Sold Out!

With an increased number of chickens in our chicken flock, we have the predictable problem of having an increase in egg production. Most days we get at least 4 eggs, but some days we get 5 and as exciting as this is, I don't love eggs that much and can't eat 25+ eggs a week.

So last weekend, while looking at my collection of 24 eggs and contemplating what to do with them and the ones waiting for me in the hen box, I had a brainstorm. SELL THE EGGS!

I do occasionally give my eggs to our very nice neighbours who can get £2 for half a dozen at their work. (City folk go crazy for things from the country) However this was a Saturday morning and Monday was a long way away. So I thought, why not be one of those people who puts up a nice home made sign that says "eggs for sale", and see what happens.

And what happened was I sat at my kitchen table all morning and waited for people to pull over and buy my eggs. AND THEY DID!



Let me tell you, I don't think there is anything more satisfying than people buying stuff you made.(I know, I didn't actually MAKE the eggs, but they did come from my hard work and TLC) I think the chickens grazing in the grass right next to the sign helped.

(You can tell from this sign I haven't quite mastered writing the £ sign but I feel it gives it a nice home made maybe a 5 year old wrote this sign look)

Narrow Escape

While the pink beast slept in the sunshine, the chickens decided then would be a good time to sneak into the pig pen to have a roll in the hay...



Hark, what's that?! The pink beast has awoken!



Run for your lives!



But first, a drink of water...



Small spotted beasts, clearly not bothered...



Quick, under the electric fence to safety. Phew!



I clearly have too much time on my hands.

Living Together

For the most part, our little pigs all live happily together...



Unless there is food involved..



When it comes to feeding time, the little ones run under the electric fence where Rosey can't steal their food. At snack time, they pick up their carrot and take it as far away from Rosey as they can...



Sometimes a chase ensues...





Our little pigs are growing fast, and pretty soon it will be time to send Rosey away for bacon. I'm not going to lie, I am really excited for the bacon. Once these pigs are big enough, we will sell them for meat as well, and then I think that is us done with pigs in Horsebridge. Husband and I are hoping to find some land to buy so we can expand properly, and it makes sense for us to stop until we find the right place to do so. Most likely this land will be further away, so a summer without having to feed pigs twice a day will make the search a lot easier for us, as we will then be able to go away for a couple of days at a time and not worry about who will look after them. Might also mean we can do some traveling. Say to places like USA. No details yet, but the Partners will soon be coming to a state near you!

Snow you can see!

This happened last week but with all the excitement with the pigs I didn't bother posting as I thought posts about cute new pigs was way more fun. But now that I don't have anything else fun to post about, here is a picture of the snow last week that has since melted.



It is actually a beautiful day outside so I am going to abandon my post and enjoy it while I can. What I am going to do outside, I have no idea.

The Butchering

Once the excitement of the new pigs wore off, it was time to go to the butcher and watch the piggies of yesteryear get butchered.
The normal process is, we take the pigs to the abattoir and he then delivers them to our butcher. Normally we would then pick up our pigs, that have been butchered per our instructions, wrapped and boxed, a couple of days later. As this was our first time however, and because the butcher said we could come watch, we went a few days later and got to see the whole butchering process.

Husband and I were both a little bit nervous about how we would react to seeing our boys dead on a table, being cut up by a stranger with blood on his apron. Husband expected to get sick and I expected to cry.

Neither of those things happened! We were greeted by Bob Edwards, who was recommended to us by the people we did the course with. It was a little bit of a drive to get to him, but as this was our first time we wanted to go with someone we knew we could trust. First thing Bob did was take our piggie out of the freezer and compliment us. "One fine pig!" Apparently, we had done it allllll right. Our pigs were just the right weight, 45kg, and had just the right amount of fat layer, 11mm. High five team Partners!

After that they got to work. They divided the pig into two halves and then cut them into joints for our customers and wrapped them up individually. They explained to us which were the choice joints, where the sausages would be made from and let us ask any stupid question we had. (several) It didn't feel weird or sad or gruesome. Our pigs were brought up in the best possible conditions, and they were being butchered with similar respect. We then got to see our sausages being made, and we can be proud to say they are 100% meat. No nasty parts! They were so nice to us at Bob's that we would drive that extra distance just to know our pigs would be treated well and a product we can be proud to sell would be returned to us. It was very educational and I am very glad we did it!

So that it is, the whole process done. Yesterday we had our first "Pork Party" where we invite our customers over for a pork lunch. This allows them to taste what they are taking home and us to thank them for supporting us. Not all of our customers could make it however, so we had a couple of stand ins come join us.

Oh My Goodness

Thursday, to keep poor Rosey company and to keep the pork machine rolling, we got two new pigs...they are so tiny they fit into this card board box...



And so cute that we ended up leaving with three...



We initially separated Rosey from the new piggies, so they could check each other out...



And soon they were ready to meet face to face...



We try to keep the new pigs away from Rosey at feeding time...



As she has so qualms eating their food as well as her own...



The chickens wanted to see what was going on, but Rosey quickly escorted them out. "Nothing to see her chickens"...



But white chicken, nobody's fool, sneaked back in. "I disagree Rosey, there are clearly three new pigs to gawk out, there is plenty to see on this side of the fence!"



To say we love our new piggies would be a slight under statement. THEY ARE SO CUTE!!!



*sigh*

The Deed Has Been Done

So, it is all over. We took our first two pigs to slaughter. I think I feel worse for poor Rosey, who is now all alone, than I do for the two boys we sent away.

As I said before, I was worried about the logistics, particularly getting them into the trailer. But once that was done, I felt much better. The whole experience was stressful, but mostly because it was new. We didn't know what to expect and didn't know how the animals would behave. But in the end, it was okay. The people at the abattoir were very nice, and didn't make too much fun of our attempts to back the trailer in. The pigs were relaxed, they weren't scared when we sent them off, and the people were gentle with them. Coming home we were quite, contemplating what we had just done. But overall, we are proud of ourselves. We are proud of the standard of living our piggies had, and proud of the way we sent them off.

I have tried thinking about being responsible for the death of life on a deeper level, but for some reason, I can't think too deep about it. I don't feel guilty, and I was really worried I would. Instead I have a firmer belief that I want to raise pork people can feel good about eating. And that is tasty too!

Tomorrow we pick up two new piggies and hopefully they will keep Rosey good company. I don't really have any pictures of yesterday, but here is a picture of some sheep that went running with me today...



In my head they are taunting me...catch us if you can pig lady...

Oh, AND I did try to give my first pig injection to Rosey today. It didn't go well. I got the needle in but she obviously felt it and ran away before I could depress the syringe. I don't want to say there was blood everywhere, but there definitely was some. Might need Martin for this one. She wouldn't let me try again. She did let me hand feed her carrots to make it up to her.

Tomorrow is the big day!

That's right, tomorrow we send away two of our little piggies! We load them up first thing tomorrow morning and will pick them up from the butcher Saturday.



I have been trying to not think about tomorrow and instead have been stressing over the logistics of it all. I am mostly worried about getting the two boys in the trailer and keeping the lady pig, Rosey, in the pen. I think it will be doable, but right now, that is what I am most worried about. I have spent today getting everything ready, and I feel well prepared for the most part. Once we get the pigs in the trailer, I will feel much better. Until I come home with an empty trailer and have to face up to Rosey. I am hopeful she will be glad to see them gone. Lately they have been mounting her and she doesn't seem too pleased about it. As they are brothers and sister, that doesn't end well for anyone, and probably best they are on their way.

To keep Rosey company we have arranged to pick up two weaners on Thursday. They are of different breed but they should get along. Hopefully they won't mount her. I think she has had enough.