Learning More Anatomy

Gorgeous free range Linderöd piglets.

As slaughter season continues, we have now taken our learnings to a different level. Last week we had the opportunity to do more hands-on slaughtering than we had ever done before. One of our self-sufficient friends has some lovely Linderöd pigs and we were able to slaughter one of the 4 month old boar piglets with her expert guidance. Tina's two sows produced a total of 12 boar piglets and she is now culling them before they become sexually mature and do the deed with their mothers and sisters. Read more about Tina and her farm on her website: www.genevadnygard.se.

"Our" pig having his last meal with mother and siblings - completely stress free.

Without any high-tech equipment, the whole process from shot to pork in suitable cuts takes pretty much all day. It is very time-consuming and quite messy: first shooting and bleeding, followed by scraping off hair, then carefully removing the stomach and guts and finally butchering.

Removing hair (to get crackling).

Very careful opening of the stomach cavity.

"What do we do with this?"

As tricky and scary as it felt, it gave us more confidence that we will be able to do the same thing with our lambs next season, saving them the journey to the butcher and us the cost of having someone else do it. 

Pork cuts ready for cooking - maybe not all in one go.

A big thank you to Tina for all her hand holding throughout!

Tina prepared rooster for dinner, while watching us work.

Our rams' "one bad day" (Part 3)

What started more than a year ago has now come full circle.

This weekend we watched P-E butcher our first three lambs, after they had been hung in his cooling room for a week. 

P-E in action. That saw was just shouting out "let me saw your finger off!" to me...

Although we want to be able to slaughter and butcher our own animals at some point, it is reassuring to have a professional do it for now. A professional who is also happy to share his wisdom with curious onlookers!

Homemade and home reared liver pâté 
Most amazing ever and a nice break before kicking off major freezer filler action

After spending all morning in the car and standing around watching P-E, we prepared ourselves for a long afternoon and evening in the kitchen. One would not believe how much work is involved in organizing the meat cuts from just three animals. Good thing mamma is ever the well-organized accountant! She may be bossy, but in this situation it is a relief to be bossed around. :-) So while watching P-E do his thing, we separated the main cuts into bags and labelled them, making our life a bit easier at home. 

Bag number 5 contained or roast beef for want of a better description (we're not too fussed about
correct anatomy, as long as we have an inkling of what's in the bag...)

The reward for all that work was a few odds and ends (we're saving the proper cuts for when the rest of the posse return from the UK) cooked on the wood-fired stove. I swear it was some of the best meat I have ever tasted. No bias at all. :-) 

Guaranteed grass-fed and grash finished. Ta-daaa!

Random cuts, sublime taste

Our rams 'one bad day' (Part 2)

On recommendation from Mr.B (our sheep mentor) we took our 3, six month old ram lambs to his friend P-E for their 'one bad day'. It was P-E who made the whole experience very calming with his measured approach and the careful way in which he handled our beloved ram lambs. In the end, it happened so quickly, without any panic or distress that we returned home feeling a sense of pride that we had managed the whole process from birth to slaughter for the very first time.

Our 3 ram lambs including offal

As I mentioned in the previous post, we had began our journey to a more sustainable lifestyle knowing that we would have to one day slaughter our own animals to provide us with food. Firstly, we wanted to know that the food on our plate had had a good life and had been reared properly and secondly, it had been given a natural diet i.e grass-fed. Ultimately, we wanted to know everything about the meat we were eating. So for us this was a very important stage in realizing this dream.

The 'one bad day' started with us driving the ram lambs to P-E who owns a little farm not far from ours. P-E has a professional set-up in one of his barns. and with no one else around, in tranquil surroundings, we immediately felt at home. We brought out the first ram lamb and made sure the others could not see or fear anything (they were well-stocked with good grass to munch on). P-E slaughtered the first, removed the skin, bagged the intestines and removed the internal organs. The remainder of the body was weighed and then moved into a chilling room to hang at the correct temperature. It all happened so smoothly.

The skin being removed.

We wanted to make use of the entire animal, even down to the blood that was drained into a bowl for us. And we will use everything, if not to eat, then to use as compost, or for our other animals to eat.

The remaining two rams were slaughtered at the same time, with the third one brought out directly after the second, so it was not left on its own.

Offal cuts: lung, liver, heart and kidneys

Being our first time, we were incredible nervous and wanted to make sure that our ram lambs were well looked after and they were kept as calm as possible. In essence the ram lambs' best interests were a priority for us. We feel that we achieved this and are pleased with the outcome of our first lamb slaughter.

Our rams 'one bad day'.

Tomorrow is a big day for us. After being in Sweden for just under 2 years, we will be taking three of our own lambs, ie lambs that were born and raised on our farm, to slaughter.  One of our biggest goals when deciding to leave the big city and move to the country was to try and achieve a higher level of self-sufficiency, and have greater control of where our food comes from. This is a big step towards this.

Max, our first ram lamb just a few weeks old

I am not sure how I will react tomorrow, I know that I will be sad as all of our lambs have brought us and our guests so much enjoyment. But I also know that we have given them the best life possible and have looked after them, doted on them and made sure they have had everything they needed.  A recent blog post from Ridgedale Permaculture put it nicely when they said that one of their Linderöd pigs was going to have her ’one bad day’, it will be the same for our 3 Gutefår ram lambs.

Our Gutefår flock enjoying one of our fields

This process is vitally important to us, and we bred the sheep knowing that we would one day have to do this. The sheep will provide us with food for the winter months and enable us to truly begin our journey towards a sustainable way of life.

The ram lambs today.

Three Little Piggies - And Then There Were Two

When we decided to get pigs, we wanted two young sows to plow up our field and eventually feed us in the winter.

When Mr B suggested we keep a third one, just for him, we just couldn't say no. He's helped us immeasurably with our sheep, so we were happy to oblige!

Peppa in the front, Mr B's Hermione T in the back

Things didn't quite go to plan, though. When Mr B's pig stumbled out of the transport, we thought she was just a bit disoriented after the drive. She promptly went to lie down.

Given our scant experience with pigs - none - we couldn't really judge whether anything was wrong.

But on the second day, we noticed a distinct limp. And she just wasn't as lively as her sisters. Once she had eaten, she went to lay down again, whereas her sisters were chasing each other in the field and kept busy digging.

Sadly, she deteriorated quickly after that, so we had to ask her former owner to come collect her. As she was very poorly, the only option was to shoot her and take her body away.

The last traces of Mr B's sow

The "Not-So-Pretty" Side of Rearing and Eating Animals PLEASE NOTE: BLOOD AND GORE

Mr B is one of our most cherished mentors in all questions sheep, so I jumped at the chance to be his hangaround for a day at the slaughterhouse (actually a small family-owned abattoir deep in the countryside). 

Not because I have some morbid interest in seeing animals die. I have never seen an animal killed before. Or skinned and gutted and hung to dry... But since we eat meat as well rear animals, I wanted to understand more about the missing link between "bah bah black sheep" and the steak on my plate. At some point we might even want and need to do it ourselves. 

When I see the pictures I took, I have mixed feelings. 

On the one hand, I feel sad for the animal that was killed. You cannot but feel for it, or you'd be heartless. 

On the other hand, it was all a very peaceful and quick process. Mr P-E, the butcher, had a very calming presence and the animal was completely still. No bleating, no screaming, no thrashing about. Just calm.  

The other prevailing thought was how fast a living being turns into a piece of meat that most of us feel comfortable looking at. I made myself look throughout, from the shot in the head, the blodletting, the very first cut down its midsection, to the deskinning and the disemboweling. It wasn't fun, but it felt right. If I eat it, I should bloody well know how it is killed. 

Mr B holding his sheep right before it is slaughtered 

Letting out the blood after the shot to the head

Skinning the sheep

From sheep to carcass in 45 minutes

I wonder how I will feel about having our own lambs slaughtered sometime next autumn. I imagine it will be a pretty tough experience.