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!

Proud pig owners again

Well, I am very pleased to say that as from this afternoon we are proud pig owners again.

It's been at about five years since we last had some, and are seriously missing all that lovely bacon, sausages and roasted joints.  What can be better when the rain is lashing down outside than coming in having done all the jobs for the day and sitting down to large piece of roasted pork with crispy crackling, the fat dribbling down your chin and all the trimmings - home grown veg of course!

We went back to Giles Barrow's smallholding to collect our two lovely Oxford Sandy and Black girls this afternoon.  Michael spent the day yesterday getting their new home ready -

Yes, I know there's a few weeds in the top picture, but I did say we hadn't had pigs for a while!  They'll love rooting about in all that lot, it will keep them entertained for ages.

We filled the back of the truck with straw and off we went.  We did get a bit worried on the way home as they were rather quiet, but I must admit looked rather comfy when we arrived home!

Once home we let the girls into their new surroundings -

My husband also put them through our old pig weighing machine that he saved from a skip -

As you can see, one weighed 30lbs (13.6Kgs), and the other 32.5lbs (14.7Kgs).

We are thrilled to bits with them.  They are still unsure of where they are and what's happening, but I will keep you posted as to their progress.  We shall weigh them again in another month.

Stats today -

Eggs produced = 13 (nearly a full house, I wonder who it was that let the side down?)

Sales -
1 doz eggs £1.80

Expenses -
2 x weaner pigs £100