# why not sedate prior to killing a pig?



## heckerdy

I have a very strong science background and cannot find a single reason I can not give my pig a couple of xanax and a beer before the deed is done? 

can you ? I would like to dialog about this? 

the meat could not possibly be affected …there is no way you would get the affects of two  xanax and a beer from meat ..even if I did why would I care LOLOL kidding but if you think about how pills and alcohol are processed it can not matter to me 

anyway if you have a solid reason I can not do this please tell me? I have xanax for my dog and my pig adores beer I gave my last dog a Xanax and beer before her last sad trip to the vet (she had a horrible throat cancer tumor choking her it was terrible but she LOVED beer and hated the drive to the vet so it helped her be calm and peaceful she was so sick then and I miss her so much even talking about this ..oy) 

anyway I would love to say good bye to my pig Bacon with a couple of xanax and a beer ..maybe for me too at that point (kidding mixing the two is what causes humans to go down a very bad road ..addiction death ….the bad stuff for sure …so NEVER do that please )

I really like this pig that roamed into my yard and when we do say "good bye" I want him to be unaware of the impending doom …


opinions advice ? we did find a lovely guy to come and do it he is very "humane" 

I am going to ask him as well but wanted to run it by you guys and maybe see if anyone else has done this and if not ..besides access to the drugs (they are as I said prescribed for my dog so it is kind of "legal drug diversion" Xanax as we know is addictive and controled …and I will ask the vet if she minds we are tight and she will understand why I am asking for sure! ) 

thanks so much look forward to opinions even if not with experience


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## frustratedearthmother

Not sure it would be so bad, but also not sure I understand why you would need it.  If a processor is coming to your house to do it very humanely - there should be no stress.   When we did our pigs we set down a pan of food...when they dropped their head to eat 'bang' it was over and the pig was dead before he took his next bite.  No stress, no fuss.  He never knew what hit him and he died with his snout buried in feed.  What a way to go for a pig, lol!

Good luck with whatever you decide.


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## Bossroo

Since you were a nurse, I will give you some other infromation that others may not be aware of.  I see NO reason for any Xanax or any other pill.  A 6 pack of beer should make for a relaxed pig and just may make you feel better, but a well placed .22 into the brain and the pig is dead immediately.  At UCD Vet. Path. I have put down many a pig ( and many other animals ) with a captive bolt pistol using a .22 blank to activate it , just put the gun barrel onto the animals forehead, pull the trigger and it is done.  Using electrodes requires one to place one wire clamp onto the lip and the other electrode onto the anal skin,( think along the lines of a battery clamp but much smaller.  some animals object somewhat to the placeings ) but with the press of a button for a few seconds and it is done.


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## Latestarter

Have to agree with the others... Perhaps you're over thinking this? It really sounds to me like the xanax and beer is more for you than the pig (or should be? )... He won't feel a thing when the deed is done (provided it's done correctly), and shouldn't be under any stress at all... I mean why would he be stressed? You're having the processor come to you and Bacon.... Not like he'll be taken from his happy place and trucked off to an abattoir or something where he'd smell the blood and death of those who went before him. More likely YOUR stress will stress him out that something is wrong... 

So... Dr. Latestarter  recommends that YOU have a few (at least 3) large glasses of your preferred wine during the hour leading up to Bacon fulfilling his purpose, to toast his happy life! Thank him for the gift(s) he is about to give your family. Then celebrate his existence over a nice pork roast the next week


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## heckerdy

well yes I am an ER/UC RN but honestly ? I am only tough with people!!! lol! I can tell a person what I have to do and then give them IV sedation prior! LOL ..always helped to repair and restore people after they were broken or resuscitated after they were dead and I have done and seen "THINGS" ..but that description was hard for me …and  bit distraught about all of this  but understand what I read so thank you so much
my husband always killed and I butchered afterwards when it looked like a carcass even when he want hunting I walked the other way …I get it ..accept it but still it makes me feel badly

wow he had to choose my yard you are right Latestarter the beer and drugs should be for me ! holy crap!


I am 100% omnivorous …but ro not eat meat unless it is from a butcher I have known for years and animals I know were raised locally by people I know.. …even in restaurants unless they buy from local folks I choose vegetarian or wild caught fish in restaurants

so this is fine I will eat Bacon for sure he is for the table ..but the reality is very stressful for me ..especially today when he is so funny


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## Southern by choice

Latestarter said:


> sounds to me like the xanax and beer is more for you than the pig (or should be? ).



  I was thinking the same thing. 

Sorry @heckerdy  not making fun at all... it can be hard to deal with but truly a bullet to the head is faster than any other way. 
I think it is like 4 milliseconds or something like that.
It is humane. Still, I understand the emotional factor.


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## heckerdy

it is just fine to make fun of me Southern By Choice!

 it is illegal for me to dip into my dog's xanax so honestly I would never do that ..but as a nurse I have to tell you ..you have know idea the freaking EXCUSES I used to hear for why folks needed urgent control substances  ..I literally could write a book about it …they were always on Friday at 430 in a panic and they were EXTREME and some of them very creative ..and really no one I worked with ever made it hard for people who needed pills to get them it was just the folks who did not take their meds as directed or sold them or whatever it was a very real issue …


not one time have I heard " may I please have some Xanax we are having our pig killed this week and I just can not handle it "

LOL I will let you know how that turns out

thanks you guys you are right ..I will not let anyone "harvest" or "kill" Bacon that can not do it humanly of course and I am not doing it ..we do not "hire out" much but this is a good local family and they are a cottage industry . he has a lovely webpage as well so he is trying to promote himself to foodies in the Seattle area for sure with the "charcuterie classes" and he uses all the Key words foodies who do nose to tail eating like to hear ..and I guess you could call me a "foodie" because I sure can not do with out good food 

I really want to make a prosciutto out of one entire leg .. so when I get all wrapped up on how we are going to put him to death ..I just start looking up recipes ..I have made all our bacon for the past 20 years and can not imagine buying any now  I found a recipe in Mother Earth News and went with it and still love the recipe more than any others I have tried …several years ago I bought the book Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing Michael RuhlmanI …such a good book! and found he had used the same maple bacon recipe almost verbatim I found in a Mother Earth mag years and years (way to long ago to admit) …. I learned so much and every recipe I have tried came out ..a little off topic but  …OMG Duck procuitto recipe is to die for! (what the heck if you have ducks and want to try duck prosciutto here you go the recipe http://ruhlman.com/2009/03/duck-prosciutto/  (you can find most of his recipes online somewhere for free)
that is why I have muscovy ducks now to keep a constant supply on hand
thanks again you guys I am a dork  round of hugs to all


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## Latestarter

OMG... you're NOT a dork! You're just "overly sentimental" and maybe a bit overly focused at times... It's the nursing background I'm sure ! You'll be fine just as soon as you're munching on some of your own home-grown prosciutto! BTW, glad I'm not the only person sitting at the computer at this INSANE time of a Sunday morning when I should be sleeping dreaming of bacon, eggs and toast! 

Edit: BTW, I'd really like to see one of those recent pics you've promised <hint, hint> Would really like to see just how big he's gotten. I mean when he showed up you thought he was 3 months, and now he is


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## heckerdy

LOL Latestarter! thanks but really it is true I am a dork in life . re the early wake ups ..glad I am not alone LOL!!!  everyone calls me on the 3am wake ups but to me it is the sweetest time of day …the world seems so peaceful and nothing HAS to be done at 3 am ..whoops it is 430 now how did that happen?

our daylight times are super short now and getting shorter and shorter ..


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## Latestarter

I'm a "night person" by birth, but prefer the OTHER side of the night... I'd much rather be sleeping when the sun comes up and wake to a nice warm morning (9am+ was always preferred) where I can sit in the sun outside and soak up some vitamin D the natural way while sipping on some vitamin C the color of sunshine. Nice thing about here on the front range is it can be 20 degrees outside and if the sun is shining and there's no wind, you can sun bathe and get a sunburn, and not be cold at all.

You know, just let hubby cook up some of his Grandmom's pork recipes, and think "butcher bought... butcher bought" while you chow down 

Don't know if this would work, but I've heard tell of folks who have "swapped" animals with another so they wouldn't be eating their pet (the OTHER person would be) and you'd therefore have no "emotional connection" with dinner. Don't know if that's an option... Guess you could ask the processor or guy doing the "harvesting". Maybe he knows someone who'd trade?


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## heckerdy

sleep until 9?  that would be most of my day gone ..Vitamin D comes in bottles in Western  WA WA ..this past summer we had no rain(  and it was really terrifying to be honest fires you probably saw here were tremendous but you know about fires in CO) summers here but by tradition they start in August and end the beginning of October ..so coffee and  a sunrise are treasure but we usually never see the sun until it feels like coming out and because I live on the water it could be 2pm before the fog clears …then the long slow rainy winters where by December the sun is setting at 430 if it ever comes up ..mossy feet pale skin and lots of coffee is the way we role. Coffee coffee and more coffee 

hubby can only make grilled cheese and a really stellar batch of scrambled eggs…bless his fuzzy heart.. he tried to have supper on the table when I was working outside the home and he started his business from home ….after I came in to a waft that smelled like a chemistry lab one day and he said he was 'trying his own marinade???? …..I just had to stop him! no good comes of my husband cooking he is an engineer/inventor and I cherish what he CAN do… so he does not get insulted when I say that he can not get the idea  cooking..he can build something from nothing but when it comes to even making ramen? he ruins it … I don't know how he does it but other than the grilled cheese and eggs he makes food taste like a poorly excited chemical experiment …  …… has no business in a kitchen none at all ok he will prep for me but he has to go somewhere else because I can not even handle watching him do that is iso painful to see him take my "1/2 dice please on the carrots" directive so seriously ..he gets a ruler out and measures ….

thanks so much for post I really enjoyed it so nice to meet you guys and come back to such a friendly reception makes the world feel better when things are so terrible


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## heckerdy

oh the idea of the trade ..brilliant it may be possible!!! I had not thought about that I have a friend who has a farm and I bet she would do it! thanks for that


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## Latestarter

Well jeeze... why would anyone choose to live in such a dismal place? Can't be just for the coffee... Anyway, I ended up getting back undressed and climbed back into bed for a few more hours. I don't normally do that but,you know, I'm an adult, by myself except for animals, and who's gonna stop me? Didn't sleep real well, more or less just dozed off and on, but I feel much better for it! Hope you're able to do the trade route if that will ease your mind


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## heckerdy

I think this place chose me Latestarter

from the time I was a little girl I wanted to live in Seattle and I tried to leave a few times but always came back and finally stayed

it is not for everyone …but if love the out of doors and do not mind rain gear it is fine not as cold as where I grew up

people who run this far west (I grew up in Providence RI I think I mentioned it maybe?) and had this dream of GREEN and found it here

I like living my own rhythm and getting up when I want sleeping when I want ..letting life just happen now and being at an age where I am old enough to retire …I retired at 55 and said the hell with waiting for a bigger check ..why what so I could spend it for less time? I would rather be having fun on less money than waiting and dropping dead from stress   and  gratefully healthy and fit enough to to enjoy it..so we live on the cheap big flipping deal I am happier having less if that makes sense


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## bonbean01

Heckerdy...you totally are NOT a dork!!!!  We have hair sheep...aka...meat sheep...no beer or drugs before taking them to the processor, but truly...8 years later, still cry leaving them there...then crying all the way home.  Putting a towel over the meat in the freezer for a few weeks to not have to "see" that....then, I'm okay with lamb meals. 

Not making fun of you...but had me laughing reading about the Xanax and beer...couldn't help it...


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## goatgurl

makes perfect sense to me.  i so totally agree with you heckerdy!   i retired from icu at the ripe old age of 62.  I'd rather live with less money, and believe me I've got a lot less money but i don't care.  as long as i have the $ to feed me and my critters.  i looked up one day and realized the stress was killing me and it wasn't going to get any better so i made the decision to get out of dodge.  and yes I'm spoiled.  i do what i want when i want and just enjoy life.  it's all good


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## heckerdy

thanks bonbean awwwwwwww   you can make fun of me and laugh please!


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## heckerdy

Just how many nurses do we have here how cool is this?


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## Baymule

I like the idea of giving the pig beer, but why wait until it is butcher day? Bacon would probably appreciate some beer NOW! Please! We are raising 3 feeder pigs and I have to admit that watching those hams run around their pen, (it's 70'x100') makes me hungry.   Don't feel like you are a dork, you are just soft hearted toward animals, that's all. I am more on the realistic side, I even label the bag with the chicken's name and let my DH  rave about how good it is before telling him that was Lola.


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## Latestarter

Most recent job was driving me insane with the stupid stuff I was forced to deal with and finally had enough. I'm on hypertension meds... have been for 15+ years, since retiring from the military. Not in the best of shape and the job was making it worse. Low pay, high stress, long hours, management without a clue... I'm sure you get the idea. I quit right after labor day and don't regret it for a minute.

Agreed... the cut in pay sucks, but being retired at 58 has many perks. I can afford to pay all the bills and still eat (ramen anyway...). The move next summer is to lower living costs further. Hopefully I'll survive to collect back a little of the SSI I paid in over the many years (45+) I've worked.

Gonna have to put off goats (once again) though  until after the move. Don't want to get spring kids here then have to move them all when I don't have a farm to move them to. Can't really start looking for a new place to plant roots till this place is at least listed, but I'm looking and dreaming.

Edit to add I was born in Boston and lived & was raised outside the city there. Left Taxachusetts when I joined the military and will never return.


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## heckerdy

LOL my husband is retired Army so I understand wow we are all about the same age


I learned to drive in Boston my boyfriend of the time he was from Boston  taught me THERE

when I say that people usually roll there eyes and say "OH THAT EXPLAINS YOUR DRIVING !!! 


ps I think we are ALL on hypertension meds us baby boomers! "


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## heckerdy

Baymule that was hysterical! LOLOL LOLA on the bag

kind of like my father having a headstone before he was dead already sitting  with his name on it …funny!


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## chiques chicks

I doubt there are any of us that "enjoy" processing. I only do poultry, but it still isn't fun.

Did five turkey this weekend. My SO, a city person, was here. She has watched/helped before, so that was no issue. Her comments were " I know you don't enjoy it " and " how do you know how to clean it ".  I can even tell my mood gets somewhat somber when I'm doing it, but it is a part of being an omnivore. Just as I don't enjoy the killing part of hunting, but appreciate the food.

I'm not a nurse, but have worked for a number of years as an emergency responder at work. Generally i get the gory calls. Somehow that doesn't affect me as much as processing, even if it's picking up body parts. It's easier to seperate myself from the people than the animals I have cared for for months.


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## Baymule

When I butcher a chicken, I say a prayer, thanking God for providing good food for us to eat and I thank the chicken for giving up it's life that we might live. It helps. i don't enjoy it either, but I do it.


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