Well, its been seven months since we started our pig rearing project, and with ever increasing cold/wet weather and little food available, it was time for our pigs to go to the butcher yesterday.
A new funnel shaped pen (built as a result of the torrential downpour on friday that lead to a pig escape) a box trailer, a dodgy ramp and some strategically placed heaps of wheat enabled us to load the pigs without too much trouble.
The whole family piled into the car and we headed up Mt Barrow to the abbatoir. The butcher was a friend of our neighbours. He was a great man, enlightening us on the whole butchering process and willing to accommodate what we wanted eg "What, no chops!"... He delighted in our enthusiasm for having collected hundreds of kilograms of acorns and chestnuts with the kids in the past six weeks to feed the pigs. (He used to do the same)
They'll be slaughtered today, the smaller one (a porker) will be cut in to roasts, fillets, spare ribs etc, and the larger one will be turned into ham and bacon by Casalinga butchery, ready for collection in about a fortnight. The kids can't wait for their ham and bacon, the whole rearing pigs for the table has been great for them.
It now remains to be seen whether the diet of apples, acorns, chestnuts and pumpkins over the last two months will shine through in the flavour..
Will we do it again? Come spring time, most definitely!
