[Bionic]

Got my 2 back today. Dead weight 104 kilos for the 2 of them. I don't know the split between them but was aware that one was quite a bit smaller than the other.
Although the abattoir said a butcher wouldn't want the meat because there was too much fat I don't think it looks too bad to me. The 3rd pic shows about the worst of the fat.  Of course I haven't had the bacon back yet so need to wait and see. Its sausages for tea tomorrow 
The last pic shows how clearly the slapmark came out so I was very pleased.
Sally

[kaz]

I Know when we sent one of my sons GOS we seemed to be eating pork forever.
Enjoy.
 

[bloomer]

looks good


cooked properly think of all that fat as lovely flavour :-)


making me hungry now...

[SallyintNorth]

Congratulations, Sally    And those chops look just right to me - not too fatty at all. 

When I first started with our own pigs, BH would keep inviting people around for pork, giving joints away - acting like he was terrified I'd make him eat pork 365 days of the year.  Whenever I cooked a joint he would seem to be actually scared of the amount of meat, and when serving guests would heap it on their plates and try to get them to take some away in a doggy bag.    (Not that I begrudged them the meat, but it made me feel like I was poisoning him!!)

This week we ate the last joint in the freezer, a rolled 2/3 shoulder I butchered myself on arl's course in February.  (Clearing the freezer in preparation for the next pig and the first of the geeps.)  We had relatives staying, so that was great - 3 extra mouths chomping on the crumbly tasty pork.  As they left, BH said, looking worried, "There is some of that pork left, isn't there?"  Yay!     He's converted!   

[Mammyshaz]

Looks good. Now you can taste your hard work 

[Sudanpan]

That looks fab - I don't think the fat looks over the top at all, it'll taste amazing 

[HappyHippy]

I don't think the fat's bad - I've seen much, much more fat (remember - I have Kunekunes  )
They look nice and tasty Sally, that's the main thing  The thing you've got to remember with abattoirs and butchers is they're normally dealing with modern/commercial breeds of pig - fast growing and lean in comparrison to the traditional/rare breeds which most smallholders keep.

Did the butcher freeze everything for you ? When you do your next 'batch' it might be worth asking them to blast freeze the pork which isn't getting used/sold - so much easier (and less strain on your freezer) to put it in ready frozen 

[Blinkers]

It looks perfect  Enjoy.

[Bionic]

Karen,
he didn't freeze anything for me. It was all (apart from the sausages and my leg for air dried ham) in vacume packs.  I have 2 empty freezers so its all gone in there so as not to disrupt anything already frozen in the other one.
Its a good tip about asking him to blast freeze though, thanks
Sally

[Daisys Mum]

 
Sally it looks great, well done.

[Rosemary]

 

[Padge]

i didn't think too fat either    looks great

[MAK]

Looks good to me too. Enjoy !

I am curious. How much do they charge these days for -
1. Abbatoir service
2. butchering a pig
3. making bacon
4. making sausages.

Make sure that you do not give too much of that precious meat away - it looks a lot now but I am sure that you will work your way thru it.

[Bionic]

Mak, the abattoir costs and arm and a leg   
I have nothing to go by as I haven't done this before but this is the breakdown
Slaughter and cutting £85. He charged £45 for one and £40 for the other as she was a bit smaller.
Vac packing £20
16.34 kilos of sausages £31.04
total £136.04
Sally

[MAK]

Wow Sally - I don't think I could afford to keep my pigs if I had to pay such costs. The economics of pig keeping are pretty bad arn't they. I know that there must be an economy of scale to reduce such costs but no wonder most UK meat is mass produced.
Did you say you did a butchery course? Good idea!

I bought a new "hunters" butchers kit in a nice case for about £85. we did a home kill ( 2 pigs) and I paid my neighbour a bucket of blood ( he returned me 6 small black puddings) and the "master of the hunt" a bottle of whiskey. I plan to use the butchers kit on our next 2 pigs in December. it is not that difficult to butcher a pig - oh we made our own sausages using a 30 year old Kenwood mincer that Chris had ( skins and spice cost a few quid as did the bacon salts).

cheers Martin