Monday 26 October 2009

Pig keeping - one week to go


The two gilts are booked in for next Monday. They are ready to go. They are certainly big enough...maybe a little too big. Using the
length x girth method they weigh in over 100kg !! and with the change in the weather it's time. Their run is getting muddy and we are getting through quite a lot of straw, not to mention feed. Unfortunately they will miss most of the apple waste from the cider making, although we are doing our best to clear the veg. patch before they depart.
Over the next week we need to decide upon and draw up a cutting plan for the butcher. Both of the pigs were originally to be processed for gammon, sausages and bacon but the expense involved has cause us to rethink. We can either choose to have some of the meat back as pork joints, and maybe process them at a later date ourselves or try selling some of the meat to friends and redeem a proportion of the money spent that way.
Whatever we decide by this time next week we will no longer be pig keepers.. until then I will worry....will they escape from the trailer, will the trailer tip over ( impossible my husband reckons, pigs have a low center of gravity - whatever that means! ) will they be too fat or a real possibility too big for the scraping machine, which means they will have to be skinned (extra cost) will they be condemned...enough, enough all will be fine!!

Next year we will have forgotten the expense, the worry and the work and just remember what fun they were and how lovely the pork and bacon was and we will start looking for weaners again.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i do so understand your worries. good luck with the cutting list

Sandra said...

:) thanks. We are going to see the butcher sometime before next Tuesday to see what we can sort out. Really do need to get the price down.We have re measured the pigs ..thankfully nowhere as big as we first thought.

Anonymous said...

you know - they do cut them at the abbatoir... price didn't seem that bad

Sandra said...

Yes we have had lambs cut there before and they were OK but the last we had - through a friend was very badly butchered put us off a bit and the butcher we used to go to was so good, all hand cut, butchered and packed exactly to our requirements,she gave advice on different cuts, scored the carcass for quality etc. It spoilt us a bit. We 'll see how we get on this time then re think.