Author Topic: Three Little Piggys  (Read 3159 times)

Online awemawson

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Three Little Piggys
« on: May 05, 2022, 12:00:16 PM »
At long last we have pigs back on the farm. COVID stopped us for two years but today I was able to collect these three gilts.

They are a commercial cross pig bred for low fat and long bodies so it's a bit new to me as we've always bred 'rare breed' Saddle Backs, Gloucester Old Spots etc

Fairly rapidly I need to establish a feeding regime for them to grow at a fair rate but not go to fat - some research needed so at the moment they are on an emergency menu !

All from the same litter they are Large White, Peitrain / Duroc crosses bred for the commercial meat trade.

They were rather traumatised by their journey here and didn't know where they were poor things. Give them a few days and they'll settle down.

Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline mtf70

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Re: Three Little Piggys
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2022, 03:11:29 PM »
They have moved into rather splendid accommodation :)

Online awemawson

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Re: Three Little Piggys
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2022, 03:20:25 PM »
We do our best for the livestock !

Build thread here:

https://www.madmodder.net/index.php/topic,10600.0.html

Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Online awemawson

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Re: Three Little Piggys
« Reply #3 on: August 16, 2022, 11:26:45 AM »
Well today was collection day for the pork.

148 lbs of Cumberland sausages and burgers, five loins for bacon, ten half legs for ham, and numerous joints for roasting.

Curing has started and there will be ten days of turning the loins (potential bacon) and joints (potential ham) every morning to allow the curing salts to fully do their work before the slicing can begin.

Grossly uneconomic - £1040 to raise, feed, slaughter, butcher and transport these three pigs saying nothing about my time doing it - no way can I sell the meat at anything like a true cost !
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline hermetic

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Re: Three Little Piggys
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2022, 02:57:31 PM »
My grandad (a meat buyer and butcher by trade) always had three or four pigs on the go, but all swill fed, collected free from the local cafes and dept store restaraunts, my mum still has knives and forks from Busbys Dept store cafe in Bradford! when he retired as a meat buyer and inspector he went self employed and opened a butchers shop in Laisterdyke! In the late fifties he had to be off for a week for a minor op on his leg, and my mum and dad ran the shop for a week, they swilled out the shop, paid the meat bill, paid the landlord (Jack Tordoff aka JCT 600) and still had £140 left over, when they told grandad he said "Nay lad leave us a bit o summat" that was his weeks profit!
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Offline Muzzerboy

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Re: Three Little Piggys
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2022, 03:04:50 PM »
My recently demised father in law was bezzies with Jack Tordoff, Ken Morrison and the Bradford City crowd. He and his brothers (Davidson) had most of the motor franchises in Bradford and its environs back in the 70s and 80s. I heard some pretty wild stuff they got up to. The JCT600 dealership was named after one of Jack's cherished numberplates. Business rivals but good friends. Small world.

Online awemawson

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Re: Three Little Piggys
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2022, 03:19:04 PM »
As you know I'm sure feeding swill to swine is an offence now - in fact feeding ANYTHING that has been processed in a human kitchen to pigs is now an imprisonable offence.

When our cottage guests ask if they can feed the pigs vegetable trimmings I always say OK so long as you peel the spuds and carrots outside  :clap:
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline hermetic

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Re: Three Little Piggys
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2022, 03:29:58 PM »
Probably brought about by pig feed manufacturers lobbying government for "better regulation" to boost their profits. Pigs were fed food waste for hundreds of years with no ill effects, Grandad used to boil it in a huge cast urn and feed it hot. Do you know of a sound reason for this regulation Andrew?
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Online awemawson

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Re: Three Little Piggys
« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2022, 04:46:52 PM »
It’s to stop cross species infections as understand it Phil.
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline tom osselton

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Re: Three Little Piggys
« Reply #9 on: August 17, 2022, 11:48:54 PM »
It’s to stop cross species infections as understand it Phil.

Well I hope they never cross a pig with Asparagus.   

Offline hermetic

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Re: Three Little Piggys
« Reply #10 on: August 18, 2022, 01:10:46 PM »
Been doing some reading on the subject, apparently it is an EU ruling based on the last outbreak of FMD, which started at a farm in the UK where unheated :loco: swill was fed to pigs, among a massive list of animal cruelty and hygeine breaches. I don't get the connection between FMD and swill feeding, and given that apparently pigs have been fed on human food waste as at least part of their diet for thousands of years, it seems odd. There is also a huge lobby for the return of swill feeding, 75% of pig farmers want it, unsurprisingly, and the major feed manufacturers ARE in Europe! A damned deep rabbit hole!
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Online awemawson

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Re: Three Little Piggys
« Reply #11 on: August 18, 2022, 02:24:33 PM »
My pig feed (wheat and corn mainly) is grown very locally by a farmer I'll be having a meal out with on Friday, and is milled by a feed merchant who lives half a mile from said chap so very eco friendly regarding 'food miles' !

https://www.facebook.com/Frymans-Feed-324808468314590/

Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline hermetic

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Re: Three Little Piggys
« Reply #12 on: August 19, 2022, 02:27:25 PM »
Excellent!!support your local Businesses!
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Online awemawson

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Re: Three Little Piggys
« Reply #13 on: August 31, 2022, 12:29:15 PM »
Bacon and hams and gammon now cured so today I sliced and vacuum packed 93 six rasher (5mm thick) smoked packs for the freezer.

Certainly my objective of trying for a less fatty product by choosing a different breed seems to have paid off though it isn't going to be a financial success !


Andrew Mawson
East Sussex