Off to butcher

These guys went off to butcher today. I had to work and couldn't be there, but LJ promised to take lots of pics. We've really enjoyed having these guys around over the last few months, and feel that we gave them a pretty good life. They had woods to root and play and sleep in, a muddy wallow that LJ dug for them (which they enjoyed immensely), and lots of sunshine and treats. We've already grass seeded the area around the wallow that they had reduced to dirt, and the pigs have trampled in the seed over the last couple days. I'm sad to see them go, but I'm also looking forward to ham, bacon, tenderloin, and more from pigs that had a happy life. :)

The mobile slaughter guy came out to the house this morning. He was apparently really impressed with our pig pen (about 1/3 acre or so of woods) where they could root and frolic (yes, pigs really do frolic). He said it really showed in the pork, and that for such large pigs (Pretty sure they were well over 300lbs), they were tight and lean and not as fatty as he'd expect them to be at that size. Best part? He said that they were probably the best hogs he'd done all year! :) How cool is that?! Considering that this guy was booked nearly a month out when we called to make a slaughter appt. and was recommended by our butcher, I'm going to take that as a big fat compliment. Woohoo! Can't wait to get the meat back from the butcher!

I'll see what sort of pics LJ got, and try to post on the slaughter process this weekend.

Hope everyone's having a great week!