We miss them everytime we send our pigs off, but we know we are doing it for meat, so you adjust yourself to it.
We said last year that we wouldn't have anymore, but then we changed our minds and raised 2 more lots. This time we mean it, mainly because of what our neighbour did to us, there was no need for it, our pigs were fine.
Yes it was muddy, which wasn't a problem as they had dry warm bedding in a dry area. I asked the young lady (about 18-19yrs old) from the RSPCA if she had any experience with pigs, she wouldn't answer me, all she kept saying was that she would call out a vet at our expence to come and check them over and possibly remove them.
I explained in as simply as possible that pigs+soil+rain=sloppy mud, but she just wouldn't have it, and then they wonder why people stop sending donations to them.
We have reported our neighbour for mistreating her dog on more than 1 occassion, especially when it was a very young pup and was kept outside during the winter when we had those really cold nights a couple of years ago, not even a kennel to sleep in, just blankets under a bush.
The RSPCA came down took a quick look through the fence and said that it's ok because the dog had water to drink. We just couldn't believe it
Sorry, rant over. As for the pigs it's been a great learning experience for us, on the plus side them meat tastes amazing, sausages and bacon are awesome. I would recommend it to anyone who has the time to do it. They all have their own personallity, some good and some bad. We've had Berkshires, Berkshire x Gloucester Old Spot and Large Blacks.
Berkshires were the easiest and Large Blacks the worst, meat wise the Berkshire x GOS was the best so far, but we don't get our meat back from butcher until Friday so it could change. Will let you know.
Have a good day.