Slaughtering old pigs

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Slaughtering old pigs
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Stacey

Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 12:07 pm Post subject: Slaughtering old pigs

We're makng the difficult decision as to what to do with our 4 yr old Tamworths. One has never delivered a live litter and her sister's biggest litter has been 5 piglets. We have 2 Tamworth X Landrace gilts who are just about to come into their first season and they're good looking pigs. We're wondering about foregoing the bacon (for another year

) and keeping the young gilts instead of the older tammies. One of the issues is what to do with the older ones. Can we still use meat from 4 yr old pigs? We're wondering if they can be made into sausages or will they be too fat? This is going to be one of the hardest decisions we've yet made but we can't afford to keep them as pets which is basically what we're doing now.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 12:15 pm Post subject:
They'll be fine (and good) for sausages, and if it is from a fat sow you could mix the meat with that from a porker it will help make it leaner.

Stacey

Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 12:16 pm Post subject:
Thanks Rob

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46369
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 12:17 pm Post subject:
eat em , maybe a week or 2 on windfall apples etc will ease your feelings for them . stock is stock pets are pets .lots of food or lots of vets bills . sorry to seem unfeeling ,im not ,but such is keeping farm critters . give em a good life ,no infirmities of old age and cold smoked huge fitches of bacon and hams

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46369
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 12:23 pm Post subject:
i like fatty bacon ,ace for frying veg ,good grilled and for basting a roast. sausages a plenty as well . and lard (very multipurpose product) use everything but the oink

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 12:24 pm Post subject:
I can almost hear you salivating!

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 12:26 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

and lard (very multipurpose product)

Two 4 year-old sows - that's a heck of a lot of lard!

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 12:52 pm Post subject:
Cornish Lardo? https://www.dolcevita.com/Cuisine/lardo/lardo.htm

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 1:02 pm Post subject:

i know where you are coming from stacey but what has to be, has to be

they would make good sausages and equally good fatty bacon,

unless you are butchering it yourself or asking for the heads to do brawn, then what you get back doesn't bear any resemblance to the animals that went away, it is just flat packed piggy

put it in the freezer and forget about it for a while then one day you will fancy some sausages and they will get used

it is the way of the world

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 1:24 pm Post subject:

Also, pigs don't on the whole age without problems. I was horrified when an old boar (tamworth/boar x) we knew that was essentially kept as a pet went downhill really rapidly in his last months. Really convinced me that certain animals domesticated by people are no longer designed to reach a ripe old age. It did him no favours and even with careful vet care I felt it was clear he should have gone in his prime. If we take on the responsibilities of rearing animals we have to take the responsibility over their fates too. I know it will be hard when you've had them so long, but better they go now having had a happy life than keep them until they become decrepit.

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 7:23 pm Post subject:

sally_in_wales wrote:

wel spoken sally and very true in my opinion

Stacey

Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 06 8:59 pm Post subject:
Thanks all Sally I think you're right and we sometimes do more harm than good by being too sentimental. We've decided that one is definitely going and the other one has a stay of ...errrr.... execution until the winter.

spanky

Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 121
Location: near lowestoft suffolk

Posted: Wed Aug 23, 06 11:26 pm Post subject:
My idea would be to reduce the feed by a 1/4 and let the pigs lose a bit of that hard fat ,feed them loads of windfall apples if you are able to , let them forage in a wood if you have acces to one for a couple of months they will come leaner and in my opinion even tastier some keepers will let you run pigs in small woods to help clear the undergrowth ,just electric fence the boundary

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Wed Aug 23, 06 11:30 pm Post subject:
I had some cheap bacon from a farm in usk once, the pigs had put down far too much fat, and the bacon was meat to fat ratio reversed! Boy it tasted good, probably took a year off my life though.

Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 06 9:32 am Post subject:
You can use the lard for soap, too, can't you?

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