There was cancellation with our butcher so quickly we were scheduled for today. If you do not want to read about this topic, I would suggest you skip this post.
I have been spoiling the animals extra this weekend. The pigs got cakes, chocolate being a favorite.
And Rory got bagels.
The butchering today went well. We did have to pen the animals which we haven’t had to do before so there was some stress there. But I made sure they had extra goodies in their pens while they were waiting. The shooting was over quite quickly, and then it was just moving and prepping the carcasses. Rory’s looks good although not huge.
The pigs did look big. Here is Starsky
and Hutch.
We kept the heads, the organs, and the fats (suet and lard). Here is one bucket with the organs and the other with the fats.
I will spare you photos of the heads. I plan on roasting one of the pigs heads soon and rendering some lard. I am glad it is over. It is bittersweet as always. It is hard killing your animals, but they would never have lived otherwise. You can only hope they had good lives and humane deaths. But I will honor them but incorporating them into my body via their nutrients.
Looks like you had a very busy and awesome day!! You still have a lot of work ahead of you!!
The butcher has more work but I have plenty too.
I always feel a bit of a Judas on home kill day, too. I think that’s real and right.
Thanks! that helps.
Quite some work there! Glad it went well. I, too, am never happy to see the animals go. We sell them and have no clue if the calves are to be butchered or sold to another farmer. But that’s the way it is, a farmers life.
It’s hard. I now have the animals butchered on the farm to try to make sure it is done humanely. It is still rough though.
That must be a very difficult day for you. I know you love your animals. I’m glad it’s over.
Take care…
It was difficult. I am glad it is over.