Thu 24 May 2012 | 
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Pigs. They enrich your life. They’re strangely fascinating, rather intelligent, brutally destructive, and pretty hilarious in their mannerisms, for some reason.
But the time has come for my pigs, named (understandably, now) Prosciutto and Cassoulet, to go to the cutting shop. They’ve torn up the muddy ground. They’ve become so big they can unseat their drinking trough with a mere nudge. And I fattened them for the pot, not for their entertainment value.
So I have to organise transport to the abattoir. I don’t fancy killing a pig at home, despite numerous Italian expats telling me that’s what I should do. For some reason, none of them are free to lend a hand on the day.
My pigs have about 1/4 an acre to play in. They rub against trees. Create a wallow if it’s hot. They sleep together in a converted apple box that has a tin roof, and their mother and father also live happy, free-range lives not far from here. They’re the antithesis of factory-farmed pigs, where the mothers barely get to walk or turn around, and the porkers are fattened out of the way of sunlight.
These pigs grow slower, mature slower, and cost a lot more to feed. Pigs, unlike cows or sheep, need grain to keep them alive, and grain costs money. Lots of money as grain prices have increased markedly in the last couple of years. But by all accounts, and from my own experience, meat from these pigs – many would say happier pigs – is a far superior product.
But first, the pigs, like all animals that are bred for meat, must die.
Small abattoirs are an endangered breed. There used to be one next door to Puggle Farm, where now a mud brick cottage stands. The local abattoir, just five minutes up the road, is run by people who want to help smallholders. Who understand you may only have one sheep, one pig to kill at a time. They make it easier for people who want to rear their own animals to trust their own meat, to get it killed legally and affordably. If there’s one thing I’m happy about with the death of my pigs, it’s that the abattoir at Cradoc Hill will do the right thing by them. I don’t have to transport them far. I can drop them off only hours before they are killed, and there’s a personal connection between the people who run the abattoir and me, the person who’s grown the pigs.
Which doesn’t make it easy to say goodbye. The practicalities of putting a 70kg porker in a trailer takes your mind off things, however. My inability to reverse park a trailer at the gate at Cradoc helps me focus on other things and get past the reality of what is about to occur.
The thing is, the farm feels emptier, feels lesser without the pigs. While I do get more time to myself instead of worrying about twice a day feeds, and hand-carting litres of water to the trough and wallow, I miss them.
When I see their carcases hanging at the local butcher, sisters who’ve spent their whole lives sleeping, eating and playing together, I feel remorse. But I have chosen to eat meat. To rear as much of the meat I eat myself as I can, and I know these pigs lived as close to an instinctual life as is possible in captivity. I know they were born and reared to be eaten, that their old breed, Wessex Saddleback, only exists because people use them for food. And I’m hoping that they taste really good because the whole point has been to produce something I can trust, of superior quality and jam packed full of flavour, so then I can actually eat less meat.
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18 Apr 2012 12:03 AEST
From:
Purchasing a whole female pig for a spit roast
To continue, where could I buy a pig like yours in Hobart for a charcoal spit? We are coming to Hobart for Xmas this year and given I am a serious foodie, I wish to cook the family a beautiful pig on the spit. I need a female of some 16 to 20kgs, can you help? Additionally I see all I can hire in Tassie is a gas fired spit but it hasn't the same flavour as charcoal. Do you know where I can hire a charcoal spit, the pig is rubbed inside and out with salt, pepper and fennel seeds.
18 Apr 2012 11:58 AEST
From:
Purchasing a whole female pig for a spit roast
Matthew, firstly congratulations on the move and the terrific series, I look forward to the next one but we have purchased the DVD's and watch them religiously! My Wife's family lives in Hobart, last time I was there we went to Bruny and had some of Nick's sensational cheese and always search it out here in Adelaide. We bought some produce from your salamanca stall and took it back to Adelaide...all loved it! Since I have bought my own terrine dish, look to make salumi with my Italian friends
13 Apr 2011 20:37 AEST
From:
Killing the Pigs
Great blog, and show, thanks Matthew. We have now reached this stage with our own two Saddleback piggies, B1 and B2 ( Bacon, of course!) and agree that this is difficult even though the aim was always to be able to eat some of our own meat. Greatly enjoy your program which is doing a fabulous job of showing some of the joys and pitfalls of our way of life. Once tried, quite addictive. Ps Was told that it is easy to move pigs by putting a bucket over their heads and walking them.
13 Apr 2011 19:41 AEST
From:
Killing the Pigs
Great blog, and show, thanks Matthew. We are have now reached this stage with our own two Saddleback piggies, B1 and B2 ( Bacon, of course!) and agree that this is a difficult stage even though the aim was always to be able to eat our own meat. Greatly enjoy your program which is doing a fabulous job of showing some of the joys and pitfalls of our way of life. Once tried, quite addictive. Ps Was told that it is easy to move pigs by putting a bucket over their heads and walking them.
07 Dec 2010 17:11 AEST
From: Clarence Point
Berkshire Pigs
Hi there, I have a female Berkshire and would like to know where I can find a 'gentleman' for her in about 4 months time. Preferrably in Northern Tasmania.
12 Nov 2010 22:14 AEST
From:
Great
Thanks for the information, its usefull for me.
04 Jul 2010 10:14 AEST
From:
Free Range
Free range definately is better IF you can buy it. Picked up a free in store mag at Woolies the other day, it advertised KR Castlemaine bacon & ham "Bred Free-Range" at first I thought great, but on closer inspection on the wording I have my doubs, what are your thoughts on it? Trish
14 Jun 2010 16:35 AEST
From: Nicholls Rivulett
George - the Vegi Man
Hi We have lived in Nicholls Rivulet for just on a year now. 7 acres with some Barnevelder chickens and 2 miniature Herefords. The Herefords currently have a guest - Elvis (the bull) who is on loan to us to service our 2 girls. Hopefully in 9 months we will have some young cows - depending on the sex either for meat or resale as pets. Anyway can you tell me where George the Vegi Man is so we can purchase from him. There is Pops Place, but very low on variety. Love your show!
07 Apr 2010 17:46 AEST
From: Geeveston, Tasmani
Pigs
We bred Berkshire pigs for many years as well as despatched and processed them ourselves - we found it far less stressful for them then sending them to the abattoir. We have just moved to Tasmania, not far away and (Geeveston) and would be happy to come over and show you how to do it if you like. We always tossed between Berkshires, Saddlebacks and Large Blacks but the Berkshire temperament won out for us. Love what you are doing by the way.
22 Feb 2010 16:56 AEST
From: Brisbane
Code of Practice for rearing pigs
Martyn is wrong - I read the Code of Practice Martyn referred to (http://www.publish.csiro.au/books/download.cfm?ID=5698) - the 12 months' experience and Cert. III are SUGGESTIONS. I am sure Martyn had good intentions, but it is errors like this which get repeated online and then become folklore. This can be avoided by reading the document from the appropriate source and ensuring you are right before stating people MUST do something, when indeed they don't have to. :-) Love the show!!
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About this Blog
Ever wondered what it’d be like to leave a cushy city job and set up a small farm without any experience of rural life? Join Matthew Evans as he adjusts from being a restaurant critic to learning exactly where his food is coming from, on a farmlet in Tasmania’s beautiful Huon Valley.
Matthew Evans was once trained as a chef, before crossing to the dark side of the industry and becoming a restaurant reviewer. After five years and 2,000 restaurant meals as the chief reviewer for The Sydney Morning Herald, Matthew realised that chefs don’t have the best produce in the land, normal people who live close to the land do. So he moved to Tasmania, to a small patch of earth where he’s raising pigs and sheep, milking a cow and waiting for his chickens to start laying.
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