Not the Only Pigs in the Village

Our pigs have attracted quite a bit of attention from the village and general passers-by.

A couple of weeks ago a lady from the village came down one evening with her three children to ask about keeping pigs. We had a general chat and away they went.

Last week her father-in-law popped in to ask where we got out pig ark from.

Yesterday morning the lady came back with her youngest child to see the pigs. The pigs were still asleep but Steve went in to wake them up. Mother and child were delighted as both pigs promptly rolled over for a belly rub. And then came the million dollar question:

"How can you bear to let them go?"

I have lots of posts that address this question in way or another but perhaps the most helpful, according to readers comments, has been this one: Pigs - Are They Worth It?

The family are going ahead with their plans to raise a couple of pigs and we have offered to help if they need us. I think that's great.

The photo shows our pigs enjoying a shower on a hot day earlier this year.

Planning Ahead

On Friday we took a trip to Airey's Farm Shop near Grange-Over-Sands.

Why did we take a two hour round trip to visit a farm shop?

Well, the time has come for us to start thinking about our pigs' final journey and Aireys also have an abattoir. They were recommended to us by the chap we bought the pigs from and we had arranged to go and have a look round.

I must be getting old because I had got the date wrong. I had made the appointment for the 27th, not the 20th. Happily, Joanne & Steven took this in their stride.

The farm has been slaughtering animals since the 1830's when animals were delivered by horse & cart and slaughtered on a slab. It is very different now! The abattoir is state of the art and has been planned really well to expose animals to the least amount of stress possible. Apparently I was babbling like a five year old but, hey, I was impressed.

Whilst we were there we availed ourselves of some beautiful sirloin steak, Cumberland Sausage and lamb loin chops - all have which have been devoured with relish.

See also: Taking Pigs To Slaughter