The pigs have gone to the freezer

Warning: The following post contains details of humane pig slaughter.

At 5.30pm today our local pig man came to assist in the slaughter of our two pigs. We also had the help of several neighbours and the loan of a front load tractor. 

I give them a good final breakfast this morning with lots belly rubs and back scratches.

I was very mindful all day of what was to come, but I was pleased that they had a good life and a quick death. They were raised to nine months of age and had spent six months outdoors, grazing a large acreage and the final three months in our sty. 

I am not going to show much photographs of the event as that would be in bad taste. 

They were separated in the sty, and they were despatched with a humane gun. It was very quick and painless. A rope was then tied around the rear leg and they were hoisted up by the front loader. 

Their throat was then cut to bleed them and then they were taken down to be debrittled using a blow torch and blade. 

After this the innards were cleaned out and the heads removed. I had the livers saved in a clean bucket. I will cut them up tonight and use some fresh and the rest will go into the freezer.

The pigs were then brought to our local butcher where they will hang in the cool room for a few weeks. We hope to make plenty of salami, as well as pork and bacon. They were very heavy and took three men to lift them cleaned dead weight. They had a nice amount of fat, maybe an inch under the skin. For us, that was the amount we were hoping for. Not too fatty to be wasteful, but not too lean to be dry and tasteless. The favour is in the fat after all.

We have two weaner pigs bought already that we will collect next week once we make some repairs/adjustments to the sty.

 We used a timber gate which the pigs quickly destroyed. We hope to hang a metal one to replace this and knock out some blocks out of the pig trough so cleaning it would be easier. They are inclined to put a lot of waste material into the trough. I still don't know how they managed this. 

I greatly respect that they give life to feed my family. This process has given me an even higher respect for life, food and their interdependence  and connection.

Thank you pigs..