[neilrobinson]

just had my  first 3 pigs slaughtered at local butcher.
After speaking to an old farmer friend we asked the butcher to leave heads on so we could be sure we were getting our own pigs back as there were 2 other tamworths in the same day .
Wife spoke to butcher today and he says he had to take heads off as too muddy .
I just wondered what all you experienced people do to ensure you get your own pigs back ?

[pigsatlesrues]

You could tatoo various parts of the body including the head.  You can buy a slap stick which is easy to use and you can makie your mark wherever you like to identify it as yours.

Kate 

[Francis Bacon]

That's sounds like a good idea Kate, I had friends in UK who raise GOS, they have them slaughtered in pairs.  However, they received the hams back only to find that one was much smaller than the rest..... Butcher said it was definately his        Needless to say he didn't use them again.

[Tweedle]

Just to make sure that nothing fishy happens with ours we usually slaughter on farm and do our own processing. This time round we are sending them off, but its a friend of the family. We have found that doing it ourselves we get a lot more as we can take the extra time to get all the usable parts. Not sure about the rules and regulations over there, if your allowed to process your own. It’s not nearly as hard as it seams and with a little instruction, and a couple time doing it, it becomes easier. (Although it is defiantly a three person job.)

[Jayhawk]

I slapmark and I know where I have done it (high, low eg). Also this Monday I have two going of different breeds, one for us and one for someone else. I will double slapmark one of them to avoid confusion (and to make sure no-one else gets my Middle White )