Keeping pigs

[letrangere]

Do any of you keep pigs?  If so, I'd love to hear more.  How long do you keep them before slaughter?  And who does this horrible job?  What do you feed them on?  What scraps are they allowed to eat and not eat?  And don't you find they're a contentious subject and that human beings fall into two very distinct categories, ie those who like them and those who absolutely can't stand them?  M

[GRT17]

welcome back MWJ we missed you!

re. pigs: well we have never kept them but a French neighbour of ours did (one, two or three at a time) and he lives almost in the middle of our village. He was very fond of them, there was always one pig called Arthur and sometimes another whom he named Blanche-Neige! LOL !

We used to give him all our veg. scraps for the pigs and bread for the chickens as well.

One Autumn I asked where the pigs had gone, he told me he was very sad as the pigs were all dead! (Neatly slaughtered and jointed I suspect) I had noticed some hefty "hams" hanging in their kitchen when I went to buy eggs!!! probably Arthur and Blanche-Neige in disguise!

Latterly he has kept his pigs at his sons farm in another village as I think the close neighbours complained about the smell.

Such are the joys of village life.

Gill

[Teejay]

[quote]Do any of you keep pigs? If so, I'd love to hear more. How long do you keep them before slaughter? And who does this horrible job? What do you feed them on? What scraps are they allowed to eat an...[/quote]

MWJ, funny you should mention pigs as most in our village seem to be meeting their maker this month. I don't know the exact number kept, but as I was leaving the house this morning in order to walk the dogs, a shot was heard and on passing my neighbour's house I spied a rather comatose pig on the ground surrounded by three people. Twenty mins later on my return the pig was blackened by smoke from a small fire. I can only assume this was to remove the hair from the skin.

They stun the pigs before bleeding them. I thought perhaps they killed them outright since the shot between the eyes leaves a neat hole. But then would they bleed? Around here it is normal to keep about 9 to 15 pigs and most houses have porcheries although it is only a handful of people who keep and rear them for the table.

Another neighbour, ex butcher, is called upon to cut up the carcass for distribution to family etc.

We were shown on another occasion the process of using every bit of the pig down to the last morsel. Nothing is wasted. After the kill the women set to work taking at least three to four days to complete their task. Seeing them boiling, bottling and stoking up the fire was like a tableaux from the middle ages.

They appear to feed the pigs on some sort of grain. As to whether scraps are given I have no idea.

In addition to pigs they also keep geese and ducks which provide them with a nice little sideline in foie gras.

Another insight into the demise of pigs is glimpsing them washing the body in the road and the run off going into the local stream. It suddenly dawned on me today why one of our dogs seems to spend a lot of time paddling about in that area.

I've never found pigs to be a contentious subject only snakes. Most gift shops and newsagents display many images of pigs, from the ludicrous to the rather cute.

[letrangere]

Thank you both for your fascinating replies, makes me realise what an ignorant townie I am.  I've a suspicion I could grow quite fond of little piggies, though perhaps not to the extent that I would give up eating delicious smoked ham forever!   A friend staying with us in the country had almost a phobia about the creatures and could barely even look at a sty.  But I found them rather sweet, each having its own individual personality.  They weren't even quite as dirty as everyone imagines, though I'm not volunteering to muck 'em out!  M

[Hoddy]

Welcome back MWJ. As usual with an interesting topic.

“like a tableaux from the middle ages.”

Oh dear ! Almost everything you describe here could be seen in deepest, darkest Derbyshire until the sixties.

No-one has mentioned the awful screams from the pigs as they are killed. We used to collect snails for them which they ate with relish. I gave up long ago trying to explain how it is that I prefer to eat animals that I have known. Pigs are lovely characterful animals and are not dirty if kept properly.

Hoddy

[Teejay]

[quote]Welcome back MWJ. As usual with an interesting topic.“like a tableaux from the middle ages.”Oh dear ! Almost everything you describe here could be seen in deepest, darkest Derbyshire until the sixties...[/quote]

Error.......should be tableau and not tableaux.

Actually the scene reminded of the painting by Van Gogh named 'the potato eaters'. Please don't imagine however, that we are discussing people caught up in some time warp. They are viticulteurs. Growing their own food and preserving it is just a way of saving the pennies or in this case, centimes.

Yes, it is a tradition learnt no doubt from parents and grandparents etc. And it's a fact that these traditions are being lost as we all embrace globalisation and no longer find the time to prepare and grow our own food. In my opinion it would be very sad to see these old habits die, for they represent real pride in what is essentially the very essence of France, the food with all its regional differences.

All the pigs I have seen appeared to be kept in clean conditions and did not smell. They are intelligent creatures and my only sorrow is that they do not glimpse daylight until the end. If they do scream I have only heard this once and our neighbour informed us that they never kill a pig in front of the live ones. It would cause panic.

[Fil]

Hi,

my advice is DON'T!!!!

We kept pigs in Wales on numerous occasions, and whilst they do taste nicer than shop bought pork, and they certainly are intelligent and have characters of their own, you would definitely experience no problem whatsoever in eating them, and 'sweet' would be the adjective furthest from your mind towards their end!

To keep pigs you must first construct the piggy version of Colditz castle paying special attention to all weak points - ie the doors and roof.  You need to be able to put their food in over the wall lest they mug you with the bucket, and to have a fixed feed trough (otherwise they turn it upside down and push it to the furthest corner away from the door to lay a trap for you).  This trough should also be cleanable without entry with a drain plug as although they are clean animals, they do seem to like poohing in their trough.  Probably another trap. 

Do not be tempted into having 'free range' pigs as little short of watch towers, rolls of barbed wire similar to that on the Somme in WWI, and mains powered multi stranded electric fencing will be required.  Also the trough will ALWAYS be in the middle of the pen, no matter where you leave it.  And if you should try to tiptoe up to feed them, be sure that your dogs will bark and let them know that you are coming with their meal!  My husband was regularly mugged like this (before we built the concrete bunker for them) thanks to his collies, and once, on his knees, bucket upturned, he found grainy bits between his fingers in the mud - pig pooh.

The roof itself will need to be high enough above their heads to prevent them eating it.  The door should be reinforced and open inwards to prevent them pushing it open.  No door at all would be ideal I suppose, but how do you get them out again?  Steel bars on the door, says my husband.

By the time you come to slaughtering them you will be prepared to dance on their grave.

Feed them on househould scraps by all means, but they need grain - rolled barley soaked in whey from the local cheese farm was what we used.  The household scraps should not include any meat products, and should be well cooked.  We also fed them sugar beet nuts and pea bean and maize - if you can get it over here. Bed them on straw and clean them out well - haha!!!  You will see why I laugh when you try cleaning them out when they are big.  Wear heavy solid footwear - they do bite if not handled well!  Especially feet.

Pork is killed at 80 to 90 pôunds in live weight but you can keep it longer than that, and baconers are 150 to 200 pounds.  Over that they will be too fat really.  We had ours that big and ate them as pork and it was nice.  Very nice.

But my overall advice is buy half or a whole dead one from a local farmer!  Much safer.  No pooh, no bitten feet, no mugging, no escapees.

By the way, it is really illegal to kill at home - they should go to a slaughter house and see everything else being killed first and get nice and scared and stressed.  A visit to a slaughterhouse anywhere is enough to convert you to vegetarianism, and to look for someone to kill at home for you.  I think for your own consumption it is less illegal!!!!! And much kinder as long as it is done properly.

They do bleed after the stun gun and are technically dead anyway.  Much safer than a real gun!  Easy to shoot yourself or your helper with one of them!  And they should be put in hot water in a big bath and scraped to get off the hair of which there is alot. This gets the toenails off too which the dogs love!!!  Yuck!  And the ears! Even more yuck!  And lick up the blood that gathers under them!  Drape them in an old duvet cover to keep the flies off.  And don't let the butcher cut all the fat off, because he will unless you tell him no. Then hung so need to be killed in cold weather.

Good luck!

Fil

[Hoddy]

I agree with you absolutely, Teejay. Apart from any other consideration eating locally grown food makes environmental sense. I believe that the method of killing which was used - "sticking" is now banned, but its left me with a horror of animals being killed by having their throats cut.

The pigs I knew were kept either as an adjunct to a dairy herd or at the bottom of a worker's garden and I never saw them dirty or mistreated in life. Even after all this time I remember some of them as individuals.

Hoddy

[GRT17]

Did anyone see the (U.K.)T.V. programme about a young man who had a dream to set up a farm of free range / rare breed pigs in Essex? He had a real dream to raise these pigs and produce organic sausages etc. and one could not help but admire his devotion and hard work. The followup programme was on around Christmas time.  I believe he has backing from his old school friend Jamie Oliver.

Gill

[letrangere]

No, but anyone specialising in top quality home made bangers gets my support, they're one of my favourite things.  In France, I quite often serve Toulouse sausages in place of a joint on a Sunday.  We prefer them to a piece of porc and it's much better value if there's only two of you.  I bake them in the oven on a bed of apples and calva.

For any of you in Shropshire, the restaurant at the Feathers Hotel in Ludlow serves a sausages and mash with caramelised onion rings to die for.

M

[Teejay]

[quote]No, but anyone specialising in top quality home made bangers gets my support, they're one of my favourite things. In France, I quite often serve Toulouse sausages in place of a joint on a Sunday. We...[/quote]

I frequently buy Toulouse sausages as I read somewhere that they contain more pure porc than other sausages. And yes, they are substantial enough to make a complete meal.

[Verwood]

I keep pigs, free range, rare breed pigs.  I don’t find it contentious that some people don’t like them.  We feed ours vegetable scraps from the veg. patch but their main diet is pig nuts bought from local farm suppliers.  They live outdoors, are very clean, love a scratch, vie for attention.  We breed our own so we have sows and a boar, the piglets are dispatched at around 6 months for fresh meat and 9 months for bacon and sausages.  You cant beat a real sausage made from top quality, rare breed outdoor pigs.  The bacon is superb and pork with crackling that really crackles and just a small amount of fat for flavour well, its unbeatable.

Ours go to the abattoir where they are dispatched quickly and cleanly.  Ours is a small, local abattoir, they don’t travel miles, they are unstressed when they arrive and stunned before killing. 

Cant say I agree with Fili except about the colditz fencing. Ours are sweet to the end.  And sweeter still on the dinner plate.  Ours to my knowledge have never pooed in their water, they have a dung patch which they use.  They are keen to wash their muddy snouts in the water trough and then wont drink the water until its cleaned out and refreshed, whereupon the next one washes its snout, ad infinitum.

You can kill them at home, but you cant then sell or trade the meat, even here in France (although not many people worry about that).  Personally I prefer the abattoir, for the small inconvenience of having to trailer the pigs a few miles, its worth the lack of mess, the clean butchered meat, the quick skilled dispatch. 

 

[mauhoum<IMG src="http:forums.livingfrance.comimagesline.gif"><BR>http:mauhoum.chez.tiscali.fr]

We bought in a couple of weaners last spring, kept them until they were about a year old. Had them killed chez nous (not a nice experience) and are currently enjoying probably the most expensive, but best tasting pork ever

Check them out on my website at http://mauhoum.chez.tiscali.fr

 

Tony

[Verwood]

Mahoum, they look good.  Good size too.  Did you make your own bacon and sausages?  Not sure about relative costs of pork although its very cheap here - bacon and flavoured sausages should work out very cost effective.  Really good bacon sans added water is a premium price.

I agree totally that if an animal is not kept in the very best conditions and finished as cleanly and stress free as possible we have failed.

Will you be getting some more pigs?

[mauhoum<IMG src="http:forums.livingfrance.comimagesline.gif"><BR>http:mauhoum.chez.tiscali.fr]

Too right we're getting more pigs, they taste too nice not to!!!

Actually we are finding it difficult to find more black pigs, as the chap we bought the last two girls off isn't breeding any this year. I don't want to get the Landrace hybrids, although they put on less fat, I feel that the old traditional breeds fayre better. We don't have much shade in the fields, and the pink pigs may suffer in the sun.

We made our own bacon, but aren't yet set up enough (no kitchen) to make sausages and other charcuterie. We do have three legs hanging up, tempting us every time we pass though

Tony