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| Mad Max as a fine young fellow on the right. |
For my long time followers you might remember our very first Red Wattle Boar...Mad Max. Well, get the tissue box out cause he's heading for the locker in about a weeks time. His crime? Shooting blanks or perhaps not shooting at all.
We purchased Max several years ago, along with his little girlfriend Casey, they were our very first Red Wattle breeding pair on the farm. We even had the two of them on our farm T-shirts for a few years. Dang he was cute. Just 8 weeks old and super sweet. He never has lost that sweet nature, always willing to be petted, have his ears scratched and has even served as a great place for Keith to prop his feet.
He has never shown any aggression towards us and why would he? His life has been a good one. well fed, lots of space to roam free, to root, to chase girls; its' been a pigs life. But this past spring we noticed...not enough activity to make us or his woman folk happy. Sows left with him were not getting pregnant and sows in heat he just walked on by. I understand. You get to a certain point in life and Netflix reruns and a big bowl of sour milk is just as tempting as that 1 year old Golden Red Gilt but here, on the farm; it's behavior we can't afford to encourage.
An unproductive pig, be it male or female, has to go. So soon Max, all 1000 pounds or so of him, will be turned into fabulous sausage and brats. Now because he is indeed a male we run the risk of the meat smelling of taint due to his hormone status (if he has any left that is) but we've followed some other farmers advice, removed all females from his immediate area and kept him in his own pasture the last three months.
Hopefully this will tame down the boar smell a bit. (I've never noticed a difference in the taste I just can't get past the boar smell to eat it myself) But if the isolation chamber doesn't work to decrease the taint it's no worry as Keith has no sense of smell and plans to make good use of Max via some brats. The biggest majority of him will go to the dogs as we have 2 large ones to feed: a German Shepard named Ashland, and a Great Pyrenees, Fannie.
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| Guard Dog Fannie and Grandson Wes. |
Our younger boar Wally will be the only boar up at the plate hitting those home runs until one of Mad Max's sons, Little Max, is ready to take his dads place. He'll be big enough to get the job done in about 8 more months.
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| Boar number two Wally. soon to be Boar number one |
Yes, I feel sad, he was a great boar, literally has fathered hundreds of piglets, the foundation of our farm,his piglets have supplied us with meat for our store and fat for my soaps and he will be missed, but we are not a zoo, or a wildlife preserve.
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| Lard Soap |
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| One of Max's piglets sold as registered boar named after me. Of all the things I dreamed would be named after me... this was not one of them. |
We are a family farm which stays afloat by keeping the best and culling the rest. I love watching my kids squirm every time I say that at family events. Might have something to do with why none of the four took up farming as a profession.
May his hair produce brushes for the very best painters, may his sausages bless the tables of those who appreciate them the most, and may his progeny thrive at South Pork. RIP Mad Max.
ReplyDeleteOhhhh. hair for brushes. Why did I not think of that? Because you are the artist I suppose. Now Cro where would I send them for that process?. Back to google I go.
DeleteWhat IS the productive life of a red wattle sow and boar? I thought it was much longer than the couple of years Max has sired litters. Hope Max II will keep your sows happy. Condolences.
ReplyDeleteMax is now almost 6 and since the average confinement boar only makes it to age 2 and 1/2 he's done pretty well. Siring piglets for us for over 5 years. I'm sure there are boars older and I do plant to see what else we can do different (if anything) to prolong productivity.
DeleteSounds like he has had a long and happy life though. Now, if you could only claim he was gay, you might have got a group to 'save' him!!
ReplyDeleteOh Lorna...I did think of that of course and perhaps a gay rights group would be interested in buying him as their mascot. He definately has a price on his head but THEY will have to keep them :)
DeleteI'm with Lorna on the happy life but it sounds as if you'd have a hard time proving Max was gay, phnark.
ReplyDeleteCheers
MTM
Prove him gay? I say if he's on the block the responsibility for proof lies with him.
Deletea reality of raising livestock - and a reality for every meat-eater. he had a good life at your place. hope the meat will not be too 'rank'.
ReplyDeleteWe think the dogs will love it either way. To them "rank" is sweet.
DeleteIt's a sad day when favorites can no longer do the job they are there for. But it always comes! Very interesting about separating for the boar taint to the meat. I will definitely want to know if this works. With goats they say to remove the testicles immediately after slaughter, which we found worked pretty well. The other tip was to not let any fur touch the muscle (ha! I'd like to see how they accomplish that one).
ReplyDeleteNice to hear about the Red Wattle personality. Our American Guinea Hogs are the same way and love to be scratched or petted. Just stay out of the way when it's time to eat.
I agree, feeding time is never the time to prove our pigs "gentle" ways. I'm sure they would run me into the ground to get their grain. Surprising that testicle removal of goats right after slaughter works...but then again this farming thing is always surprising me.
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