Selling suckling pigs

I'm raising pigs for meat. I know that. I'm ok with that. We also always planned on serving the under served communities in our area, aka Asian.

Now that we actually have piglets we've received a request to sell suckling pigs. The younger the better. Maybe it's because I'm pregnant. I don't know. All I know is that I'm finding this very emotionally difficult.

My husband says they plan to kill it themselves but I can't give them a live piglet. What if they don't kill it right away. What if it's not killed humanely. I don't want to cause distress to a piglet. I also have no idea how I'd kill it myself. It's tiny and cute and :"(. I need to be reasonable here. Help!

Hi Elle, I think it is always harder to kill the young, or allow them to die, whether you are pregnant or not. They are just so darn cute for a reason!  I spent 30 minutes last nite returning a baby bird to its nest, as I knew it was destined to be snake dinner if I did not. Should I have let nature take its course?  Probably.

Maybe ask yourself if it will be any easier after you raise the piglets and they are full grown and you get to know their personality and they look up to you with trusting eyes?  Gee, am probably not helping much here....

At the end of the day, maybe just stick with your plan and goals for raising the piglets.

We often offer/sell suckling pigs between 6 and 10 weeks old, but generally the males as in our rural Bulgarian market our villagers want gilts to raise over a year for the christmas celebrations.  We haven't been doing it long (3.5 years since our first littler), but quickly steeled ourselves to help make the most of the litter and maximize income/cashflow at the time.  Frankly it is easy, quick and humane to cut and bleed a piglet - we remove the selected little ones from the sow and take them away to do it quickly and quietly.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Not to be intentionally sexist, but if you can't bring yourself to kill a piglet why not have your husband do it?

Regardless, one thing to be very clear on with yourself, and your family and any potential customers, is the boundaries you wish to maintain.  E.g. no live meat animals (i.e. not breeding stock) sold from the farm, and all animals killed by you or your husband.  Or no piglets under X weeks will be sold at all.  Or whatever other boundaries you wise to set.  If customers won't abide those boundaries after being told what they are, fire them.  There are usually more people wanting to buy home-raised high quality meat than you can reasonably produce.  

Nick Truscott wrote:We often offer/sell suckling pigs between 6 and 10 weeks old, but generally the males as in our rural Bulgarian market our villagers want gilts to raise over a year for the christmas celebrations.  We haven't been doing it long (3.5 years since our first littler), but quickly steeled ourselves to help make the most of the litter and maximize income/cashflow at the time.  Frankly it is easy, quick and humane to cut and bleed a piglet - we remove the selected little ones from the sow and take them away to do it quickly and quietly.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

How do you cut them?  I thought the piglets they wanted were newborn. Like palm sized. I didn't think I could do that. I'm better with the older piglet being the one they take. Apparently my emotions have an age limit. I'm awful!

Andrew Mayflower wrote:Not to be intentionally sexist, but if you can't bring yourself to kill a piglet why not have your husband do it?

Regardless, one thing to be very clear on with yourself, and your family and any potential customers, is the boundaries you wish to maintain.  E.g. no live meat animals (i.e. not breeding stock) sold from the farm, and all animals killed by you or your husband.  Or no piglets under X weeks will be sold at all.  Or whatever other boundaries you wise to set.  If customers won't abide those boundaries after being told what they are, fire them.  There are usually more people wanting to buy home-raised high quality meat than you can reasonably produce.  

Now I'm the awful one because he is the one that kills everything. lol I just pick what dies.

So I always intended to sell piglets to be raised for meat. It's commonplace around here for people to raise them themselves. I guess it was just the extreme young age of the piglets I thought they wanted killed. Turns out it was a miscommunication and they do want the older piglets. I'm ok with the older one dying. I'm weird.

elle sagenev wrote:

Nick Truscott wrote:We often offer/sell suckling pigs between 6 and 10 weeks old, but generally the males as in our rural Bulgarian market our villagers want gilts to raise over a year for the christmas celebrations.  We haven't been doing it long (3.5 years since our first littler), but quickly steeled ourselves to help make the most of the litter and maximize income/cashflow at the time.  Frankly it is easy, quick and humane to cut and bleed a piglet - we remove the selected little ones from the sow and take them away to do it quickly and quietly.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

How do you cut them?  I thought the piglets they wanted were newborn. Like palm sized. I didn't think I could do that. I'm better with the older piglet being the one they take. Apparently my emotions have an age limit. I'm awful!

Never seen a newborn "suckling pig" - what's the point in that? There is nothing to eat on a newborn.  We try to be "real" and only take piglets who are suckling - take them and slaughter them the same day - 6 weeks is an OK size, 8 weeks good for a family BBQ and 10 weeks for a chubby little celebration roast.

Nick Truscott wrote:

elle sagenev wrote:

Nick Truscott wrote:We often offer/sell suckling pigs between 6 and 10 weeks old, but generally the males as in our rural Bulgarian market our villagers want gilts to raise over a year for the christmas celebrations.  We haven't been doing it long (3.5 years since our first littler), but quickly steeled ourselves to help make the most of the litter and maximize income/cashflow at the time.  Frankly it is easy, quick and humane to cut and bleed a piglet - we remove the selected little ones from the sow and take them away to do it quickly and quietly.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

How do you cut them?  I thought the piglets they wanted were newborn. Like palm sized. I didn't think I could do that. I'm better with the older piglet being the one they take. Apparently my emotions have an age limit. I'm awful!

Never seen a newborn "suckling pig" - what's the point in that? There is nothing to eat on a newborn.  We try to be "real" and only take piglets who are suckling - take them and slaughter them the same day - 6 weeks is an OK size, 8 weeks good for a family BBQ and 10 weeks for a chubby little celebration roast.

Communication is pretty bad. They kept saying newborn and very little just born. I couldn't see how it would make a meal either. Pics were sent to them and I think we have an understanding of what they want now. Thank goodness!