[MiriMaran]

What a day yesterday...amazing!  Our neighbour who is a butcher at the local farmshop had organised for our pigs to be delivered to the shop and we did the butchery at the shop under the butcher's guidance.  Thank goodness for industrail machines, we could never have got it all done otherwise.  It was fascinating learning how to butcher and I didn't feel squeemish at all even when I saw the heads!!  The butcher, Rob, was amazing, the farmshop, Croots, very kind and we feel very blessed to have so much help on our doorstep - we are very lucky.  Any way onto practical matters.

Snuffle killed out at 91.9KG with 19mm of fat
Niffle killed out at 68.2kg with 17mm of fat

We have made 1,300 sausages - tomato, leek, chive, plain and Lincolnshire.
14 bacon joints which are approx 1.4kg each which are curing in a fridge.
12 gammons approx 1.5kg each will be cured, frozen and then cooked when we want ham
We sausaged nearly every bit of the pigs, have roast the ears and boiled the hearts for the dog and have kept the liver and kidney.  We decided to not bother with joints and go for what we like best - sausage, ham and bacon.

We are planning to sell half the sausages and should pretty much recover our costs - we are selling them for £3.50 for 10 (approx 1 1/4lbs).

I was so desperate to eat something piggy last night that we fried up some of the sausage mixture and all 4 of us sat there chomping away with big smiles on our faces.

I have no idea if what we have done is right or whether what we have charged for the sausages is fair, but I feel so happy and satisfied with how well we have dealt with this whole project as first timers.  Any comments on the above would be very welcome.  The most important lessons we have learnt is that we could never have done the butchery at home with the equipement that we have, our children totally get the whole ethos of what we have done and have behaved impeccably and are genuinely excited to be eating the pigs.  I laso think we got the feeding about right, maybe slightly less in the future, but was very pleased that they didn't come back too fatty.  And personally I now know that I can enjoy the company of an animal, gett attached to it, but also be comfortable about killing and eating it.  All in all I am totally buzzing about the whole experience!  Wow - does it always feel as good as this?  We now need to decide what breed we are going to try next year.  I am tempted by a pair of Berkshire Gilts.

[Rosemary]

Well done you! Sounds great.

Don't get gilts - you'll want to keep them and breed from them Somehow killing males is easier!

[little blue]

MMMMmm!! sounds lovely. E-mailed you before I read this, so dont bother repeating yourself!
Be proud of yourselves, its great that you've got what you wanted, and had good help to get there.
We're bacon/gammon/sausage people ourselves, I love a good pork joint though.   Making me hungry now....

[MiriMaran]

You have a point Rosmary - I decided I was very ready for the pigs to go when Niffle tried to shag me as I was cleaning their water trough out!!!!  I'd like to think girls would be politer than that!!!

[little blue]

Ooh I dont know, a pig in puberty is ready for anything, gilt or boar!
And our doe rabbits are terrible, the bucks arent nearly as randy!!

[Hilarysmum]

Congratulations, well done. 

[Kerrygirl]

That was great going!  Ours are going off tomorrow so Ive taken a half day today to spend some time with them before they go.  I am so looking forward to Saturday where we will be spending our day making sausages!  Roast pork will also be on the menu for Sundays lunch!  Will miss the piggys though, they are great fun!           

[Greenerlife]

How exciting!  I am getting ready for my first two - JT and Fat Frank (I am not a Chelsea fan!) to be ready next month.  New freezer to buy and I really must clear the garage so it can have some space!  I am going to try and get to do the butchery as you have.  Always been fascinated by it, now I am doing it.  It's quite empowering.  Enjoy your sausages!   

[dixie]

Well done a real sense of achievement then! shame you didn't have any joints, all that lovely crackling you're missing out on!

[MiriMaran]

I think you're right Dixie - next year we will have some joints.  We didn't realise quite how many sausages we were going to end up with.  Having said that I'm getting mobbed in the playground with parents/teachers wanting to buy some.  We have already sold over a quarter of them.

Good luck Kerrygirl and Greenerlife!  Lots of yummy food to come!

[kp]

did you buy ready made seasonings for your sausages or did you create your own and did you add rusk?
my fat lads are off to slaughter soon and I want to get the prossesing as right as possible although I'm sure I'll do a lot of things differently second time around.
Well done, you sound very positive and excited about the whole experience, I'm feeling quite aprehensive at the moment.
Karen

[chickenfeed]

 :)no matter how many times we have our pigs done its a bitter sweet experience but its always nice to see the way the the final product comes back.
i must say that the meat looks very good and the sausage and bacon demand never dies down.
i went on a bpex butchery day last week and learnt how to make sausages, bacon and butcher a pig both traditionally and the newer seam cutting method it was very interesting.
the key to sausage making is fresh prime ingredients, iced water for mixing thats most important and finding a recipie that suits you i have tried loads but its fun to experiment ( must remember to start writing down what i have added and what proportions) not made 2 lots the same yet its always a lucky dip around here:pig:

[daniellestocks]

Wow, well done, sounds great, cant wait to get ours done!!
 

[Nisbet]

That's brilliant - very well done.  What breed are they?  We have got a couple of Tamworth weaners and just acquired 2 x 9-months for breeding.  Am interested in your comment that you feel you got the feeding rations about right - but maybe wee reduction next time.  What quantities were you feeding at.  Advice seems all over the place. My breeder warned me that over-feeding results in fat piggies and certainly the 3rd 9-month old who we didn't buy - went to slaughter and I understand she had 4 inches of fat on her.  Interesting - because the lovely couple who had the 3 of them were feeding less than the 1lb feed/per month of pigs life up to max of 6 lbs per day.  Whilst a good helathy layer of flavour producing fat is essential  - I wonder what the ideal is?  Anyway - many congratulations - so pleased that your bairns have accepted the whole process - great healthly attitudes you are instilling.  You all enjoy - can't begin to imagine just how good those hams are going to be. Happy Days. Nettle

[Hilarysmum]

I believe that the 6lb a day is only up until 16 weeks after which it should be reduced to 2 kilos per day.  We have opted for this regime as a rule of thumb and to date produce pork at 9 months with 2.5 mm back fat maximum.  Even then we have to cut some off if selling to the Bretagnes.

For ourselves I would like at least an inch, perfect for crispy crackling, crispy bacon and the lard, ooooooh the lard.  (Sorry getting hungry).