Red the pig

This past weekend, Dan butchered one of our five pigs. We get a lot of questions about why we raise our own animals and whether or not it bothers us to butcher them. Our answer is always the same. No, it doesn't bother us because we know they had such a good, happy life with us. God put animals on the earth to feed us, and we're okay with that. Pigs are very unique though. Unlike chickens and turkeys, pigs are very social creatures and are on the farm bulking up much longer than any other animal. This allows us to be around them more and learn their personalities. And do they ever have personalities. Red, the pig just processed, was no exception. ***WARNING*** If you just purchased pork from us this week, I'm talking about the meat that is now in your freezer. If this bothers you, I'd stop reading now. Red was a Red Duroc pig; therefore his name. Red was the only male amongst the group and probably the sweetest. He was definitely a gentle giant. Even though he was larger than the girls, he was always kind to them. He was one of the first to let us scratch his head and when he was little he liked being around us in the pen so much, he'd be right on our heels and nearly trip us. It's reasons like this that I like raising and processing our own meat - knowing that he enjoyed us as much as we enjoyed him. Granted he never knew what his fate was, but on the flip side... he never knew what his fate was. We go through life knowing we'll encounter difficulties and ultimately that one day our life will be over. Red, and all of our animals, don't know this. They just have one happy day after another and one day it's peacefully over. If we could only be so lucky! Here are a few pics from processing. Nothing too grotesque, but again, if this sort of thing doesn't settle well with you, I'd stop scrolling now.