Final update on Sausage & Bacon 2.0

As you know from last week's post, my pigs were delivered to the slaughterhouse last Tuesday evening, and were scheduled for the big day Wednesday. I was called Wednesday morning to verify which two were mine (they kept calling them "The little ones" since all the others were ENORMOUS) and get a list of all the meats I wanted. It was 7:30am when he called me and not only was I half asleep, but I was sitting in the parking lot of my daughter's college waiting for her to get done with her class so I could take her to high school (she's a dual enrollment student), so I wasn't really thinking about all the meats I wanted.

I assured him I was a newbie at all this and asked for his suggestions. Overall, he helped me compile a good list of things we like to eat and told me the meat should be ready for pick-up on Friday. By the end of that day, when it was all but too late, I realized I'd forgotten one item... BACON.  LOL.  You'd think after naming them Sausage and Bacon I'd at least remember to order up some bacon. Sheesh!

Friday, after I'd finished my normal end of the week errands, I call the slaughterhouse to see if my meat was ready before I went over there ("You have the two little ones, right?"). The meat was ready so I went on over. The slaughterhouse is only a few minutes from my home; I pass it every day taking my youngest daughter to school. When I got there the men told me that while, yes, mine were much smaller than the other, the meat appeared good looking and healthy. I asked the weights of both and it turned out my pigs yielded me 162lbs of processed pork. Wow! Girl pig produced 56lbs and Boy pig produced 106lbs. All of that for $108, $40 of which was the kill fee. Not too shabby!

Today I'll be cooking up our first taste. I have a shoulder roast in the Crock-Pot and I'm looking forward to the freshest pork I've ever eaten. A week ago these pigs were being petted and talked to and not worrying about where their food comes from.

I thought I'd feel bad when we took them for slaughter, but I didn't. I worried my youngest daughter would be upset, but she wasn't. I knew my older two didn't care since they hated chasing the pigs around the property when they escaped their fence. LOL.

I am, however, glad that I gave these two pigs a happy life while they were here. I petted them, scratched behind their ears, fed them fruits and veggies along with their grains, talked sweetly to them and scolded them when they escaped. They foraged for grubs and acorns while snacking on anything green they found. Overall, they lived a happy pig life with us and now they will serve as sustenance for my family.  I'd say that's way better than any pig from large companies who keep their pigs in pens barely big enough for them to turn around in.

Oh, and while my pigs might have been "the little ones" after seeing the giant hogs there barely able to hold themselves up, and then seeing how nice my meat looks, I know mine produced leaner, healthier meat than those others. Even if it meant less pounds of meat.

My deep freezer is now half full of just pork.

The hubby has been looking forward to
fresh ribs.

Finally, I'm glad it's over. This was a great experiment to see if we could manage raising our own meats in a happy and healthy environment, without our kids or myself getting overly attached. Monetarily, it was well worth the trouble though. I'll add a P.S. at the bottom of this post after tonight's dinner to let you know how the meat tastes. The hubby is already talking about doing it again, but I warned him that the next time the pen better be built better than Fort Knox because I don't want to have to chase pigs again. We'll see how that goes over. ;)

P.S. The roast was delicious! Even my 10 year old thought it was super tasty. The meat was lean and tender and had a yummy aroma. Definitely some good pork. :)

Good-bye Sausage & Bacon 2.0

Today's the day we deliver our two pigs to the local slaughterhouse. Tomorrow is the big day. When I called weeks ago the man told me they were so booked up that the next available day was three weeks away, and that's the one I snagged. When he called today to verify that I was bringing in two pigs, he told me they'd call me after the deed is done to tell me their weights (and thus the cost of the slaughter since it's $0.42/lb hanging weight, plus a $20 kill fee each).

Now, I wait for the hubby and our friends to get home from work so I can get a giggle out of these two men wrangling these two giant pigs up. I'll let you know how that goes. LOL!

As a side note: I bought just enough pig feed to last us to the end of today. So they will get one last meal on the ride to the slaughterhouse and I'll be out of feed. You can't time it any better than that!

Since this is a new adventure for us, I don't know what to expect. I don't know how much they weigh, but I'm guesstimating that they're about 400lbs together. I suppose we'll find out after tomorrow if I'm close or not. I have ideas on meat cuts I want, and we will totally request sausage and bacon on that list. However, I imagine we'll be quite sick of pork by the time my deep freezer is empty again.

Fingers crossed for a smooth delivery this evening and some tasty pork after it's all over.  :)  Stay tuned for more updates in the next couple of days.

Jumping into raising pigs. Not how I planned it!

Pigs. Hmm. Where do I start? How about, I had an idea that we should raise a couple of hogs for the freezer. How hard could it be, right? I found a seller of cute little baby pigs.

My BFF and I drove an hour away, with two dog crates in the back of my minivan, and cash in hand, to buy two female piglets. I had an old chicken coop that we weren't using any longer, and planned to put a fence around that spot for the the pigs to grow nice and big. We made it there and back with two little piglets squealing the entire way. Once home, the kids were amazed, but I reminded them (and still do) that these are for food, not pets. We named them Sausage and Bacon for just that purpose.

Two days later, Sausage and Bacon 1.0 escaped and were never seen from again. *Sigh*

Two days after that, my husband and I went back to the same sellers and bought two more female piglets. This was quite reminiscent of my first batch of chicks (the ones a cat ate two hours after I bought them). We did things a bit differently with Sausage and Bacon 2.0. They managed to hang around.

These two have grown and grown over the last few months. I fantasize about my deep freezer being full of delicious, fresh pork. And then it happened...  My husband looked at the pigs, and then at me, and said, "I think that one's a boy."  Damn it!

I wasn't planning to be a breeder, just an eater. Geez! From my research though, it looks like Boy Pig may be infertile.

Oh, and in case you don't know, pigs really, really LOVE escaping their pens. These two have slipped out no less than 4 times in the last few months. Once the neighbor behind us found them and trapped them in his barn before coming to see if they were ours. Thank goodness he did or they wouldn't been gone like the other two. Now that they're bigger, they're easier to wrangle and are happy to come to us when we have food. Not so happy when we try to put them back in the pen though. You'll notice all the concrete blocks around the bottom of the fencing below. They root, root, root until there's a big enough gap to push the blocks aside and out they go.

Boy Pig is friendly & always up for some
petting.

Much bigger now

Girl Pig is the troublemaker. She's the one I've caught rooting out the most. Boy Pig prefers to stay put, but will follow girl pig anywhere.

Sooooooo, at this point, I'm more than ready to take Girl Pig to the slaughter house, but she needs to get a bit bigger first. Boy Pig is a good size, but he's super friendly and easier to handle. And I won't even get into all the information I've read about meat taint in males. UGH!  I just wanted two girl pigs to put in the freezer.  *Sigh*

Stay tuned for more piggy updates to see if they make it to slaughter this summer.


UPDATE: Sooo, Girl Pig escaped yet again. UGH! Ticked me off enough that I finally called the slaughterhouse, but they're so busy (he said he does 200-300 heads a week!) I had to book a day. They now have a going away date of April 22nd. This meat better be the best meat in the world for all the trouble these two have been.