My current stock

This year due to other work commitments I have decided only to keep pigs and chickens. So lets start with the pigs.

I have two hybrid gilts. One is hybrid landrace and the other hybrid large white. In principal the landrace should be tall and lean, and the large white shorter and fatter, giving two different types of meat slaughter.

Traditionally here in Spain commercial pigs are kept in large factory type housing on slats. There is a very extensive and lucrative fattening and finishing industry here, as Pork is one of the meat staples as it it easy to rear in hot climates, whereas beef cattle are rare in this part of Spain due to the lack of grazing, and therefore beef is very expensive and a treat of the family. Beef and milk cows are mainly located in north west Spain, where the climate is wet and grazing good.

Pigs are brought to the fattening and finishing units at approximately 4-6 weeks of age and are fed a high protein diet until reaching slaughter weight at about 4-5 months of age.

Another tradition of pig keeping here is for a family to raise and fatten their own pig. There are no restrictions or Defra requirements for doing this. These pigs will not be tagged and live with the family being fed on scraps for about 18 months. When slaughter day arrives the whole extended family are involved in killing and butchering the pig.

The Catalan people are known for using every part of the pig except its squeal. The blood will be caught and the women will make buttifara, which is a type of black pudding, made with blood and rice. Meanwhile, the men cut the pig up, while others stook up the bbq. Once the work is over then the feasting begins.

The meat is traditonally dry cured using salt here, and this is how the serano jamons are produced. These generally are hung in the kitchen for about a year before eating.

However we plan to do things a little differently. See further posting for the details.