Disposing of waste

[george]

Thanks guys.

Well I've got a few months to go before they arrive and then a few months after that before dinner time. So we'll see.

I totally agree with the clean death/ good life /respect bit - thats why we want to grow and eat our own. I don't eat supermarket meat if I can avoid it and I would rather go without totally if I couldn't put my money where my mouth is so to speak.

I'll keep you posted.

 

[dtalbot]

I think that HFW m,akes some excellent points relating to all meat having to be killed at some point, and that we have become from divorced from the realities of food, kids not knowing that bacon comes from pigs, milk not coming from cows etc.. This is a big shame, particularly when we look at how poor many peoples diet has become, encouraged well and truly by McD's etc.

George[/quote]

Good points,
I think my 4 year old is probably one of onlt 0.001% of 4 year olds in knowing exactly how to skin a rabbit and get it ready for the pot, only the fact that she would like as not chop bits off herself as well if handling a sharp knife stops her having a go!

When the pigs time comes wouldn't a captive bolt gun do the job more effectivley than a .22? Only guessing but they are quite up to the job of dispatchin injured horses and deer so I'd think they would be OK to do a clean, quick job on a pig.Cheers
David

 

[dtalbot]

, and that we have become from divorced from the realities of food, [/quote]
Well,
Lucky me lives right on the edge of the peak district, which as you probably know, given the fact that more people live within 50 miles of than 50 miles of Trafalgar Square, is the second most visited NP on the planet.
But get this. Last autumn I was quietly gathering my winters supply of blackberries near a well used local path. It always amazes me that I find such a plentiful supply at that point given the paths business but it isnt a useful route from and to anywhere. A visitor with the distinctive accent of a nearby city stoped to ask what I was doing. I explained, visitor listened carfully then with a concerned look on her face asked 'don't they have them in the supermarket freezers here then?

 

[Brynglas]

Fairly soon we're going to be raising some pigs for food. In my time I've shot or otherwise caught many hundreds (thousands?) of wild beasties of one sort or another and eaten the vast majority of them. But I've never grown one from a baby up to the point where I kill it for food.

My wife and I both agree that we should be able to kill and process them ourselves, (home kill for home consumption is legal in Scotland once again) that it is tantamount to hiring a hitman to send it off to the slaughterhouse. If I can't do it then I should give up meat.

I don't know how I will feel about it when the time comes. I sense that for me it is very different looking at a bunny through the sights or picking up a rabbit from a snare than it is to tie down an animal that you've know since it was young and popping it with the .22

What do the rest of you think?

I don't have pigs this year as my partner is expecting twins so my time is limited enough, however for the previous three years a colleague and I have kept a couple of pigs for the freezer, he is a far more experienced smallholder than I am and we've managed to keep ourselves in pork, sausages and bacon and managed to sell a few pounds of sausages as well, we've also had great success in making our own 'Carmarthen' hams in the old fashioned way (it's virtually the same process as Parma ham).

As far as slaughter and buthchery is concerned I wouldn't ever consider using a .22 for the job, simply because I couldn't guarantee a clean shot, once the animal gets a hint that something is amiss, and they definitely will, one is more likely to shoot a toe off than to dispatch the pig. I've tried using a .22 to process a goose, with little success. Very traumatic and unpleasant all round and not a little bit dangerous. Our pigs have always gone to a professional slaughterman who has done a fantastic job of keeping the animals stress free and returned them almost ready straight for the freezer.

This is obviously only my opinion, but if you have absolutely any qualms at all about being able to grow to kill, I would avoid a DIY job on pigs, a job much better left to a professional.

I can however give you an some excellent sausage recipes though!

:-|

 

[Buckshot]

I agree Brynglas, a pigs skull is quite thick, I'm not sure a .22 would be powerfull enough to guarantee a kill rather than just stunning the animal with the shock.

Perhaps a messier but more effective way would be to use a 12 bore loaded with heavy shot at close range. The power of a shotgun at close range is awesome, it's only when the pellets travel and spread that the power is lost. You would need to ensure you don't get hit with splash back of the pellets though

Or you could use a larger rifle. :AR15firin

Cheers

Mark

 

[george]

Thanks guys

The .22 was a figure of speech - the captive bolt is obviously the way to go.

One of the problems that we have here is that our nearest slaughterhouse is 90 very difficult miles away. No-one round here likes the idea of having the animals in the trailer for the best part of 3 hours to take them to slaughter. They get there already in a bit of a state and that begins to get away from the point of keeping them.

Yup Brynglas - we owe it to the pigs (and any other animal we raise) to do as good a job possible and any half arsed botched attempt would only make things worse. Thats my point entirely - we want to do the best we can for ourselves, our kids and our animals - we all carry enough moral baggage with us about the decisions that we make - but do I have it in me or not? I don't know yet. But I can assure all of you, if I cant do it then it's off to the slaughterman with them and then no more meat I can't kill myself!

George

Happy to swap sausage and ham recipes though

 

[the naughty boy]

hey george just a small question...do you have digestion problems?
just a yes or no will be ok m8.

remember that to eat ,something has to die,even if its only on a cellular level,the problem arises when the cells aggrigate into larger forms and grunt and have curly tails :-?

 

[george]

Naughty Boy

Yes (but only if I have to eat crap supermarket meat or processed rubbish that comes out of a can!)

George

 

[dtalbot]

Thanks guys
But I can assure all of you, if I cant do it then it's off to the slaughterman with them and then no more meat I can't kill myself!

George

Happy to swap sausage and ham recipes though

Just another thought, I'm sure someone in your locality, be it vet, farmer, knackerman, gamekeeper or huntsman, must be profficient with a captive bolt. Maybe one of them will be willing to teach you how to do it or visit and do it for you.
Cheers
David