Pigs 'Ere Blog Part 12: And then there were seven.

A day of ambivalent feelings. A day that I was, and wasn't, looking forward to. The day when the first of our pigs went off to the abattoir. And I think a day that exceeded my expectations for the calm way in which the lady concerned was dispatched.

Although our group never formalised the criteria our chosen abattoir had to meet, at the top of all of our minds was ensuring the highest standards of care for our animals. I don't think there would be any dissent from this list:
*  We wanted the lady to be well treated both during unloading and in her pen prior to slaughter
*  We wanted her to be slaughtered with care, quickly and humanely
*  We wanted the abattoir to handle her carcass throughout the process to ensure the best quality meat
*  We wanted an abattoir that is friendly to smallholders such as ourselves, easy to deal with, reliable and, above all else, professional and competent.

In the event we chose a small, family run business about 10 miles from us - the Tideford Abattoir - and I cannot praise their approach highly enough. I can't think of any reason why they should not handle the rest of our pigs.

Here's a photographic record of the way it all went. Perhaps a little detail is warranted for those unfamiliar with the process?

Our pig was destined to be the subject of a hog roast and that posed a certain constraint. Our (borrowed) equipment has a weight limit of around 65 kg dead weight which equates to about 90 kg live weight. We don't have a pig weighing scales so DC came up with a method which will give a good approximation of weight and this was one based on two measurements, as per the diagram. On this basis, the pig was chosen and she spent the night in a trailer together with a friend for company.

The next morning the friend was returned to the rest of their mates, who betrayed absolutely no sign of anything out of the ordinary happening - apart from some bleary eyed people wandering around much earlier than usual.

Was she relaxed when we got to the abattoir? Oh yes, so much so that we had to wake her up to get her off-loaded.

Gently does it. Out she comes at her own unhurried pace.

If she could read, this is the point when she would have realised that things were getting serious. Cue piggy gulp? She's listed as 'Crawley' and the red line under her name indicates that she's passed the veterinary inspection and she's fit to go.

From the holding/inspection pen, she was slowly and calmly taken into the stunning pen. As far as I could tell, she was completely relaxed and responding with curiosity to her environment - having a good old sniff around. The law states that, with few exemptions, all animals must be stunned before ‘sticking’ is carried out. An electrical current is passed through the animal’s brain via a large pair of tongs, causing temporary loss of consciousness so the animal doesn't feel pain. All this happened in seconds. A brief flurry of activity and it was over - in almost complete silence.

She was lifted onto a hoist and then glided through swing doors into the next stage, where she was 'stuck' (the blood vessels in the neck severed) to be bled out. There were barely any tonic/clonic movements throughout indicating that the stunning had been completely effective. In my estimation, stunning and 'sticking' took less than 5 minutes to complete.

Once bled out, the carcass is scalded and dehaired.  This was achieved by putting it in a large tank of  water at around 64°C for about six minutes to loosen the hair in the follicles.

Once out of the scalder, the dehairing was completed quite easily with some specially-bladed scarpers leaving the smooth skin. And this was a far as we could observe as the carcass was now moved into the next area where the preparation and trimming too place. This was an area only accessible for those with the appropriate clean clothing, head cover, overshoes etc.

It was a full moon last night and a good time to reflect on the day. All in all, I believe we had done as well for her as we could in the way she was raised and slaughtered. The next time we'll see her is when we pick her up at the weekend prior to the hog roast on Sunday. Can't wait to see whether our care produces something tasty.