Pigs 'Ere Blog Part 15: Decisions, decisions................

At the beginning of next week, 'our' pig will be one of the four taken on their final journey to the abattoir. But before then there are a number of decisions to be taken, not least of which is how we want the carcass jointed. Normally shopping for meat in quite straightforward: pork for Sunday? Off to the butcher's for a suitable piece. Job done. But now? How should we prepare a 100 kg carcass in the best way to meet our needs for the forthcoming months? How much meat should go towards sausages? How much for bacon, ham or gammon? Should we get the joints boned and rolled or do we want them to remain bone-in? What offal (liver, kidney) do we want to keep? What about the head? And trotters?  And, while I remember, there's the little question of have we got enough freezer space for all this?

The abattoir has provided us with this helpful (?) chart and a questionnaire for how they should butcher the meat for us. All decisions have to be made and entered by the time the pig is handed over to them. If we can't make up our minds by then, I presume the default position is sausages! 100 kg of them. We like sausages but 100 kg might be a bit too much.

And while we ponder on the above, we also have to think about how we are going to load up four probably uncooperative pigs into a trailer for transport. Stay tuned for the next thrilling instalment of the Pigs 'Ere Blog to discover how we get on. Who thought retirement could be this exciting?