limbo - the 'no pig' part of the project

Well, b-day has been and gone. We currently don't have any pigs.

It actaully wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. The boys were exemplary behaved, trotted out of the trailer, followed Sam and I down the path to their holding pen, and then just stood there sniffing about at all the new smells and looking up at with a 'where's breakfast then?' look on their faces. They weren't stressed at all, which is a good thing. We said our goodbyes and left them being looked over by a lady in Wellies from Defra.

I went off to work, and Sam went back to disinfect the trailer and then remove all the fences and generally tidy-up the garden a bit.

I did feel a bit sad, in fact a bit guilty would be a better description. They were so trusting, so friendly to us, so well behaved on their last day. But I know they had a great life with loads of room to run around and dig in, good food and lots of attention and fuss, which is a lot more than most pigs you see as packs of bacon get.

We now wait for the weekend when we go and pick up 2 x halves of Gary and 2x halves of Minty and the big butchering weekend starts!

last day for our pigs - mixed feelings all round

We're finally here. The last day of the 'live pig' part of the pig project.

Sam and I spent yesterday 'pig-proofing' our trailer for the boys trip to our local abbatoir/butcher tomorrow. As our trailer is an open one with sides that are mostly mesh wire and no roof, we've had to tie cardboard up against all the open sides to make it windproof and then secure plastic tarpaulin over the top and sides to make it rain proof. We've put down a load of their normal bedding (easibed woodchips and a pile of fresh straw) to make it warm and cosy. The next bit will be getting them into their luxury transportation.

The plan is to not feed them as normal tomorrow night, but instead rattle their food bowl in front of them all the way down the garden path, round the back of the potting shed which has a nice handy wall next to it, with the only way forward being up into the trailer where food, water and straw awaits them..... sounds like a good plan but we'll let you know if it actully works!

How are we feeling? Well we re-watched Pig in a Day again last night, and also ordered a load of stuff like knives, containers, sausage skins etc which was kind of exciting (if a tad expensive!) and we are looking forward to making sausage recipes and curing our own ham.

But there is a bit of the sentimental part in me that keeps thinking things like - i wish it wasn't windy and cold today, because the boys are in bed and they don't know that this is their last chance to dig and sniff and run about..... and that's because I'm taking them to be killed tomorrow.

But then there's another bit of me that is looking forward to not having to feed them, clean them, worry about them escaping etc, and having more time to focus on the DIY at our house, which has been noticably put back because of the pigs.

So, its mixed feelings. I'm glad that tomorrow its an early start. There won't be time to get sad, we just need to be practical. Quick, efficent, painless is the order of the day - for me and the pigs!

bacon day is set

We're getting very near to the end of this part of the pig project... the date has been set to say goodbye to our two boys, and hello to an awful lot of pork.

Tuesday is offically Bacon Day.

Up until today they have actully been making it easier for us to send them away to the big bacon factory. Sam and I were arms deep into some DIY on our new house on Sunday, and had to down tools and rush back home to deal with a mass breakout. When we arrived the boys had been sucessfully tempted back into their run with buckets of food, but the garden was slighlty worse for wear. Not only were there perfectly formed trotter prints across the lawn and flowerbeds, but the orchard had three or four Minty-nose-sized holes in it from some moss digging attempts.

We spent over an hour trying to reinforce the fences. Desparation has set in with trying to contain the pigs, and our ramshakle defences now include large rocks, breeze blocks, tree stumps, branches and even holly clippings in a bid to stop the pigs getting close enough to the fence to dig under it. It looks a bit like Steptoe's yard, but fingers crossed it seems to be working!

Other than the containment 'issues', the whole pig run is a huge wet, stinky, clayey mud bath. It looks bad, it smells worse and the thought of it ever being a prize winning vegetable patch seem a long way off.

However today the sun has come out, and the boys are playing the 'cute' card. No escaping, just lying next to each other sunbathing. Maybe they realise that next Tuesday is planned as Bacon day....


I thought I would feel sadder and more emotional this close to the big day, but there is actully a big part of me that is relieved. We'll be able to really get on with our DIY without having to feed them twice a day, the house can be left with no worries that there will be Pigs wandering through the village on our return, and we'll finally be able to pay back all our friends with fantastic tasting bacon, sausages and joints!

We are currently watching the River Cottage 'pig in a day' DVD over and over, ordering supplies - sausage casings, knives, mixing boxes, salt etc and planning the who, how and when of the big butchering event. We'll take pics of the whole thing from carcass to eating the final bangers and let you see the results!

the bacon day dilemma

We weighed the pigs last weekend (movie of pigs, buckets of food, upside down garden table and industrial scales comming soon...). Minty is an impressive 86kg, but little Gary is a 'must try harder' 64kg.

I'm very keen that we only go through the whole experience once. Not only to minimise the detress to one pig left on its ownsome, but also to minimise the stress to us with the trip to the abbatoir, the butchering session, getting all our kitchin equipment out etc etc. But Sam is keen to do Minty now and keep Gary for a few more weeks to get him up to a decent size. He figures that any distress to Gary being on his own will be outweighed by the joy of getting the food bowl all to himself, as Minty does bully Gary and ends up with more than his fair share of the grub.

We've asked our favourite forums and although a lot of people agree with me, they also agree that Gary is a tad too tiny to send to the bacon factory now.

I don't think there is a right answer....