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Author Topic: first slaughter  (Read 8603 times)

rorsa

  • Joined Mar 2008
  • Rainford, Merseyside
first slaughter
« on: August 12, 2008, 10:25:29 am »
My first two pigs went for slaughter yesterday, a Gloucester Old spot and a British Saddleback. I had taken great care to select an abattoir that came very highly recommended by people who know, and it did not disappoint in terms of the set up and the helpful way they dealt with a novice like me.

However, the whole experience was truly dreadful and has left me wondering whether I want to go through this again. My whole purpose had been that my pigs would not only have a fantastic life (which they did have) but also a stress free death. In fact nothing could have been further from the truth.

I managed to get them loaded in the trailer the night before without too much hassle (my wife turns out to be something of a "pig whisperer"). I drove them to the abattoir the next afternoon and when I arrived they were fast asleep in the straw. There were several other people waiting when I got there so I watched them unload their pigs. All of these pigs left their trailers and were easily ushered into the building and were dead a few seconds later. When my turn came my pigs would not budge. They simply refused to leave the trailer. Somehow they knew something that all the other pigs I had seen did not. To cut a very long story short the vet, another owner and I all had to drag the pigs off the trailer with them literally kicking and screaming. Even once they were both off the trailer they were desperate to get back on. For the entire time up to their death they were distressed and desperate to escape. It could not have been further from what I had intended for them.

The whole experience has left me feeling extremely upset. I had read and read about what to do and what not to do in an effort to give my pigs the best ending possible. The abattoir I believe was as good as any, small and efficient with knowledgeable, helpful and compassionate staff. Despite all of that my pigs ended up going to their deaths in as stressed a state as is possible. Maybe the memory of that will fade with time but at the moment I don't know whether I will ever put myself or my pigs through that again.

Francis Bacon

  • Joined Jan 2008
  • Belabre, France
Re: first slaughter
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2008, 01:06:07 pm »
Ohh, I feel so sad for you especially as you have tried so hard  :(  There are several experienced people on this site who could perhaps give you some words of encouragement.  Perhaps let the memories fade a little & maybe try a different approach.  I have a pig that will be slaughtered in October/November - this will be our first slaughter and will be a home kill (I know where we are in France we can do this as long as we don't sell the meat), in our barn.  I'm a coward when it comes to the deed & will be out, returning home when it's all over, However I do plan to help with the butchery.  Perhaps this could be a option for you, Matt & I are both scared stiff of the scenario you described after all the hard work & effort you have putt into them to ensure a good life/existance.  We have thought hard & long about what to do & hope that this will work for us, we will have to let you know.

I know it must have been awful but don't give up, especially as you sound like you really enjoyed them & gave them a good life.

Best Wishes
Donna  :-*
I Love mornings - I just wish they came later in the day!

YorkshireSmallholder

  • Joined Jun 2008
  • East Yorkshire
Re: first slaughter
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2008, 01:09:04 pm »
Rorsa,

sorry to hear of your experience. However, you should take heart in the fact that you gave them a happy and healthy upbringing, something that not many commercially bred pigs have the chance to do. The 'end' is always the hardest part of keeping livestock but is clearly necessarry if you want to eat guilt free food. I had to do the same with one of our pigs & it's not pleasant but pigs can make a hell of a lot noise when they want to. I think we'd all be kidding ourselves if we thought that slaughter was completely stress free. Try not to beat yourself up about it, sit back, take stock, pat yourself on the back for doing a good job raising what will be exceptional pork - and look forward to giving two more pigs a happy life.

jenni

  • Joined Mar 2008
Re: first slaughter
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2008, 10:01:37 pm »
I too am sorry to hear of your distressing experience. I became more and more distressed with every word i read.
Please please think twice before you send any animal off to be killed. They want to live just like you and me.
Cheap food maybe but at what cost? To go through that awful experience must surely be a price too high.

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: first slaughter
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2008, 10:22:53 pm »
It's a shame you've had a bad experience but time is a great healer. Your pigs had a good life and none of us get out of this alive - you did the best you could for them, so don't beat yourself up. Sometimes it's easy to anthropomorphise in these situations, but it's not helpful.

nellie

  • Joined Jan 2008
  • Mont St Michel France
    • Vacation Normandy
Re: first slaughter
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2008, 10:36:22 pm »
please dont beat yourself up to much

you gave your pigs a great life... the sad fact is that however well you care for your pigs they are very intelligent animals and can sense that the abbatoir is not home

even when we move pigs to new pasture they become stressed- they hate change & can make the most terrible noise

jenni I have to take issue with your comments raising pigs isnt 'cheap food'  & the majority of pig keepers dont raise their own pigs for meat due to financial reasons- but because they enjoy meat but dont wish to eat pork ( and other animals) at the expense of animal welfare.

the truth is the world will NEVER be totally vegetarian and therefore animal welfare should surley everyones prime concern meat eaters & vegetarins alike.

i speak as a former vegetarian who chose to not eat meat due to my concerns regaRding intensive animal farming methods. I now do eat meat but only from my own animals that I know have had a good life and an excellent diet;

I n fact the most difficult abbatoir trip was for our boar who went our farm to abbatoir  without a murmer. He was so trusting & unstressed it made us feel guilty- all though of course we were glad that he was clueless that this was his last journey

to finish- it isnt a bad thing to feel upset if your animals were stressed- it would be worse if you didnt care

hope the experience doesnt put you off  continuing raising you own animals for meat




Hilarysmum

  • Joined Oct 2007
Re: first slaughter
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2008, 01:58:54 pm »
I agree with Nellie.  I personally have taken all my pigs to the abattoir, have never had an experience where they tried to get back in the trailer.  One or two have been put off by the noise of the admittedly terrified intensively reared pigs who have just seen daylight for the first and only time in their lives.  Most go off quite happily with the slaughterman, it takes just over 4 seconds. 


Rorsa it was indeed a terrible experience for you, your commitment in taking them yourself rather than opting out and letting someone else take the responsibility is to be applauded.  Dont let this put you off, its the worst that can ever happen, they were comfortable, they did not want to go somewhere that they did not know.  They have no prior knowledge.  Next time will be totally different.  Dont feed them before you take them so they are good and hungry when they arrive, then coax them out with some feed.  Apples are particularly good for this.

Dont be put off, because if you dont personally take your next two how will you know they have been properly handled to the end. 

Jenni my pigs are NOT cheap food.  Not just the cost of rearing, but the time, effort, sheer hard work, the determination to give them the best life possible does not come cheap.  Thats why if you buy decent pork from a farmer's market you pay a premium.  BEC AUSE IT IS NOT CHEAP.  Cheap is when people close their eyes to the horrors of the intensive system by purchasing cheap meat from the supermarket.

Rant over.

Malc

  • Joined Oct 2007
    • The Edge of Nowhere
Re: first slaughter
« Reply #7 on: August 14, 2008, 09:21:58 am »
That's terrible news Rorsa and - by the sound of things - incredibly bad luck. Don't beat yourself up over it, you've done things by the book. Keeping them hungry seems a good tip. The last two I took to slaughter had no food the evening before they went and a just few bits of apple as 'encouragements' while loading the next morning and to keep them happy on the journey (we have an hour-and-a-half ferry trip to get to the abbatoir).

May I suggest, Jenni, that you hold back from commenting until you know what you are talking about. Cheap? Pig feed here has gone from £7 to £9 for a 20kg bag in less than a year. If money was the object of the exercise, I'd plough the ground up for potatoes or barley and buy cheap, intensively reared, flabby, grey pork from Tesco. I don't do that because I care about where my food comes from and that the animals are happy and well-cared for throughout their lives.

If you ever have an hour or two I'll explain why vegetarianism is bad for the environment and actually makes organic farming impossible.

And another thing. . . why would you be visiting the livestock section of a farming website, if not to pick a fight?

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: first slaughter
« Reply #8 on: August 14, 2008, 01:22:00 pm »
Jeez, Dan censored MY post and told me to be restrained - thank goodness you guys have said it all for me! Thanks ;-))

kaz

  • Joined Jul 2008
  • Ceredigion
  • Dust yourself off when life throws you down.
Re: first slaughter
« Reply #9 on: August 14, 2008, 01:46:24 pm »
I quite agree>
Penybont Ryelands. Ystwyth Coloured Ryelands.  2 alpacas, 2 angora goats, 2 anglo nubian kids, 3golden retrievers a collie and a red fox labrador retriever, geese, ducks & chickens.

Francis Bacon

  • Joined Jan 2008
  • Belabre, France
Re: first slaughter
« Reply #10 on: August 14, 2008, 06:11:50 pm »
Very well said  8)
I Love mornings - I just wish they came later in the day!

Pebbles

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Central Scotland
    • Ardunan Farm
    • Facebook
Re: first slaughter
« Reply #11 on: August 15, 2008, 11:29:48 am »
Rorsa

I'm so sorry you had a bad (and obviously distressing) experience. I am though, so grateful to you for you posting this message, as it is so easy to get in to a way of believing that this part of rearing animals is always going to be totally good/ quick/ problem free. I still have this experience to go through and thanks to you I am now able to prepare myself for things not going exactly to plan.

You have been very brave and you know that you have done a great job raising your pigs. Don't let this stop you from enjoying them and continuing with your animal rearing.

I totally agree with everyone else's comments (but one!)


doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
    • ABERDON GUNDOGS for work and show
    • Facebook
Re: first slaughter
« Reply #12 on: August 15, 2008, 12:13:36 pm »
I have to admit to being a huge coward - there is no way I could raise animals for slaughter although I'm quite happy to eat them.  I admire anyone who can.  As I said to Rosemary at lunch - I'll eat anything except my own animals  :-[
I just wondered - I know you have to book the animals in but what would have happend if when they were so stressed you decided to take them home again?  Perhaps you lose a fee?  I'm just asking - don't know anything about farm animals and slaughterhouses - would it have been possible to take them home and let them forget then try again a few months later?
I agree with you all - why is Jenni on here?
Annie
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

Hilarysmum

  • Joined Oct 2007
Re: first slaughter
« Reply #13 on: August 15, 2008, 06:29:07 pm »
My experience of UK is very limited, I believe once an animal is on the abattoire grounds you cant take it away.  The stress though would not necessarily have been because they were at the abattoir, we have had this happen when moving friend's pigs  from one field to another on the same holding.  Its a bit like children going to school some run in on the first day very happily, others cling for months (sorry bad analogy).

No one would pretend its easy, I always remember Dan#s diary entry on taking his pigs.  Made me cry.  But thats what its all about, loving your animals enough to do the right thing for them to the end.  Thats what makes smallholders great people.

HM

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
    • ABERDON GUNDOGS for work and show
    • Facebook
Re: first slaughter
« Reply #14 on: August 15, 2008, 10:41:17 pm »
I don't think I can live up to teh name of smallholder - I can't even feed my dogs with a chicken that has died.  Now a pheasant they have retrieved - that's a different matter.  Once it's been in and out of the freezer a few times (for training purposes) it isn't fit for human consumption but the dogs love it.
Annie
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

 

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