D Day tomorrow

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D Day tomorrow
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Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 05 7:10 pm Post subject:

stacey_guthrie wrote:

I've found it hard with every different animal 'group' we've taken to the butchers. We started with lambs and a few weeks ago had our tamworth porkers sluaghtered. It's hard but it's meant to be IMO. Much better to acknowledge that the meat on our plate was once roaming our fields than some faceless, emotionless transaction at the supermarket. The good side is like others have said, we know our livestock has lived and died well. From a purely selfish perspective it measnw e also have a better quality of food as a result.
The next one for me is the beef steer. He'll be our first beef and he'll be 2 and a half when he goes - that'll be a tricky day. I promised myself at the start that if I couldn't cope with it I'd go veggie. I haven't reached that stage yet but as a family we're a lot more respectful of the meat we eat.

Well said Stacey Guthrie!

I agree with absolutely every point you just made. If everybody thought the way you do then I think we'd have cracked it. No need for people to go veggie ... just for them to have the respect that you do for the meat they eat.

BRAVO!

Debbie

Joined: 04 Dec 2004
Posts: 160
Location: Exmoor Devon

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 05 2:01 pm Post subject: D Day

Glad it went well for you High Green Farm. its never easy and to be honest I don't find it gets any easier the more you do it. But then I don't think it should do.

Totally agree with you Stacy Guthrie. Its important for us to know and remember what we are eating so that we appreciate it even more. My sister kept chickens and would throw their eggs away rather than eat them as it was too "real". When I asked her where she thought eggs came from then she said "safeways"

Try as I might I can't make her see reason. She will buy a chicken breast or bacon in a super market but will not eat anything we have reared as they were once "proper" animals. When we visit her (she lives in spain) she cannot understand why we only eat seafood and vegetarian meals when as she puts it "but you eat your pets what do you care?" Unfortunately she is not the only one with this attitude towards us

Mr O

Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Posts: 5512
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 05 7:27 pm Post subject: Re: D Day

Debbie wrote:

Glad it went well for you High Green Farm. its never easy and to be honest I don't find it gets any easier the more you do it. But then I don't think it should do.

It does get slightly easier as you do it more because you get into a routine which dispells part of the worry. When we started we found the whole thing stressfull, Loading, Tagging, reversing the trailer at the abbatoirs, dealing with the abbatoir. Now we are more confident with all of this and we only have to deal with the remorse, which if you feel like us, in that we want to know where our meat has come from and also are passionate that the animals have been treated correctly, then this is the only way to eat meat responsibly. I am passionate about the care of my stock and the way they are treated to the end and that is why I only eat what I have raised myself or by someone with like feelings to my own.
So for me it did get a bit easier but it never will be easy. If it got easy I would give up!

Debbie

Joined: 04 Dec 2004
Posts: 160
Location: Exmoor Devon

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 05 8:48 pm Post subject: D Day
Totally agree The Orange that the mechanics of the day get easier with practice but the emotional side doesn't though.

monkey1973

Joined: 17 Jan 2005
Posts: 683
Location: Bonnie scotland

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 05 9:00 pm Post subject:
I doff my cap to the lot of you. I have thought long and hard about whether or not I could kill and eat my hens and so far no is the answer but they were got for eggs only and are now more like pets (with names and the like). I have wondered, however, if I were to get more and keep them as tock whether that would soften the emotions somewhat. It would at least allow me to eat chicken again.

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 05 10:41 pm Post subject:
Well, hens I have done and will do again. But big stuff like pigs, I would perceive in the same light as my dogs, or horse, probably. I think maybe size matters, in ths respect. Small cute stuff you can close your mind to but when it's big.............

High Green Farm

Joined: 30 Nov 2004
Posts: 349
Location: Mid-Suffolk

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 05 11:03 pm Post subject:

Well we picked up the pork this afternoon, and then sorted it amongst the 9 lucky people who were party to this batch.

Have to say that I am fairly pleased with the butchery, given that this was our first time and we left it pretty well up to him. That said 6 halves came back all packaged for the average size family, but two halves came back with one big bag of chops (24 each), and one big bag of belly rashers (21 each), plus a couple of very large joints, so I am not quite sure what happened there!

The sausages came back in four large bags, so needed further divisions, and I am very pleased we had a few freezer bags in stock.

Once we had everything sorted and weighed, we started on our deliveries and finished at some friends who very kindly cooked some sausages, and declared that they were the best sausages they had had for a long time. (Admittedly the red wine has been flowing, but I can't see a spelling mistake yet!)

Anyway we are slow cooking the largest shoulder joint this weekend to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary....it barely fits the pan....if I am sober, I'll try to take a piccy!

Better go....5 hours till the train......

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 05 11:09 pm Post subject:
Brilliant!...I feel motivated!...Now need to find a baby porker!

High Green Farm

Joined: 30 Nov 2004
Posts: 349
Location: Mid-Suffolk

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 05 11:17 pm Post subject:
The only thing I forgot to say was how great it feels. I am (though I cringe as I write this) immensely proud of this pork.....sounds odd I know, but everyone that we sold was looking forward to tucking in.

Jonnyboy

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

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 05 11:22 pm Post subject:
Great to read this, looking forward to doing the same next year.

Debbie

Joined: 04 Dec 2004
Posts: 160
Location: Exmoor Devon

Posted: Thu Jul 28, 05 6:36 pm Post subject: D Day
Well done High Green Farm....its the absolute best feeling isn�t it Madman....Our Kylie (our Berkshire gilt) had a litter of 6 x saddle backs early hours of Tuesday first litter for her and us

Mr O

Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Posts: 5512
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

Posted: Thu Jul 28, 05 7:27 pm Post subject: Re: D Day

Debbie wrote:

Well done High Green Farm....its the absolute best feeling isn�t it

Madman....Our Kylie (our Berkshire gilt) had a litter of 6 x saddle backs early hours of Tuesday

first litter for her and us

Congrats on the litter Debbie we are expecting a litter from one of our GOS sows in 2 weeks time, it is not the first for us but it is still special!

Mr O

Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Posts: 5512
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

Posted: Thu Jul 28, 05 7:31 pm Post subject:

High Green Farm wrote:

The only thing I forgot to say was how great it feels. I am (though I cringe as I write this) immensely proud of this pork.....sounds odd I know, but everyone that we sold was looking forward to tucking in.

You should be proud! It will show up the rubbish that people buy in supermarkets for sure, we can not keep up with the demand for our Pork, lamb or eggs! Beef is following soon!

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Thu Jul 28, 05 11:15 pm Post subject:
That's lovely, Debbie. I know how it feels when you get natural increases in stock. I really wish I had more grit and determination though, but think it would be really hard to take them to the slaughterhouse, having nurtured them up to that point.

Debbie

Joined: 04 Dec 2004
Posts: 160
Location: Exmoor Devon

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 05 12:15 pm Post subject: D Day

I know madman. We do it with lambs (even those we bottle rear), chickens and ducks from day olds and its never easy. At least with lambs they are mostely in the field so no real twice a day contact for the last few months. Have a horrible feeling it will be worse with the piglets! Will let you know in about 8 months time!

We have just lost out on the 50 acres we were after so will only be able to keep three of the piglets........nice freerange homes wanted for the other three!

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