Yesterday we butchered two pigs at home. It was brilliant

[HumphreyCobbler]

We made sausages and salami. We had chops, tenderloin, ham, hocks,roasting joints - absolutely vast amounts of meat. We won't have to buy meat for at least six months.

We cure the bacon later and finish packing the sausages. The salami looks brilliant hanging in the shed.

I am so pleased

We do it all again on Sunday, two more pigs are being slaughtered and we butcher them on Friday.

I feel Hugh FW would be very proud

I do feel the thread title should read:
"Yesterday we butchered two pigs at home were grand". It just sounds more authentic.

A while ago we found an old diary of my mother's. Flicking through we read "Made Brawn", previous day, "Made sausages", "previous day, "Made Black Pudding", and turning the page back one more time, yes, you guessed it, "Killed Pig".

But did she write 'killed pig -eee, it were right fucking good, duck' ?

Why not? I'm a vegetarian - have been for nearly 30 years. I recognise that other people eat meat, and respect those that recognise that meat comes from an animal who show respect for that animal by treating it well and not wasting it.

I save all my disgust for people who eat £2 chickens 'because otherwise it's too expensive' or eat sausages 'as long as they don't have to think about how they're made'.

I think you shouldn't be allowed to eat meat unless you're prepared to kill and prepare it yourself.

So well done to Humphrey.

Hugh F-W looked like he enjoyed it on t'telly.

Many people enjoy fishing.

I enjoyed harvesting the two courgettes we grew this year.

Enjoying the process of producing one's own food isn't perverted.

Wow - that why not was to Piax3 but a loong time ago (must refresh before posting)

HumphreyCobbler Sat 09-Oct-10 11:08:03
I found it hard too southeastastra, but I know that if I am going to eat meat in the first place (which frankly I am) then this is the most humane and ethical way in which to do it.

Still arguing the "revelling" point?

I think the title of this thread could be misconstrued as a bit provocative but I am absolutely full of admiration of people that can rear and then eat their own animals. If I had the balls (!) and space I would do it myself. I fret often about the lives of the animals I eat. I am a failed vegetarian.

peradua I agree with your post (although I am not vegetarian myself) :)

HalfTermHero No she kept the diary entries pretty brief, but killing a pig was something to celebrate in the old days, as it meant you (and the family you shared it with) could afford to eat well for a while.

choccyp1g I must say that your name made me on this thread. Sorry to lower the tone. oink

Killing a sentient being to eat their body is unnecessary and vile.

Perverted to do it and enjoy it? Absolutely.

Killing and eating animals is abusive and there's no excuse for it.

Are you a vegan Booja?

Yep.

Is it abusive?

What about lions? cats? hyenas? crocodiles?

Eating meat is not in itself 'abusive'. It is nature.

There are herbivores, omnivores and carnivores.

That is nature. There is nothing abusive about it.

Now some humans believe that all humans no longer need to eat meat because they feel that all nutrients can be obtained from other foods. All humans? tribes in remote places?

It's not abusive and there doesn't need to be an excuse for it. It is the food chain.

Oh! I'll let you off then.

I don't believe that a vegan diet is possible if one prioritises locally grown food.

Environmental concerns are more important in my mind than animal rights, though animal welfare is very important, which is exactly what Humphrey had taken great care over.

The intensive farming system could be called abusive but not what Humphrey has done.

Hecate,

Yes it's abusive.

What about lions etc, etc?

No it's not natural for humans.

There are human carnivores? Are we still talking about humans??

Yes, people in the UK certainly do not need to eat meat at all.

It is abusive and there is no excuse.

As well as exploiting animals, farming animals for meat is also having a devastating impact on the environment.

NO excuse!

Wastingaway vegab diets produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than meat-based diets. The livestock industry is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than the entire transport sector (which produces 13.5%), including aviation.

Plant-based diets only require around one third of the land and water needed to produce a typical Western diet. Farmed animals consume much more protein, water and calories than they produce, so far greater quantities of crops and water are needed to produce animal ?products? to feed humans than are needed to feed people direct on a plant-based diet. With water and land becoming scarcer globally, world hunger increasing and the planet?s population rising, it is much more sustainable to eat plant foods direct than use up precious resources feeding farmed animals.

Farming animals and growing their feed also contributes to other environmental problems such as deforestation, water pollution and land degradation.

As I said, there's no excuse for eating meat!

Fantastic HumphreyCobbler.

We've been in a pig club this year, between 6 families we have raised 3 pigs which were slaughtered (unfortunately not at home, as we didn't have that option) and butchered 3 weeks ago. Our pigs will feed 12 adults and 12 children, all of whom took care of them during their lives and understand exactly what that food cost. I'm very proud, and yes I would say it was brilliant.

Btw I'm very impressed you made brawn, we fully intended to, but after about 50 man hours of processing pork our resolve cracked at the bit in the recipe which said, 'boil for 4-6 hours'...

I don't think it can be considered an absolute moral issue like that.

Native people in the arctic circle cannot be vegan. Masai tribesmen cannot be vegan.

Do they get a get out clause?

I know that it's possible to eat a well balanced vegan diet, but can you do that if you eat locally sourced food?

Booja, if large-scale intensive farming was banned and people were only allowed to eat meat if they reared it themselves (i.e hardly anyone would) would you still consider meat-eating to be so disgusting?

I know this will never happen but I am interested if you would still argue it's abusive and cruel to kill and eat animals reared in the way humphrey has (and killed efficiently and quickly)?

Very well said, boojaB!

My first point was that eating meat in itself is not abusive. It is nature.

I was talking about all animals on the planet - some are herbivores, some omnivores and some carnivores. Food chain blah blah blah.

Humans are, I believe, omnivores - I know cavemen ate meat! We have evolved to include meat in our diets have we not? We're not biologically herbivores, that's certain. (our teeth, our lack of a fermenting vat...) So I would argue that it is 'natural' for humans to eat meat.

I think it's an area where people who have opposing views are never going to be able to come together. We could argue it out until the cows come home and it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference.

Good god, I have caused a ruckus.

Quite impressed with myself actually.

Butchery is just the logical extension of chopping up meat at home in order to cook a casserole. If I am perverted then so is every meat eater in the world. You may of course feel this is true if you are a vegan.

I eat meat, therefore I feel I should be prepared to follow through with dealing with it. It is the only truly moral way in which to eat meat imo.

People watch programmes about this on tv, they sell books about it, they share recipes on the internet.

The idea that this is somehow perverse is just silly.

Thanks to all those who have so eloquently defended me.

It WAS brilliant. I was proud of my achievement in rearing and slaughtering and butchering. I can't really believe that people found the title offensive either. If you are a vegetarian why click on it in the first place?

It was not provocative, it was genuine. I was so pleased I wanted to share.