Its a bitter sweet feeling when the time comes for the pigs to go to slaughter. They have already spent four months here with us, now being six months old. They have felt the sun and rain on their backs, rummaged in the undergrowth and foraged freely for earthworms and roots. Like it or not you can't help bonding with them and forming a real fondness for their gentle nature.
When the day comes its time to reflect on whether or not we are doing the right thing. I honestly address this question each time we get to this point, and each time we decide whether or not to get pigs again. I can't say that we will always choose this path, but right now we do. I have been a vegetarian in the past. and could well become one again. We certainly eat far less meat as a family since we began raising our own, probably every fourth day or so. It seems wrong to daily trough our way through something we value so highly as if it grew on trees. When eating this meat the fact that it was very recently a living breathing creature is very much in the forefront of the mind and that knowledge means that we never waste it, its eaten with reverence and its shared with friends on special occasions.
Apart from the usual practical preparations for transport and taking the pigs to an abbatoir, theres also decisions to be made about how you wish the meat to be returned. Providing the butcher with a cutting list is essential, and it will be tailored to your own eating habits. We like to get roasting joints from each of the limbs ... two of those will be air dried hams, one will be cooked and sliced to provide picnic ham ideal for sandwiches or pasta dishes. We also request quite a bit of diced pork for stir fries, chops and plenty of ground pork for making a variety of sausage flavours. Back fat is all kept for adding to sausages, air dried sausages, black pudding and other delicacies. Even trotters, ears and tails can all be used. 'Eat everything but the oink', as they say.
Liver pate is the first delicacy to be prepared the evening we get the meat back. Sausages follow the next day. The remainder is frozen and we only salt each piece of meat as we need it. If anybody is interested in reading our cutting list you can find it here in the Sallygardens Forum, and if you'd like to share your cutting list there too, that would be great.
It seems that your pigs must have had a really good life. Death is just a horrible thing for most creatures, there's no avoiding it (unless of course they go in their sleepy, unlikely but the best way in my opinion!). I just wish that everyone could grasp just how important it is to treat animals with respect, yet there are some that are just mindlessly shovelling crap into their mouths every day, almost at every meal, not even considering it. It makes me feel desperate!
I'm a vegetarian but understand and accept that humans will always eat meat. So the next best thing for me is for everyone to do just what you've been doing - understanding what a luxury and privelidge it is. I also hope that one day, either the government, the consumer or the supermarkets (unlikely) will take action and we can work towards a more ethical meat industry. Not sure if I'll ever see it in my lifetime though.
Posted by: Lucy | February 13, 2008 at 10:42 AM
I don't envy you your position with the pigs. I know, for me, although I'm not a vegetarian I would become so attached to any animal I raised that I would not be able to send it off to the butcher. Thank you for sharing your very personal insights. Your thoughts are very valuable.
Posted by: Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage | February 13, 2008 at 04:41 PM
It is sad and it's such a struggle and I guess it always will be.
The two pigs at Wiggly Wigglers went to slaughter recently (http://wigglywigglers.blogspot.com/2008/01/rare-breed-pigs-become-rare-breed-pork.html). We all knew that they would be going before too long, but we fed them our our left over bits of lunch etc and got attached to them. We knew that they had had a lovely life, were well looked after, went to a small slaughterhouse who handled them calmly and with dignity, but we were all a little sad. The meat tasted fantastic and, if you want to eat meat, those two pigs had just about the best life they could have had, as did yours.
Posted by: Karen | February 14, 2008 at 11:45 AM
Being part of a cycle of life seems pretty honorable to me. In Mexico, while I tried to sleep through the middle of the night slaughtering, there was something very magical about getting up in the morning and seeing the sausages ready and lard being made over the fire. I see the whole process as rather awe-inspiring and, I think, fairly natural.
Posted by: Vallen Queen | February 14, 2008 at 06:24 PM
Keep the 'livestock for food' thing going - raising animals in a good environment, free from cruelty but for the reason the breed was intended is something to be celebrated. I strongly believe that the older, traditional breeds of all livestock need to be raised for the original purpose, otherwise we won't know what genetic traits to look for to produce a good 'baconer' or 'porker'. If good old breeds are lost, then it is impossible to breed them back into existence - and in the end, the genes of the traditional breeds may come in handy one day. Keep the GOS raising going - let them enjoy their lives, but enjoy the end result all the more for it.
Posted by: Notaproperfarmer | February 15, 2008 at 07:49 PM
I would certainly find it very confronting to eat what you grow when it breaths, very different to picking off the red tomato or pulling up some spuds.
Posted by: Maddy | February 17, 2008 at 12:09 PM
I am yet to say goodbye to my pigs but I don't look forward to the day.
Sara from farmingfriends
Posted by: farmingfriends | February 17, 2008 at 03:54 PM
We have spent the last few days making sausages, pate and salami. All delicious, and precious.
Posted by: Rebecca (author of Sallygardens) | February 18, 2008 at 09:58 AM
Good on ya, for growing your own meat! I hate mass meat market and hope that one day it will end. I have just watched a disturbing film on You tube called Earthlings, it has the whole mass meat market on film. I find living in this world extremely difficult and always wondered why? until me man enlightened me with some history. When humans became civilized they lost empathy for animals and humans and thought of themselves as more powerful then everything less powerful. When humans were in the wild and hunting there animals, if they saw somebody or animal in distress they would put down there spear and go and help and empathized with them.
Posted by: Eloise O'Hare | February 24, 2008 at 04:25 PM