[Coeur de Chene]

We are newbie pig raisers, a few weeks in with a couple of Berkshire gilts. How did everyone cope with their first trip to the abbatoir with animals they had raised? I love looking after our pigs, they are fascinating and such fun. They run to greet us, chasing in circles and barking when the tractor passes, keeling over for tummy massage if I go near the fence. They are having the life I want them to have, but I WILL be taking them to the abatoir.
I don't want to be traumatised obviously but I do want their life to be the best possible.
Like a lot of you, I have agonised over the food I eat since I was a child, with years of vegetarianism, and am worse about what I feed my children. A cellophane wrapped supermarket joint was never anonymous to me and I worried about its upbringing!
I do want to eat meat though. And living this way seems so right, like my square pegness finally fitting in!
Is it just a pain I have to go through, accept, and get out the otherside, or does anyone have any advice to make it easier??

[bloomer]

anyone who doesn't feel guilt on the trip to the abattoir is doing something wrong...


every smallholder i know gets sad when their animals time is up...


but, you have given that animal the best life you can, it can best be described as happy meat...


I only keep chickens (eggs and table) but i visit a lot of smallholdings and buy over 90% of my meat from them and I only buy happy meat...

[Dan]

The way I look at it, if I want to eat pork, a pig has to die.

Better that it's a pig I know has had a great life, lived outside and been well-cared for, than hope (in vain) that happens in an intensive, industrial pork production system.

Like you say, you worry the upbringing of supermarket pork, you can lay that worry to rest with your own.

[Greenerlife]

I felt terrible the first time I took my boys on their last journey - and I cry every time if I take them in.  I handed over responsibility for the journey once, and it really helped divorce me from the proceedings.
 
It's funny, because every time the carcasses come back, it is just meat, and not the pigs themselves.


My neighbours had one of my pigs and their youngest boy named him Achoo.  They wanted the kids to understand where their meat came from.  When Achoo went away and came back in boxes, the parents were fearful of the little boys reaction.  He looked at the rolled leg joint, stroked it said "poor Achoo". Then he said "still - he'll make lovely crackling!"      A good learning curve I'd say!

[devonlad]

your description of the joy you get from having pigs about the place rings so many bells. we have now been taking our pigs and lambs to slaughter for nearly 4 years and whilst the day itself is my least favourite task I guess we have got better at it. Foremost amongst those things that make the job less unbearable is that we were able to find a small abattoir and butcher in range of home, who are just lovely not only to our precious animals but also to us. I guess we have the look of the soon to be bereaved, or just because our stock are always calm and clearly tame enough to handle with ease- but they always offer comforting words. if you are lucky enough to find such a place then it will make the job so much easier. there is a great abattoir guide on here.
beyond that we generally tend to maintain some sort of distance between those destined for slaughter and those not. Again gets easier over time. weaners are so unbelievably cute that it is almost unthinkable that we could have them killed. by the time our pigs are ready for slaughter although they have huge appeal still they aren't quite as cute of course. my OH has a thing with the pigs that she never ever makes eye contact with them and tries not to treat them as individuals but just as !the pigs!
about a month ago I took 2 of our ram lambs for slaughter. they were a bit later than the others as they had been bottle fed in the early stages and were slower to get going. as a result they were terribly tame and would follow me anywhere. taking them in was about the toughest run to date and it seemed to work best by me adopting some trance like state where I tried not to think, just do. it was done and we arranged for them to go straight on to wife's sister freezer as we didn't want there to be any chance that we ate them.
prior to our lovely life here , meat was a commodity, a slab of something without a personality or a history and for most people I guess that makes eating meat easier. I have got better at accepting that there is a  price I pay for knowing that my meat was produced with kindness from an animal that was cared for and lived a natural and happy life. that price is that I feel sad when they go. personally Its a price i'm happy to pay for the joy my hobby brings me and the comfort of knowing where my food has come from.

[Louise Gaunt]

It is hard, letting your stock go to slaughter, but that is why we raise them and care for them as ethically and well as we can. I cried buckets when our only two went for slaughter (we hope to raise wearers again this year), but when we got the meat back it was so good it was all worth it. My pork burgers, or Becky burgers as the neighbours called them, were a real hit at our communal barbecues! It is part of small holding, anyone who cares about looking after their stock will feel a bit sad when they go, but should also feel a sense if pride at a job well done. Enjoy them now, and then enjoy the meat as well. Good luck!

[Fowgill Farm]

As everyone has said it is the most difficult aspect of livestock keeping, all our stock regardless of whether they are keepers or meat pigs have names, i know they shouldn't but can't help it as once i didn't name 3 fatteners and when they went to the butchers i cried for a week becoz God wouldn't know who they were when they got to heaven becoz i hadn't given them names, lol (i'm blaming hormones ) It does get easier but you drop off pigs and you collect meat.
see attached hope it helps
http://www.gospbc.co.uk/so-you-want-to-keep-pigs-part-4/
Mandy

[Bionic]

I'm an old hand at this now    having taken weaners twice and one set of lambs .
The first time was the hardest but it is never easy.


Luckily my OH drives the trailer and when we get to the destination I get out of the car and busy myself with the paperwork (my abattoir doesn't do it online) while he sees the animals in. By the time I have finished the animals have disappeared.


As others have said once you get the meat back you don't recognise it as your little mates. We were not able to tuck into a roast joint initially though and found putting it on the freezer and forgetting about it for a couple of weeks helped.

[Sudanpan]

Yup - slaughter day is not one of the days in the calendar that you look forward to - but we eat meat and I am FAR happier knowing that my pigs have had a good life, with plenty of rootling, showering, mudbathing, snoozing, snoring, snuffling, grunting, treats and back scratches.
I do name our pigs - for my own ease in identification purposes, but we never lose sight of the fact that they are with us only for meat.
The first trip to the abattoir was very stressful - mainly because we didn't  really know what to expect. However we are now in a routine, so we know what to do and therefore things are 'easier' - BUT the day you don't feel some sort of a loss is the day you should stop keeping livestock IMO.

[sabrina]

I do get upset once we have taken the pigs in and we are back in the car. I do my best that lambs and pigs get the best life I can give them. At the end of the day we do it for first class meat and not the rubbish the supermarket sells.

[Coeur de Chene]

wow, I'm blown away by the number of responses and all so quickly- I read them all then went straight back out to tickle the pigs!
All straight talking, just what I needed. They do have names, like Mandy's, though I was scared to admit that at first! It seems to be as I suspected, that we need to go through it, that its the price that we have to pay...No such thing as a free lunch! Looking after them is no chore, it is a joy.
From what you've said too, I need to research even more and practise the run to the abatoir (not with the pigs!) This seems to be key to a reduced stress exit for us as well as pigs.
Thank you all!

[Marches Farmer]

Our piglets all have the same name - Porky!

[tattycat]

Do you know.. I cheat... I've got my breeding stock that will never get eaten, but babies aren't safe!! As lovely as they are, eventually mom has enough of them nd that's when the culling comes in. Seems to work all round!!

[Cactus Jack]

I also have my mummies and daddy which will never be eaten, but the rest are just gorgeous food.
Living up a mountain in Spain I do my own slaughtering and butchering.The first pig was very hard (I'm 6ft 4 and 16stone but the tears still came) but once it was stunned and bled, it became meat. And what meat it was!!
Like others say, fed the right food and grown slowly, with no drugs or nasties, but lots of love and the meat is unbelievable.
Hey and I am a born and bred Londoner. A big difficult learning curve, but worth it.
Enjoy the animals in the field and on the plate.

[darkbrowneggs]

I had my animals killed at home when it was possible, simply as it meant less stress for them.  Normally I kept out of the way, but one time I sensed the slaughterman wanted me to stay and watch and and I am pleased I did.


Chasing and catching an animal unless completely tame is a stressful thing for it, but it has to be done for welfare purposes, such as checking its thriving, looking for fly strike, hoof maintenance, shearing, lots of things, and each time its caught it is just as stressful.  The final time it wont know its any different than those other times, and the stun gun is incredibly quick.


We know what is going to happen, and catching them all those other times we say, don't be silly I am only trying to help, so that last time will be no worse, and as long as your animals have as good a quality of life as you can give them, that is the best you can do unless you intend to become a vegan 


My first two pigs caused my much stress both before and after, probably as I had allowed them to become too much of pets, after that, though they had the same fuss tickling and attention, I tried to make sure they did not become individuals for me, and it made it a bit easier, though if they had to go the the abattoir I always booked them in for first kill and took them to the pens myself.  And not one of them ever looked stressed.