Well, I can’t tell you how excited I am to say that we have finally taken our first livestock to the processor. We decided to go with the Milo Locker in Milo, IA because of the good things we have heard about them from different sources. It also was nice to find out that they have “state inspected days” so we can sell individual cuts in the future and that they process poultry if that is something we want to give a try on a small scale to begin with.
But, that is really another story. Today’s story is about how we loaded up some livestock from Stoneyfield Farm and traveled the country roads (it is pretty much gravel the whole way) to the metropolis of Milo. Those of you that have loaded pigs before know that the process is a little more involved than that. You know, the expression “pig headed” just didn’t come out of nowhere.
Thankfully my dad (who has loaded countless thousands of pigs) was able to come up and help us get everything figured out. Plus, he was able to bring a couple of sheets of plywood that made the whole process just a bit easier because it helps when the pigs can’t see daylight on the other side of a barrier.
My wife and I were thankfully able to get them all sorted and put the ones we were taking with us in this nice little pen I put up in the morning. You can see that the process didn’t make anybody to wild because they were all laying down in the sun in a matter of minutes. But, I know that it would have taken both of us ALL DAY to load if it wouldn’t have been for my dad.
All in all things went very well and I am very glad to have less pigs on the farm … for the moment. I think it even made my dad think about having a few pigs around again. When he put his last contracted load on the trailer he was sure that he was done and confident that he never wanted to smell like that again. But, today maybe he opened up a little to the idea of some “range hogs”.
**I’ll give a taste update in a couple of weeks!**
