-Goodbye Blackie!
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At 6:30 AM we were awakened by the team arriving -so it was a quick cup of coffee followed by an early start.
The slaughter was quick, silent and efficient. After stunning by a quick blow to Blackie's head with a heavy, two handed, wooden pole the throat was cut and she died almost immediately.
Much better process than the technique used by the previous person. Previously, the animal would be stressed by being tied up while still alive. Blackie was only tied up (for weighing) after death.
After scalding and shaving, Blackie became just an anonymous carcass. The head and the intestines were removed and the body split in two. One half was for us and the other half was sold cheaply to a handful of neighbours who had showed up. The local half was just chopped up the way people here normally do -while our half was intended to be used along more traditional western (English) lines. Fatima has been studying Youtube instructional videos to this end.
Blackie weighed 55 kilo -minus the blood. Cut up, her head weighed 5 kilo and each side of pork weighed 15 kilo, the four trotters weighed 3 kilo in total and the internal organs would make up the rest. She was quite small (after 8 months) because she was deliberately slightly underfed so as not to stress her umbilical hernia too much. There was also very little fat.
The whole process was over (including cleaning the intestines, cutting, distributing meat and clearing up) by 9 AM. So we had an oatmeal breakfast after everybody (except our helper Penny) went home and we moved on to the next stage.
I have to admit, cutting up our side of pork was much more difficult than it looks in the video.... Our knives were not sharp enough and the freshness of the meat made cutting even more difficult because it was so soft. I even managed to break the saw -and we had to send Penny off for a replacement blade.
So, I'm afraid our first attempt at cutting up standard parts was rather a mess. However, very little will be wasted: Internal organs and blood will be used in various ways and the bones will make soup. We also intend to cure some meat (which we have done earlier) and to make sausages. We also have various lumps of meat (supposedly representing standard cuts -but sometimes barely recognizable) -which are still useful for roasting, frying and boiling in various ways. In the meantime, our cutting and sawing techniques have improved slightly....
We had breaded pork for lunch and as a test.... it was delicious.
Blackie's pen is now available for us to renovate as new home for her two sisters who are not yet pregnant -so we can use their current pen as a maternity ward (in June) for the one that does seem pregnant. At present all three share a pen. Blackie had been separated so as not to damage her hernia.
Blackie has provided food and pleasure to a number of people. She will be remembered.
This morning, we also had five hen eggs hatch in one of our vegetable patches.....
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