Today is a sad day here on the farm because the hogs are headed to the butcher. We played with the idea of butchering them ourselves but in the end decided that we are too old to be slinging around a 200 pound pig carcass. So we compromised and decided to pay the local butcher to kill and quarter our hogs. From there we will do our own smoking and grinding and making sausage and curing bacon. It just seemed so wasteful to pay someone considering we have our own grinder, slicer, smoker, sausage stuffer and vacuum packer.
It is doubly hard this year because Pork and Beans were very young pigs that we purchased off Craigslist from a local farmer. They were runts and were not in as good of health or as old as advertised. But the price was right and we brought them home and raised these pigs from babies.
They were literally bottle fed. So sending them to the butcher is especially hard this year. But we have to keep reminding ourselves this is a farm and not a farm animal rescue organization. We bought these animals to butcher and that is what we will do no matter how hard. We eat what we grow!
Both pigs should weigh in at around 230 pounds. One will go into our freezer and the other is a Christmas gift to my oldest daughter Fred and her family. What could say Merry Christmas more than a freezer of fresh meat to help feed my daughter and her husband and my grandchildren.
Gypsy the scottie dog will miss them because she went out every morning and played with them : )
Gypsy the scottie dog will miss them because she went out every morning and played with them : )
Sometimes farming is hard!
Blessings from The Holler
The Canned Quilter
Oh, I know what you mean. We grow our goats and chickens for meat, too, and when one gets to know the animals from babies, butchering time gets quite hard. We can be grateful though, that the Lord provides for us and gives us the gifts of sustenance. It helps that we give the animals a good life in the meantime. Enjoy the Lord's provisions!
ReplyDeletesometimes life is hard but we honor these animals for giving us the gift of food and thats all we can do.Farm life is hard but its "real".At least we know where and how our food comes!
ReplyDeleteIt is hard because you've become attached. I agree with Jean and Laurie.
ReplyDeleteFred will be very happy and surprised with the gift for her family.
How are the puppies doing?
Marlowe and Moxie are now a little over 3 weeks old. Eyes open, walking and starting to eat a little canned dog food mixed with milk. They are growing up so fast : )
DeleteI stumbled upon your blog just over a week ago. You have no idea how much you've taught me. My mother is a food from the box type woman and shop, shop, shop always for everything. Love her though she taught me to crochet when I was eleven. But you taught me to make cinnamon rolls (my family is grateful!) and youve nurtured the seed of wanting to eat what I grow. So tired of living in the suburbs, your blog makes me want to run to the country and never look back! Congratulations on your wonderful blog, and thank you.
ReplyDeleteWelcome and so appreciate your sweet words : )
DeleteYes, it is.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was very young, I raised a chicken which grew into a rooster, a rather large one. In my memory he was almost as tall as me. Dad called him Dummy. Because we had spoiled him so much in the garden, he would not pick his own food...thus the name Dummy. We had to catch a grass hopper or anything and hand it to him.
Well, one night we had Dummy for dinner. Mom had given me two of the biggest drumsticks I had ever seen. Dad said, Dummy looks good on a plate, doesn't he?
Whoa! Dummy's gone?? That was my first introduction to the reality of farming. I looked at those legs, those beautifully golden flour-dredged fried legs and thought of Dummy. I ate them. I was glad Mom knew it would be difficult and has given me both the legs.
I'm going all out "farm-style" soon. I will have to see it as such. It's tough to have a tender heart.
ReplyDeleteMy dad grew up on a small farm and told me that he sometimes refused to eat dinner when my grandmother butchered the chickens. He'd become so attached to them. What a wonderful gift for your daughter and her family, though!
ReplyDelete