). One of the men of this 'caring' family run business used a taser for the sheer fun of it even though there was nobody waiting and the pigs were already wandering out of the trailer by themselves, he even used it between the eyes of one of our pigs. Bits of several faces were missing when we got them back. It was traumatising, and not just for the pigs. I'd still recognise that man anywhere.
We got treated by the staff in the same way Redbornefarm described. We contacted both Trading Standards and Defra but the harm had been done.

Since then we take them to Leech & Sons near Royston, who are fab.

[redborneschoolfarm]

That's the place where our pigs had such a horrid time in 2010!! (Some may remember the topic?). One of the men of this 'caring' family run business used a taser for the sheer fun of it even though there was nobody waiting and the pigs were already wandering out of the trailer by themselves, he even used it between the eyes of one of our pigs. Bits of several faces were missing when we got them back. It was traumatising, and not just for the pigs. I'd still recognise that man anywhere.
We got treated by the staff in the same way Redbornefarm described. We contacted both Trading Standards and Defra but the harm had been done.

Since then we take them to Leech & Sons near Royston, who are fab.

Interesting and very upsetting to know. A friend of ours also reported being treated this way and the entire family came out to threaten him and tell him to take his f'ing pigs elsewhere. We have used both Leechs and Helletts at Kimbolton and will now not go anywhere else again. I cannot believe that anyone could mistreat an animal that way. What did trading standards and DEFRA say?

[Eve]

I emailed both departments the whole story and they liaised between themselves and visited the abattoir about a month after the 'event', but of course at the time they visited there was nothing to report (they're cruel but not thick, at Evans).

Within hours after it happened, I called the government vet department for this area, who said that as Evans is so small they would probably only have a vet on site for an hour or so. He suggested that it may well be that the first time we went to Evans, the pigs were treated well (when we were still with them, we were taken away to complete the paperwork straight away) because the vet happened to be there, and on our second visit the pigs were abused because the vet wouldn't have been present... in other words, mostly the vet's not there and then Evans gets away with things.
We were told by Carol, the woman who deals with paperwork and 'helps' unloading at times: "it's either that or you take them home". The pigs were already off the trailer by then, they were freaked out and one of them nearly escaped as it was desperately trying to flee.
 

[redborneschoolfarm]

I have to say this only makes me more upset. We take a huge pride in rearing our livestock to teh best possible standards with open door policies and as transparent as possible facilities. We have always tried to ensure that even at the end they are cared for as much as is possible and to think that Evans is getting away with this sort of behaviour angers me alot. I'll do everything I can to stear people away from their business.

[Di]

There is a list of good and bad abbatoirs on both the River Cottage forum and also, I think, Downsizer.  Please add your comments to these websites as it is abhorrent and the only way to stop them is to put them out of business (hopefully).

[chickenfeed]

we use hellets and have done for a good while now and have nothing but praise for them.

[Dan]

There is a list of good and bad abbatoirs on both the River Cottage forum and also, I think, Downsizer.  Please add your comments to these websites as it is abhorrent and the only way to stop them is to put them out of business (hopefully).

The guide maintained by Oaklands is well worth looking at and contributing to:

http://www.oaklandspigs.co.uk/links/abattoirs/