[Fowgill Farm]

I even thought about keeping one and getting another weaner, but then I really couldn't choose between them.  Or even keeping them both and breeding so I could then eat the weaners but the reality is that's not really practical and there's already too many around from what I have read on here.  Those little piggy eyes are so trusting it breaks my heart.

Bumblebear its great you're emotional about your girls and its great you've realised the practicalities of pig rearing, even 8yrs on i still ball my eyes out when i send girl pigs off to the abbattoir, boys i find a bit easier as by time they're 24wks old they're little terrorists and secretly its , no more being upended in a sea of mud!
Enjoy the time you have left with them and start planning for your next lot next spring, what you would do different, how can you make it better etc. When i go to collect my meat i don't think of it as those pigs its just 4 boxes of pork and by gum doesn't it look fabulous. Well worth all the hard work and heartache.
HTH
mandy

[sokel]

I dreaded our first 2 going as we had also named them. The night before I hardly slept and was up at 4am.
when the meat came back and we looked at it we where not convinced we could eat it but once tasted we didnt look back. Infact if we where thinking of having pork we used to call it a Joint of Mr Tamworth.
we actualy got the next lot of weaners before the tamworths went so out time moved over to the next weaners

[princesspiggy]

My Mum, who was a child during WW2, saw her dad kill a cockerel that she considered a pet and didn't eat meat for 20 years. Now she won't eat meat from any animal she has known when it was alive.

oh dear, my kids have just helped me kill 20 meat chickens for the freezer. they r hoping for homemade chicken nuggets with our new mincer and arent phased at all. to be honest they were a little bit excited, i think, with adrenaline. hopefully no turn out like lord of the rings tho.

[feldar]

Sometimes i feel a bit of a freak when people say to me how can you eat something you've looked after since a baby even helped deliver into the world, but i'm afraid if i had to chase it accross a field in me cave woman furs with a spear so i could eat it i would!!
I'm just not that bothered about the killing side of things i'm more interested that the animal had a really good life before it was killed. I absolutely hate to see animals kept badly or cruelly the least we can do for them is makes their lives decent before the final deed is done and i do think it affects the flavour of the meat.
When we first had orphan lambs i did get a bit attached, but it soon wore off when one tup put me clean over some hurdles one day, he was loaded up and went straight to market!
Now nearly all our orphans go for meat unless they are from a very precious line, even then we have to think long and hard about keeping them

[princesspiggy]

When we first had orphan lambs i did get a bit attached, but it soon wore off when one tup put me clean over some hurdles one day, he was loaded up and went straight to market!

ha, i have had a fully grown hebridean ram jump on my head from out of the trailer jockey door,whilst being loaded for slaughter. hmm back in to go boy.  those horns hurt. 

[Penninehillbilly]

My first lamb was called Chops, then after he knocked my knee out, - they were tasty    (along with the rest of him  )

[Kitchen Cottage]

This founds very superficial.... when they are born, Ido worry about whether they have too short a life and it is fair. 

A short lifetime of escapes, dramas and assorted livestock keeping and, by 28 weeks, I am looking at them in the field and they are almost marked on the side with the joints.

That said, I am still not sure what is going to happen to Charlotte when she stops beingfertile.... she is more like a pet..... but I'm not sure I want to be feeding a full grown pet sow.

I suspect I will get over my qualms then.

.....I dislike the process but love the result,,,

[Penninehillbilly]

.....I dislike the process but love the result,,,

perfectly put

[kja]

we have just come back from a weekend show where we took our show pigs along with a pen of weaners on the weaner pen we had a banner for british pork & recipie cards for cooking pork we had a stream of people wanting to know how we could eat these animals so this is how we explained it...

first of all not all pedigree pigs are suitable for breeding/showing and if we bred from the unsuitable ones further down the line these lovely looking pigs would look crap with all the bad faults we try to disgard in the selection process.

secondly if we and the public dont eat these pigs why breed from them ? the breeds would then not only be rare but we could loose them altogether and we have already lost breeds along the way.

third question how do we feel when the time comes well we have given them the best life we could and we like to think they have the best relaxed end they can by us being calm around them. we also pointed out if we have a pig that does not meet the grade as expected we would rather have it slaughtered than pass it on for someone else to breed from it so i know it has been taken out of the breeding chain keeping the breed strong is most important to us as we belive in our pigs and want to see them going.

the next question that was popular was i keep rare x breeds for the freezer so am i helping their survival ? my reply to this and it may not be popular on here is not in any way the RBST get their figures from registrated pigs only and if its not a registered pig its just a pig and if it is you can not sell your pork as a breed its against TS rules.

as a whole it was a enjoyable day lots of people saying they would look ouyt for BN pigs in future for their weaners fingers crossed they will.

the best part of the day had to be the interest in the pigs in general.

btw i dont know anyone that like the final drive but its the cycle we choose to embark on.

[SteveHants]

the next question that was popular was i keep rare x breeds for the freezer so am i helping their survival ? my reply to this and it may not be popular on here is not in any way the RBST get their figures from registrated pigs only and if its not a registered pig its just a pig and if it is you can not sell your pork as a breed its against TS rules.

I always liked a crossbreed, usual was some kind of long white x GOS, because I found GOS ran to fat too easily. The answer is yes, you are helping rare breeds by keeping crosses, because somebody had to breed purebred boar you used and the purebred sows you bought.


Until of course, you start to put a crossbred to a crossbred to make a composite that suits you for whatever reason. Wouldn't worry though, because this is how breeds of animal come into existence in the first place - all are man made and new ones will continue to appear.

[Roxy]

My Kune Kunes are pets - not for eating.  Thats fortunate, as I am very attached to them, and had they been reared for eating, then I would struggle  I think to let them go.  But, I am now ready to rear a couple for eating, and they will not be named, and not be fussed - I am hoping this detachment will make it easier for me.  But .....there again, if they look at me, and I soften, and call them names ........

[goosepimple]

We both cried when we did our first and decided not to do it again.  Every now and then we think we shouldn't be so soft and should just do it again, but then I look at a piggy and I know I can't.  I'd just rather not eat pig. 
 
Someone said we should keep males only, they get on your nerves and knock you over when they're too big - you get ratty with them and then it's easier to see them off.

[kja]

We both cried when we did our first and decided not to do it again.  Every now and then we think we shouldn't be so soft and should just do it again, but then I look at a piggy and I know I can't.  I'd just rather not eat pig. 
 
Someone said we should keep males only, they get on your nerves and knock you over when they're too big - you get ratty with them and then it's easier to see them off.

i may well be starnge but i find males more affectionate.
we once had a pig called charlie pig he got heat stroke and almost died i nursed him back when d day came we had him in our freezer as we felt no one else would appreciate the pork as much as we would.

[twizzel]

I was a bit like this with our orphan lambs, I bottle reared them from 2 days old but it was always in my mind that they were for the freezer so lived in the shed and fields like the cattle away from the house. We had ours killed at home which meant bringing them in the night before and bringing them out 1 by 1 to be killed, that was the hardest part especially holding them... however when the meat came back it was totally worth it. Would I do it again, yes... and I will have them killed at home too even if it is slightly more stressful for me to witness, it's 100 times less stressful for them to endure than going through an abattoir.


And now we have a freezer full of lamb to last us over the winter, yum! It's a luxury for us to have lamb as it is so expensive in the butchers we rarely could justify £8 for 3 chops, never had lamb roast due to the price, so it's made a big difference to us.

That said I nearly kept 2 ewes for breeding, however there wasn't much point in just keeping 2 as we have no ram, so will hope to keep a few more back next year if they are as good as this year's lambs and buy ourselves a ram

[bloomer]

where are you twizzel just wondering about how you managed home slaughter?