Got our Yorshire piglets today!

[Stubbornhillfarm]

well they aren't the most delicate creatures in the world... but you will notice immediately is anything is wrong, nothing more pathetic than a sick pig... worse than a man!

Hillsvale - I missed this post but just had to reply - You obviously have your own man to know this and if I have an ache of any kind the whole household knows about it

Those porkers are growing very well stubb and you have started the muddy pig comp so I will get my camara down to the woods

 

[aggieterpkatie]

They're getting big!

 

[Cornish Heritage]

LOL! Now they look like REAL pigs Happy ones, covered in mud. They have really grown.

Liz

 

[drdoolittle]

Love the close-upf the muddy nose. They ARE big-----but still adorable! I'll have to get some muddy pics of my chunky little PBP piglets.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Thanks all for the compliments on their size! Being that we are newbies, I am always wondering if they are growing as they should grow. They look good to me though. And yes, they are quite happy! The farmer made them a new pig shack a couple of weeks ago that is more suitable for their new size.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

We loaded up one of our pigs to go to the butcher on Saturday. While waiting in line, the farmer noticed that our pig was the biggest of all that were there being dropped off. When it was his turn to unload, the butcher said, "nice looking pig". I will take that as a compliment. And the farmer asked him how much he thought it weighed. He guessed between 250 lbs and 260lbs.

We are super happy with that. They were solid, not fat. They ate well and were treated well. This coming weekend, we will be butchering the remainning 3 pigs at our house. 2 are about the same size as the one that went to the butchers, 1 is about 20-30 pounds (if I had to guess) smaller. We'll see.

Can't wait to have some bacon!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

You are going to have a LOT of bacon! And there's nothing wrong with that! Good job raising them, and can't wait to hear how the butchering goes at your house! Are you selling the one that was taken to the butcher?

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

You are going to have a LOT of bacon! And there's nothing wrong with that! Good job raising them, and can't wait to hear how the butchering goes at your house! Are you selling the one that was taken to the butcher?

Yep...that one, my boss paid for and we raised it. I didn't feel comfortable butchering his. So we told him we would take it to the butcher for him. We also raised one for a guy that the farmer (my hubby) works with. He is going to help us butcher, so we feel comfortable in doing that for him. We raised the extras for these two folks just so they could experience what "farm raised" food actually taste like. We are hoping that this will expand their interest a little and lets face it, it is just healthier so I want them to enjoy good food. We will keep the remainning two and share with family and friends.

 

[Hillsvale]

You are going to have a LOT of bacon! And there's nothing wrong with that! Good job raising them, and can't wait to hear how the butchering goes at your house! Are you selling the one that was taken to the butcher?

Sadly on the heritage pigs anyway you don't get a lot of bacon... its very sad! Ours live weight at about 250 provide us with about 10-12 pounds of bacon, that can never be enough. We also do what we call english rachers which encompasses the belly and the loin so we loose out on a loin as well. But yummy.

Good luck on your home butcher, I would be keen to watch that but we sell lots of ours and done have the set up to butcher anyway.

Take pictures or better yet a video...?

 

[Cornish Heritage]

english rachers which encompasses the belly and the loin so we loose out on a loin as well. But yummy.

Somebody talking my language English bacon rashers are the best! For those of you who don't know what we are talking about, in England what the folks in the USA call bacon, we call Streaky bacon. It is the cheapest of the cheap. Then you have Middle Bacon which is the streaky & loin (pork chop) combined. The top priced bacon is the Back Bacon which is created from the loin - pork chop area. That is why we never take our pigs to the processors - they have no clue how to make real bacon. We brine our own here & boy it is delicious. I have to admit bacon is probably what we run out of first but you just cannot beat a Bacon Butty (hot bacon win freshly buttered bread with ketchup smeared on it!)

How much bacon you get off a pig depends on the length of its back. A "bacon" pig is a LONG pig. Most USA commercial pigs today are stockier as all they want are big hams. I would disagree on heritage pigs not making enough bacon - some of our LB's are VERY long - alot of bacon on there

Liz