Hate saying goodbye

It came round to that time yesterday when we said goodbye to two good friends - the pigs went off to the abattoir.  I don't know about you but I hate it when you have to do it.

We discussed keeping the two girls for breeding, as they were such wonderful natured pigs, but we didn't think that a pig breeding operation would be viable as there are so many other people doing it and pig feed being so expensive, so off they went.

Loading was easy.  We backed the trailer up to their compound and I scattered pig nuts down the ramp. Having not fed them that morning, they were hungry, so just scoffed nuts all the way up the ramp until they were in!

And Yes, these are the same pigs we bought in July - see the post from last July when we first brought them home!

Ear tags next -

Ear tagger machine with tag loaded

Both tagged - lets hope they stay in until they get to the abattoir!

And then they were off -

Michael exchanged the tractor for a 4x4 once out of the muddy field and that was it.  The butcher told me he would be sorting them out on Monday, so probably by the end of next week/beginning of the following week I shall be collecting a whole heap of lovely home-grown, tasty pork - can't wait!

Movement books

Now I don't know about you, but I find that the movement book and the vet & med book is one of those jobs that gets left behind somewhat, and then when you need the thing for whatever reason, it's practically years out of date.

So having a very important vet visit today (more on that in another post), I thought I had better check that the things were up to date.  It used to be that if you had a visit from the vet, especially the vets from the Ministry (MAFF, in the old days), they went through all this type of paperwork religiously, and having had it drilled into me at college about it's importance (my old college mates will back me up on this!) I set about the task.

Thankfully it wasn't far out of date, so the task wasn't so onerous.  But it did get me thinking, is this just a job that is completely outdated and a waste of time?  I understand the need for keeping medical records, for meat withdrawal purposes etc, but if you're like us here and don't use that many medicines unless absolutely necessary - welfare grounds etc, then you don't run the risk of tainting the meat before eating it.  But the movement book seems rather a waste of time these days.  Pigs are all done online now; cattle can be, but still need paperwork to follow them wherever they go; sheep are still followed by bits of paper, but even now they have electronic tags in their ears, although I wish someone would devise one that actually stayed in! The system is not foolproof by any means, cattle movements, like visiting the bull, means that the passport has to go with them, but then you have nothing at all to identify that the animal belongs to you, it's all done on trust.  I do believe the whole system needs a complete overhaul, surely it can't be that difficult to identify each animal and follow its passage through life, can it?  Should we go back to tattooing?  At least that was permanent, ear tags never are!  Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Stats today

Eggs produced = 2 (!)

Sales - Nil
Expenses - Nil

Apples

Every year we promise to save as many Bramley apples as we can, either by storing or freezing them, and every year we fail, big style.  Until this year I'm happy to say.

I said to Michael that this weekend I would like to get as many apples off the trees before the high winds come through here next week, according to today's forecast.  So that's what we've been up to -

Look at that blue sky too, shame it didn't last!

After a good sort through and getting as many off the tree as we could, we had three piles - Pig apples, apples to use/freeze now/near future and storage apples.

Our storage system, now five stories high!

The to deal with asap pile.

Suffice to say the pigs have already eaten some of their's, I don't like to give them all at once, in case the acid is too much for the stomach's.

What's left on the tree will come down in the wind and be collected for use immediately or be given to the pigs.  We are feeling mighty chuffed with ourselves today, first year we have really harvested these apples, and as they are not selling from the shop, roll on plenty of apple pies Mr Tweedy!  So now starts the peeling and chopping stage, let's hope I have plenty of plasters on stand by!

Stats today -

Eggs produced = 5

Sales -
1 dozen eggs £1.80
Still no pumpkins sold (?)

Expenses -
Nil