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Pigs go to the slaughter!

The title of this entry is a famous City saying, basically those too greedy end up losing it all.  Well, guess what, it is actually based on observed nature.  Yesterday, we moved a transport trailer to where the pigs are kept.  Our Forewoman said that getting the four brutes out of the forest and their enclosure would be easy.   For the past three days, she had been bringing a little feed to the forest enclosure with molasse, not enough for all the pigs, just a little bit.  Last night we parked the trailer at the edge of the enclosure, the pigs were curious but there was nothing inside.  This morning, our pig whisperer brought molasses-dipped corn and grain to the pigs and dumped the feed in the trailer.  In less than 30 seconds all four bruisers were in the trailer, they had kicked out all the other pigs from the feast.  I almost missed the whole show.  She dumped and in less than 2 minutes the trailer was away with the four pigs inside.  

The trip to our processing plant was short.  It was the first time that the team was dealing with pigs, we hired, from a not-too-distant slaughterhouse a butcher specialized in pig killing and butchering, and the process was done quickly.  By noon all four were hanging.  

The pigs were a bit larger than we had anticipated we produced a hanging weight of just over 100kg which is considerable.  

Our porc forewoman believed that getting the largest pigs out of pasture would continue to be easy, using her method.  She said that at times we would have to cull the herd a bit more carefully but that for now, it was fine.  

Note:  These are older pigs, nearly 24 months old when they arrived at the farm.  They were raised on grain feed for most of their lives, it really is the piglets that will turn into the type of meat we are seeking to cure and smoke...


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