Pork Sausages

With the butchering of four pigs, came plenty of meat that was only good for sausages. Offcuts, trimmings and thick, tough neck meat.  Most of the trimmed fat (except for the fat around the shield) had gone into the sausage bucket too.

I have previously written about some of my trials making sausages, this time I was hoping to do things a little better and also hoping that I've learned a few things since then.

I had to buy some more sausage casings.  No idea what happened to the previous leftovers, they'd probably gotten old and been thrown out.  My awful dry sausages (some that no amount of gravy or sauce could make pleasant eating) had put me off sausage making.

While I was waiting for the casings to arrive, the sausage meat was bagged and frozen.  This was actually quite beneficial to the process.  If the meat and fat is partially frozen it tends not to render when it's being minced.

Dad had gone through his pantry and cupboards since Mum went into care.  If he comes across something he thinks I might find useful but he doesn't use, he brings it over.  Included in this was a mincer attachment that fits the old cake mixer he'd previously given me.  He thinks the mincer was Grandma's as he doesn't remember ever having or using it, and it has a piece of the foot broken off, so it's clearly had some use.

I am in love with this mincer.  It doesn't clog up when you're mincing meat.  It just keeps going and clears itself out.  I can put 2kg of meat through it in a very short amount of time and it does a great job.  There only seems to be one blade for it though, so everything is coarse or goes through the mincer several times.

The sausage stuffing attachment (a kind of large plastic funnel) from my old cheap mincer didn't fit this one, so Hubby and Dad decided to trim it down a little to see if they could make it fit.

No.  The outside edge of the funnel shape was too wide for the ring.  Now they've trimmed the edges down on it, it doesn't stay on the old cheap mincer either, so I have to stuff sausages by hand.  It's a little frustrating but I can cope.

So these days, I take about an hour to make 5kg of sausages from start to finish.  The sausages are much better than they were previously, although, I find that I don't really like the texture of the skin if it hasn't dried up completely in cooking.  It's a little thing though.

I wondered if I'm not drying them properly before I freeze them.  A later batch (since I first wrote this piece) was hung to dry in my pantry overnight.  They were far better and the pantry smelled amazing.

I've also learned that it pays to put the casings onto the sausage stuffing attachment approximately a metre at a time.  If you put too much on, it can dry out before you've finished.  The casings tend to break then and you waste a lot of them.

One last comment to make before I hit the recipes - I have learned to read the recipes completely several times before I make the sausages.  Some give the spice mix first in specific quantities, but it's easy to overlook that you are only using a small amount of your made up spice mix to x volume of meat.  My first batch of English Bangers are not for the faint hearted, the spice mix is mostly white pepper and there is at least three times the amount there should be.



English Bangers

Spice Mix
5 tsp ground white pepper
2 1/2 tsp mace
2 1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp rubbed sage
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Sausage
1 kg lean pork shoulder
1/2 kg fresh pork fat
1 1/2 C dry bread crumbs
1 1/4 C chicken broth (I make up a stock cube)
3 1/2 tsp Banger Spice Mix

Grind pork and fat together.
Add Spice Mix and other ingredients and mix well.
Grind again.

Stuff the mixture into casings and tie in 4-5 inch lengths.

Chorizo

I've found lots of variations in recipes for chorizo.  Rick Stein always talks about the paprika in it, but half the recipes don't seem to contain any.  The notes on sausages that I got somewhere (I never noted down the source) speak of the differences between Mexican and Spanish chorizo and also say that the casing should be removed and the sausage crumbled before cooking.  I can't speak to the authenticity of such a statement.  It doesn't fit most of the times I have seen chorizo cooked.

This recipe might not be authentic, but it's my blend of several and works for us.

1 kg lean pork trimmings
1/2 kg fresh pork fat
vinegar
2 medium onions, quartered
8 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 C cider vinegar
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Rinse the inside of the casings with vinegar before using.
Grind the meat and fat.
Grind the onions and garlic and mix with other ingredients to taste. Mix into meat.
Grind all again together.
Stuff the casings and lay them out on a cookie sheet covered with baking paper and refrigerate.  Allow flavours to develop for at least 8 hours before using.

Pork and Thyme Sausage

1 kg lean pork trimmings
1/2 kg fresh pork fat
2 medium onions
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp dried thyme

Grind meat and fat together.
Grind onions and add to meat mix with other flavours.  Mix well.
Grind again.
Stuff into casings.

This recipe works as a lovely breakfast sausage.

Pork, Ham, Bacon and Salami

All four pigs were living quite happily in their pig run plus extensions for a couple of months.  The extensions were areas that butted up against the pig run, they had grass reaching too high and nothing else of value in there.  Hubby and Dad would make a new fence out of timber and corrugated iron and extend the range of the pigs.

After the first few escapes, we added a hot wire to the top as well.  It's incredible how much damage four pigs can do to a lawn in a very short space of time.

Determined pigs also learned to dig out stakes and if they push hard enough in the right spot, they can tear the nails right through the corrugated iron.  And there went 15 tiny Hazelnut trees that had survived all our usual neglect for the past year.

During the last escape, Sour Cream nipped at me as I was trying to coax them back in.  You couldn't call it a bite, it didn't hurt, it didn't do any damage, he barely made contact with me.  But he scared me.  A lot.

It was time for them to become dinner anyway.   They were already a month or two older than I'd planned on letting them get to and this was the push I needed.

The Homekill man was booked.  I planned to butcher them myself because sending them away for processing is expensive.  Last time I checked, it was $5/kg plus extra for bacon, ham and sausages.  I was fully aware of my limitations.  We would get two done now and the other two maybe a month later.  Four pigs in a day would have just about killed me.

Hubby, Dad and I discussed the processing.  I had said months earlier that I'd like a smoke house or the ability to smoke some cuts from these pigs.  Plenty of research was underway. Did we want cold smoking or hot smoking? Were we planning to smoke for flavour or to preserve the meat?  Hubby came home just before Christmas with a smoking gun bought with his FlyBuys points.  Dad started reading hunting magazines that contained instructions on how to build your own smoker and the best options for different types.  A workmate of Hubby's had a fridge that no longer worked, so that came home with the intention of turning it into a smoker.

As there is always plenty to do on our little farm, nothing had really progressed towards the smoker when the first two pigs were slaughtered.

I have had a number of issues over the past few years with my back and shoulder.  I have learned not to overdo things as that will leave me almost crippled for the next few days.  I am usually pretty good at recognising when I've done enough for now and taking a break.  That break might only be 20 minutes, but it leaves me fine to carry on.

With this in mind and with warnings from friends about overdoing it, I set out to butcher these pigs.  I think I took too many unnecessary breaks out of fear and the end result was that it dragged out my day to the point of complete exhaustion at 11pm when I finally finished and the clumsiness that always comes as a result.  Only one nastyish cut though.

It was also dragged out by problems with the reciprocating saw I'd planned to use to cut down the spine.  The blade was in correctly, but kept popping out and flying across the shed when in use.  The handsaw I replaced it with had some damage to the handle that meant by the time I was halfway through the first pig, the fleshy part of my hand, between thumb and first finger, was bruised and swollen.  I gave up and boned each section as it was hanging.  This became awkward and painful and more time consuming.

Dad looked at the reciprocating saw later, the locating pin had worked itself partway out, so it wasn't doing its job of holding the blade in place.  It was a tool issue and not an operator issue.

I still had ham and bacon cures from when I'd previously had pigs and I dug out the salami kit I'd bought back then but never used.

My book on preserving had quite a variety of curing methods but most also required hanging each cut in a temperature controlled curing chamber for several weeks to several months.  This was something I did not have, nor did we have the time or resources to build one.

I was quite curious to see how the bacon especially would turn out.  My last lot of bacon was made with kunekune pork and was rather unpleasant on the whole.  I wasn't sure if it was the process or because the pigs had been a few years old and were rather gamy as a result of their diet.

Two legs, which I had boned, went into the brine for ham.  It was a week before Christmas and I hoped that this gave us long enough for the cure to work its way through.  The calculations on the recipe suggested it should be enough, but I'm never entirely confident until I've cut the finished product.

I boned the shoulders and put them into a brine for bacon.  My 15l bucket wouldn't hold all of it, so a couple of pieces went into the freezer for another time.

I decided to try making the salami.  The recipe called for beef as well as pork, so I hauled beef stewing cuts out of the freezer and used some of the pork I'd put aside for sausages.

The salami casings were a lot bigger than I'd thought.  They were at least 50cm long and about 4cm in diameter when stuffed.  Each weighed approximately a kg.

The recipe called for them to be smoked for at least an hour.  The smoking gun came out.  I followed the directions for covering the salamis in a large bowl with cling film, with the end of the smoking gun tucked in and sealed around.  I used the hickory chips that came with the gun.  We very quickly spotted the fine holes and places where it wasn't sealed very well, so they were fixed up.

Within 20 minutes, the smoke had all dissipated in the bowl.  So we filled it with smoke again.  And again after another 20 minutes.

The recipe then called for the salamis to be poached in water.  That water was to be kept below 85 degrees Celsius for one and a quarter hours, to allow the internal temperature to reach 70 deg C.

My biggest stainless steel bowl was not wide enough for the entire salami to fit under the water. I heated them (on a double boiler type system) for several hours longer than the recipe said.  I wasn't able to check the internal temperature as that would have put a big hole in the casing.  I hoped for the best.

The salamis had broken and bent in the middle.  All the fat now coated the outside of each salami inside the casing.  They looked okay inside, but I should probably have minced them with a finer blade and stuffed the casings more firmly.  They tended to crumble a little when cut.

Just to be safe, I fried slices to eat them.  Delicious.  A month or so later, I decided to try some without frying.  Still delicious, if even more crumbly.  It's almost spreadable on crackers.  It's been a month now and I haven't gotten sick from them so we're quite happy with the way they turned out.

Dad worried that they hadn't smoked properly, so he turned up one day with a charcoal grill and smoker as an early birthday present.

The ham was delicious on Christmas day.  The rest was sliced up and frozen ready to be pulled out for lunches.  There were a few patches in the middle that hadn't cured.

The bacon was very nice.  Bacon is quite hard to slice so our slices were probably 8mm thick.  They're more like bacon steaks than bacon rashers so you only need one with your breakfast.

We decided it was time to try out the new smoker and smoke two of the pieces of bacon.  They need to sit out at room temperature for 12 hours to form a pellicle.  So that was overnight.  The next morning, I put the smoker together.  That was simple enough.

Everything I'd read said to be careful of what fuel you use as this may taint the meat.  Dad had gotten some charcoal briquettes with the smoker, made of coconut shell and therefore safe for smoking, but getting them started was not the simple task it should have been.  Methylated spirits poured over wasn't enough, no amount of carefully chosen cardboard or kindling worked.  Dad spent a patient half hour with a blow torch to get the charcoals started in the end.

To begin with, we put the damp wood chips in an aluminium foil dish on top of the coals.  They kind of blackened but didn't really smoke, so after a while, we just dumped them directly onto the coals.

We left it for most of the day.  The bacon didn't seem cooked as such, but its texture had changed.  And this lot tasted amazing.

Ham (wet brine method)

3/4 C salt (non iodised)
1 C Brown Sugar
1/4 C Molasses
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3 tsp Prague powder #1

Mix in warm water.  The salination of the brine is right if a fresh eggs floats when placed in it.  If not, mix equal parts of brown sugar and salt and add until the egg floats.

Place ham in brine and ensure that it is fully submerged.  Place in fridge for 1 day per kg (or 7 days per 4cm thickness).

Check the cure has gone right through the meat.

Rinse ham and let soak in clean water. Check for saltiness by cutting off a thin slice, fry and taste test.  Ensure you check pieces from the bottom of your vessel - the ham at the top might have rinsed well, but the rest might not.

Cook at 150 deg C until internal temperature of 68 deg C has been reached.

NOTES: This mixture is sufficient to cure about 10 kg of ham.
Be careful to add the water slowly.  If you add too much water, you might need to add more cure.  I use a 15l food grade bucket with lid to do this - the volume of water required is less than you might think and much of it spills out when you add the ham and weight it down.
I use a small bowl to hold the ham under the surface of the liquid.
I've found the time period listed in the recipe (1 day per kg) isn't quite enough.  I always seem to end up with small patches of plain pork in the centre of my hams.  I found another recipe that gave time based on the thickness of the ham and that is what I now go by.
Meat cured with Prague powder #1 must be heated before it is eaten.  For small goods that are not going to be heated, use Prague powder #2 and a different process.
I didn't have Molasses, so I added an equivalent volume of dark brown sugar.
If you have a different quantity to cure, a calculator can be found here.

Bacon (wet brine method)

1 part Bacon cure
1 part Salt (non iodised)
1/2 part Brown sugar

Mix and dissolve in warm water.  The salination of the brine is right if a fresh eggs floats when placed in it.  Let cool.

Place meat for curing in brine.  Ensure that it is fully submerged.  Keep in the fridge for 7 days per 4cm of meat thickness.

Check the cure has gone right through the meat, rinse in clean cold water and check for saltiness as above.

NOTE:
I buy my bacon cure from Oskarbutcher. This link gives its ingredients.
I smoke bacon after curing.  When I am sure it has rinsed sufficiently (and be sure to check the pieces at the bottom), I let it sit out overnight and then smoke it the next day.
Smoked bacon is easier to slice.
This same recipe can be used for a dry cure.

Rub the mix into the pork, making sure the whole surface is covered and make sure to work it into any holes.  Place the meat into a zip lock bag and leave in the fridge for 2-3 days.  After this time, rub the meat with the curing mix again and leave for a further 2-3 days. 

Check that the cure has penetrated all the way through the meat, rinse and check as for wet cure.

Salami

1.7 kg Beef or venison
0.8 kg Pork
0.5 kg Pork fat (back fat is the best)
300ml water
40g Oat or wheat fibre (optional)
180g salami mix

Mince the meat through a coarse plate.  Mix in water, fibre and seasoning.  Mince again through fine plate.
Stuff into casings.
Hang in smoker and dry for 20 mins, then smoke for 1 hour.
Heat in water (not to be over 85 deg C) for about 1 1/4 hour or until internal temperature is 70 deg C.
Cool in cold water for 2 hours.
Keep in fridge overnight.

NOTES:
I added Cayenne pepper and whole black peppercorns to this recipe.
I bought the Salami mix from Oskarbutcher, it contains a number of salts, minerals and sodium nitrite.

Overall, we were quite happy with the end products.  So I've been doing it all again with the second two pigs.

This batch of ham spent twice as long in the cure and we still ended up with a small spot that didn't cure.  At least this is a small spot compared with last time.

That pale spot is where the cure didn't reach.

Smoking the bacon was a bit different too.  Hubby poured the charcoals in for me.  I said to him that I thought he'd put far too much in, but he was sure I needed that much.  This meant that it got too hot and the bacon cooked as it was smoking.  I also bought some fire lighters and they started the charcoals very easily.

It was still very good bacon.

Lighting charcoals

With soaked wood chips

First layer of bacon in

Second layer of bacon in

Smoking away quite merrily

Homespun Blankets

My sheep have mostly come from Texel stock.  Texel wool is not as fine and soft as most wool breeds, in fact, Texels are mostly considered a meat breed and their wool is not valued.

I refuse to let this mean that a large portion of the wool from my sheep is no good for anything.  I'm stubborn like that.  I had made socks from my homespun wool, they were stiff and a little scratchy, so I wasn't going to even think about knitting a jersey from it.  Although, I have learned that using bigger needles makes them less stiff and I have knitted jerseys from some of the softer, finer wool.  I started thinking about what I could make with all of this wool that wouldn't necessarily be next to the skin.

I found tutorials online for Corner to Corner (often abbreviated to C2C) crochet.  They sit nice and flat, much better than a Granny Square blanket.  The edges stay straight and even, much better than any other type of crochet I've ever tried.  They work up easily and can safely be stopped and put aside in the middle of a row as they don't require any/much counting.

I noticed, rewatching the tutorial that I've linked to, I do them slightly differently.  I use trebles rather than doubles, but I start with the same chain of six and use the same chain of three when I start a new cluster.

I made a blanket or bedspread for my bed.  We have a King Size bed.  I tried to work it out as approximately 3m sq to allow for the blanket to hang over the sides and foot, but this has come out somewhat bigger than that.

It was a wonderful thing to work on over winter.  Especially once I reached a point that it could cover my feet.  The down side was it was huge and heavy and turning it over to do the next row required standing up and juggling several balls of wool and often, shifting the cats who loved it too.

Those are my feet underneath - I had the foot rest up on the lazyboy.

It's a great blanket on our bed in winter.  It's heavy and warm.  It's now the only blanket we add to our bed for the changing season.

Very quickly, my children wanted one each too.  I vowed and declared that I would NOT be doing another one all in one piece, so I made one in squares that I joined with separate stripes.

Queen sized bed.

Making this one, I learned just how much I really hate sewing pieces together and trying to match up the patterns between them.

So for the one I made for my son and daughter-in-law, I chose to compromise.  This was made in four full length panels.

This allowed for some fun reversing of direction up the middle, which they both loved.

I have also made a smaller blanket out of acrylic yarns for my Granddaughter, but I can't seem to find a good photo of it - I'll provide one when I can.

Next on the list is one for my oldest daughter and son-in-law and then another for the grandchild on the way.

Each one takes months to make. They weigh at least 5 kg and use approximately two whole fleeces each.

We love them.

Activism and Contempt

One of my friends is an Animal Rights Activist.  She's vegetarian but doesn't judge everyone else's diets.  She has a kind heart and beautiful soul. She has volunteered for various organisations that fight for animal rights.  Recently she shared a post by SAFE.

So I followed the link and read the information on SAFE's website.  I am still horrified by what I read.  Not because it highlighted cruelty.  Not even remotely.  Because it was packed full of lies, half-truths and easily discredited opinion.

I freely admit that I have issues with SAFE.  I have had conversations with their volunteers, conversations where I found their propoganda was filled with errors and lies.  At the time, I was working at an egg farm.  Part of my job included studying the animal welfare codes and legislation, dealing with MPI audits and ensuring that our farm was up to the standards and codes of practice required by law.

SAFE were campaigning against colony cages. Out of curiosity, I went to see what they were saying.  The volunteer told me that it was all a con.  Colony cages were bigger, but there would be more birds in them so they ended up with less individual space than battery cages.  I knew this to be false.  Battery cages required birds to have 0.5 sqm per bird, colony cages required birds to have 0.75 sqm per bird. This is monitored by MPI in two separate audits each year (if you have a high standard of compliance, more often if you don't), one of these audits is booked in advance and one is unannounced.  There is no opportunity to rearrange the birds or hide what you might have been doing.  Even if you could, where would you hide the thousands of birds you'd need to be shifting?

He talked about how the birds were pumped full of growth hormone.  I asked if he was sure, he said, "Oh, I mean meat birds, they're the ones full of growth hormones."  I told him that growth hormones had been illegal in poultry in NZ for over 30 years.  He looked stunned and didn't know what to say.  I couldn't decide if he was shocked that I knew enough to refute his propoganda or if he was shocked to learn that he'd been given false information.

We live in an age where information; correct, factual information is easily accessible.  Right from your comfy chair in your living room, you have access to the details of political campaign promises from two and six years ago.  You have access to the documents submitted to the Government by the independent organisations who oversee animal welfare.  This includes their recommendations and reasoning.  You have access to the reports and recommendations from national Veterinary associations.  Less than five minutes searching on Google and you can have all of those documents right in front of you.

So why aren't we fact-checking?

These documents are not written in difficult to understand jargon.  It's not as though they're beyond the reading comprehension of the average person. They're in plain English.  They're accessible.

We have people getting up in arms and angry about the abuses they're reading about.  Which is understandable.  People are getting wound up about the broken promises and ignored recommendations from Vets and welfare bodies.  That's also understandable and commendable even.

But when all that anger is directed at lies, what should happen then?

How does an organisation like SAFE get away with lying to everyone?  How much contempt must they have for their own volunteers and the general public to assume (albeit correctly it would seem) that they're just going to believe whatever they're told if there's enough outrage attached.

Below is the story according to SAFE:

Now let's break that down shall we.

Mother pigs are confined for over three months each year. They are confined in mating stalls for up to seven days during early pregnancy. They are confined again in farrowing crates for up to five weeks, just before they give birth until their babies are weaned. 

This is a mix of lies and implications and half-truths.

A dry sow or gilt can be confined in a mating stall for up to seven days.  This will not be during early pregnancy.  This is for mating, (you know, how they become pregnant - if they're already pregnant, mating wouldn't happen) when they're in season to prevent fighting between sows.  A mating stall must (by law) be big enough for them to get up, lie down, turn around and have separate space for toileting, eating and drinking.   Artificial insemination is also the most common method for breeding in NZ which would make most of this week unnecessary and therefore unused.  

They can go into a farrowing crate a maximum of five days before farrowing until a maximum of four weeks after.  So while up to five weeks is accurate, the bold first line implies that five weeks is standard, not the maximum.  Most keep their sows in the crates for no more than ten days after farrowing, making it two weeks rather than five.  The exceptions are when there are health issues or fostering of piglets that requires human intervention, for the safety of all concerned.

The first line says "Mother pigs are confined for over three months each year." Normally, they only have two litters each year. This makes it a maximum of 12 weeks a year (which is just short of 3 months) that they can be confined, not that they are confined.

So let's fix that and make it more honest and truthful.

Mother pigs can be confined for up to three months each year. The aggressive ones might be confined in mating stalls for up to seven days to mate. They might be confined again in farrowing crates for up to five weeks, just before they give birth until their babies are weaned. 

Next bit:

They can’t take more than a step backwards or forwards, and can’t turn around. Expressing natural behaviours like nest building, foraging, or interacting with their piglets and other pigs are impossible. 


This implies that the mating stall is the same size as a farrowing crate, which isn't true, as stated above.

The minimum standards in the Code of Welfare practices states that at no time should the sow be able to touch both sides, or both ends simultaneously.  She must be able to stand and lie down comfortably at full length without leg restriction.

"Expressing natural behaviours" is a misleading phrase. From the Pork Industry Submission to the Primary Production Select Committee:

Animal behaviour is an important component and valuable indicator that contributes to an integrated assessment of animal welfare status. In the current pig welfare code, Minimum Standard No. 9(a) requires that pigs be managed in a manner that provides sufficient opportunities to express and satisfy their normal behaviours (NAWAC, 2010). These include, but are not limited to, feeding, drinking, sleeping, excreting, vocalising, thermoregulation, and social behaviours. 

Conversely, natural behaviour describes most elements of species-specific normal behaviour, but is performed in the context of natural conditions (e.g. allogrooming, pacing a territory, fleeing a predator). Natural behaviour is performed because it is pleasurable and promotes biological functioning in a wild or natural setting in the environment of evolutionary adaptation (i.e., the environment in which the animal evolved) (Bracke and Hopster, 2006). However, natural behaviour is never fully hard-wired; and always includes an element of plasticity or flexibility depending on the context and situation (Spinka, 2006). It follows that behaviour which is natural in one situation, or towards one object, may be unnatural in other situations or towards another object (Spinka, 2006). The assumption is often that animals living in a wild or natural state are all in good condition and experience good welfare (Volpato et al., 2009). Thus, the implication is that animals that can perform natural behaviour are therefore in a good state of welfare, which may not be the case. The issue of accommodating an animal’s normal behaviour is often raised in the context of achieving positive welfare outcomes. As acknowledged in the Animal Welfare (Pigs) Code of Welfare, some normal behavioural traits of pigs (such as dominance-related aggression and fighting in social groups, and feed-related aggression) need to be managed carefully in order to minimise or prevent negative consequences for welfare (NAWAC, 2010). Furthermore, and perhaps most significantly, what is considered normal behaviour of domesticated livestock is the result of their adaptation to an agricultural environment, including regular interactions with humans (Segerdahl, 2007). The behaviour of domesticated livestock, as observed in farm housing systems, may vary in many ways from the behaviour of the same species in a natural environment. However, it is not reasonable to assume that these differences in behaviour equate to poor animal welfare (Wechsler, 2007). Thus, natural behaviours of wild boar may not always be considered normal for domesticated pigs, and we need to meet the needs of domesticated farm animals that have evolved in the presence of humans, not those in the wild.

For the tl;dr folks, this is pointing out that natural behaviours are not the same as normal behaviours.  What is natural to wild pigs is not necessarily natural to domesticated pigs and it is not reasonable to assume that the difference results in poor animal welfare.  Positive traits in the wild (specifically dominance-related aggression and feed-related aggression) are not positive traits for the welfare of domestic pigs.

The Code of Welfare states that sows in all farrowing systems must have manipulable material before farrowing - that is straw most commonly and it is there to allow the sow to build a nest.  

They have free access to food at all times, removing the need to forage.  They only forage when they're hungry and don't have food freely available.  

The piglets come and go freely.  In the first few weeks, piglets nurse hourly and sleep a lot.  Normal interaction with their mother consists of feeding and sleeping it off.  That is completely available in a farrowing crate.  The sows are also exhausted by the demands of their piglets and spend most of their time eating, feeding their piglets and sleeping.

Interactions with other pigs isn't normal or natural behaviour until the piglets are weaned.  This being impossible is not a problem for sows.

So shall we fix this one too?

While they are confined, they must still have enough space to stand and lie comfortably at full length without leg restriction. Expressing natural behaviours like nest building is possible and provided for, foraging is unnecessary as there is plenty of food provided, interacting with their piglets happens just like normal and interacting with other pigs isn't normal or natural behaviour after farrowing. 

Next paragraph.

Pigs are intelligent, sensitive animals that show obvious signs of distress, their heart rate becomes elevated and they may bite the bars of the crates. 

This is vague opinion and an appeal to emotion.  It implies that you would have to be heartless to approve of this.  This is like all those facebook guilt trip posts that tell you only people with a heart will like and share. 

Next paragraph.

The Government’s own advisors, the National Animal Welfare Committee (NAWAC) had previously advised the Government that farrowing crates do not meet the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act. Both the Labour Party and the Green Party committed to banning farrowing crates prior to the election. More than 112,000 caring Kiwis like you signed a petition and told the Government that they want farrowing crates banned. 

From the Code of Welfare:

Note: Before the Animal Welfare Act was amended in 2015, Section 73(3) of the Animal Welfare Act 1999 provided that the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) may, in exceptional circumstances, recommend minimum standards that do not fully meet the obligations to ensure that the physical, health and behavioural needs of the animal are met. In making this recommendation NAWAC must have regard to, among other things, the feasibility and practicality of effecting a transition from current practices and any adverse effects that may result from such a transition, and the economic effects of any transition from current practices to new practices.

NAWAC considers that the confining of sows in farrowing crates for extended periods does not fully meet the obligations of the Act. Minimum Standards 10 (e) and (f) restrict the time sows are confined in farrowing crates to a maximum of five weeks in any reproductive cycle.

Simplified, before 2015 NAWAC could recommend minimum standards that didn't quite meet their obligations but only in special circumstances.  For the amendment to the Act to be mentioned means that this loophole was closed, that they can no longer recommend minimum standards that don't meet those Welfare obligations.  I believe that the second paragraph explains how the standards now do meet those obligations. 

This statement now becomes kind of half true, although SAFEs statement is missing the words "for extended periods" which makes it misleading at best.

Both the Labour Party and the Green Party committed to banning farrowing crates prior to the election.

Now, I can find the Green Party's manifesto online easily enough including where they say they want to "reduce confinement of sows in farrowing crates".  This is not the same thing as "committed to banning farrowing crates". However, I cannot find any sign of the Labour Party having any position whatsoever.  In fact, all my google searches only showed up instances of SAFE claiming that Labour had made this promise and should be held to it.

More than 112,000 caring Kiwis like you signed a petition and told the Government that they want farrowing crates banned. 

"More than 112,000 caring Kiwis" gosh, that sounds somewhat impressive doesn't it?  In a population of over 4 million this is maybe 2.5% of people in New Zealand.  Not quite so impressive now is it?  It is also not the 75% claimed in the article I linked to above.  "Caring Kiwis like you" is another appeal to emotion, another guilt trip and more attempts at manipulation.

Shall we fix this one too?

The Government’s own advisors, the National Animal Welfare Committee (NAWAC) had previously advised the Government that the use of farrowing crates for extended periods do not meet the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act. This has now changed. The Green Party committed to reducing confinement in farrowing crates prior to the election. SAFE claims that Labour also promised to have them banned but this can't be verified anywhere.  Approximately 2.5% of the population, caring Kiwis like you signed a petition and told the Government that they want farrowing crates banned. 

Next paragraph.

But your voices have been ignored - because the Government continues to allow the unlawful confinement of mother pigs in farrowing crates and mating stalls. 

Oh dear, how sad.  That tiny percent of the population should be the only voice that is listened to?  This is more emotional manipulation.  The big bad Government doesn't care about you, it's not listening to you and you are really important.  You are the only ones who care.  Do you see how you're being played?

As is shown in the Code of Welfare, there is nothing unlawful about the use of farrowing crates or mating stalls.

But your voices have been ignored - because the Government continues to follow the advice from the industry experts and independent advisors and allows the lawful confinement of mother pigs in farrowing crates and mating stalls. 

Next paragraph.

The Government has failed to protect mother pigs and continues to put the interests of profits for farmers above the well-being of mother pigs. It’s not right and it contradicts the Animal Welfare Act. 

The Government has not failed to protect mother pigs at all.  The health and welfare of mother pigs must be balanced with the health and welfare of her piglets.  NAWAC, the New Zealand Veterinary Association and the Pork Industry all agree that while this system isn't ideal, it is the most suitable one available that best meets the needs of sows, piglets and farmers.

Profits and well-being go together.  It costs farmers to be neglectful or cruel to their animals.  Stressed animals fail to thrive - which means they don't gain weight or breed easily and therefore don't make a profit - or they die.  It has always been more profitable to ensure that your animals are well cared for.  Don't fall for the hype.

As has been shown above, the Animal Welfare Act is not being contradicted at all.

So let's fix this paragraph.

The Government has balanced the health and welfare of mother pigs with the health and welfare of their piglets. It’s the best we currently have for all concerned and is completely in line with the Animal Welfare Act.

And the last part.

Because of their failure to act, mother pigs are suffering every day. 

We need your help to ensure justice for mother pigs.

It’s time your voices are heard.

These are more appeals to emotion and to believe the lies stated above.  

The Government has no need to act, because the current laws and practices are the best thing for all concerned.  Sows, piglets and farmers.  There is no justice required.  Your voices refers to the fraction of a fraction of the populace who have signed the petition and it's ridiculous and arrogant to think you should be the only voices that matter.

Because of their failure to be moved by misleading propoganda, mother pigs and their piglets are thriving and mortality rates are low. 
We need your help to interfere with things we don't really understand.

It’s time your voices are heard.

Shall we put it all back together again?

Mother pigs can be confined for up to three months each year. The aggressive ones might be confined in mating stalls for up to seven days to mate. They might be confined again in farrowing crates for up to five weeks, just before they give birth until their babies are weaned. 

While they are confined, they must still have enough space to stand and lie comfortably at full length without leg restriction. Expressing natural behaviours like nest building is possible and provided for, foraging is unnecessary as there is plenty of food provided, interacting with their piglets happens just like normal and interacting with other pigs isn't normal or natural behaviour after farrowing. 

Pigs are intelligent, sensitive animals that show obvious signs of distress, their heart rate becomes elevated and they may bite the bars of the crates. 

The Government’s own advisors, the National Animal Welfare Committee (NAWAC) had previously advised the Government that the use of farrowing crates for extended periods do not meet the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act. This has now changed. The Green Party committed to reducing confinement in farrowing crates prior to the election. SAFE claims that Labour also promised to have them banned but this can't be verified anywhere.  Approximately 2.5% of the population caring Kiwis like you signed a petition and told the Government that they want farrowing crates banned. 

But your voices have been ignored - because the Government continues to follow the advice from the industry experts and independent advisors and allows the lawful confinement of mother pigs in farrowing crates and mating stalls. 

The Government has balanced the health and welfare of mother pigs with the health and welfare of their piglets. It’s the best we currently have for all concerned and is completely in line with the Animal Welfare Act.

Because of their failure to be moved by misleading propoganda, mother pigs and their piglets are thriving and mortality rates are low. 
We need your help to interfere with things we don't really understand.

It’s time your voices are heard.

This makes it a very different story.

So my questions are:

Did someone from SAFE read the information freely available online and misunderstand it or did they knowingly choose to misrepresent it?

Do they assume that their volunteers and the general public whose opinions they're trying to sway are stupid and gullible enough to just swallow this without checking for themselves?

Do they really expect that 2.5% of the population should be heard over the remaining 97.5%?  Especially when in the 97.5% there are people who actually know what they're talking about?

Is there a hidden agenda buried in all of this contempt and misleading information? 

Why aren't we checking for ourselves?  This is the information age after all, are we too lazy, too afraid we won't understand or too gullible?

I'm sure SAFE was created with noble intentions.  Well, to be fair, I'm not sure, but my Pollyanna side wants to believe that most people are good and honourable.  I'm sure that at some point, they've done good works, even if I haven't seen it.  However, when you are campaigning on easily discredited misinformation and emotion, it makes you easy to ignore.  You clearly don't have enough of a clue to be taken seriously and as an organisation you become a joke to the rest of the populace. 

Main Sources:

NAWAC - this website provides links to documents detailing full codes of welfare, best practices and the reviews of current and previous codes.  All documents are pdfs which need to be downloaded.  I recommend reading the Review of the use of farrowing crates for pigs in NZ. 

SAFE - this is the page regarding the proposed legal challenge to current laws around the use of farrowing crates.  The main body of text is what I have used above.

The New Zealand Veterinary Association - This page explains what is meant by much of their terminology and their guidelines regarding the use of farrowing crates.

NZPork's Submission to the Primary Production Select Committee - This is a well researched document with plenty of references to studies on both sides of the fence.

I have also had conversations with two large pig farmers, one who no longer breeds pigs, but is internationally recognised as an Industry Expert and the other who for personal reasons, no longer has a pig farm.  I cannot quote them directly, name them or cite their references as I have not asked their permission and these conversations have been occasional ones over several years.  Mostly when I have asked for advice regarding issues with my own pigs.  I am grateful to them for their knowledge and expertise and how much it has helped my own understanding of raising pigs.

New Pigs

We had been pigless for a while.  While I enjoyed having kunekunes, I was over the time it took for them to grow to an edible size and I missed having crackling on a roast pork.

We kept talking about getting pigs again, but never quite seemed to get around to it.

A friend advertised her piglets for sale, they were eight weeks old and very reasonably priced, so we decided to get two of them.  Captain Cookers crossed with Large Whites.  They were both white pigs, one slightly bigger than the other.  Miss 12 named them Sour Cream and Onion after characters from Steven Universe.

The pig pen needed some work so while that was happening, they went into the calf pen in the milking shed.  Of course this created dramas for us.  It wouldn't be our place if there were no dramas.

Sour Cream and Onion in the calf pen.

The two fat little piglets made some odd noises and smelled funny.  Brownie didn't want to come into the shed for milking.  It took me over an hour of coaxing to get her into the shed and I had to spend the entire time with a hand on her hip talking gently to her to keep her in there while the milking machine was running.  As soon as I turned it off, she was out of there so fast she nearly trampled me.

Nope.  Smells funny.

This went on for a couple of weeks before she became used to them enough to be okay with milking.

The pig pen was sorted by this time.  We included the vege garden temporarily with the intention of having them clean it up from last year, dig it over and fertilise it while they were at it.

So, we tried to move them to the new pen.

Every other pig I have ever had would follow me into the fiery depths of Hell if I was waving a bucket of feed at them.  Not these two.  With three of us herding, guiding and chasing them, we couldn't get them to go anywhere near the pig pen.  After several hours, we gave up and with another half hour of swearing and threatening to turn them into bacon then and there, we got them back into the calf pen in the milking shed.  Once they were near the lane, they quite happily trotted into their pen.

They really were too big for the pen, they destroyed everything I put in there for water for them - that includes chewing large plastic storage bins into small pieces.  They stunk, they ran from me as soon as I stepped in their pen and ran in panicky circles so I didn't want to upset them more by going in to clean out their poop.

I accidentally let them out one morning while feeding them, at first I thought they'd be easy to get back in from the lane.  Just like last time.  HA!  They were exploring, they were having fun, they were slippery smart little buggers who found their way into Brownie's paddock and loved running around.  I rang Hubby after an hour, to let him know I'd probably be late for work and why.  He wasn't at his phone so I left a voicemail.

I tried blocking off their escape routes, I used pallets, trestle tables, corrugated iron, spare farm gates and anything else I could lay my hands on.  I am still impressed by how small a gap a determined pig can get through.

After another hour I rang Hubby again, he'd been laughing at my voicemail and impressed by my ability to swear so profusely and descriptively without repeating myself.   I was exhausted and every muscle in my body was hurting.  I needed a shower and work started half an hour ago an hour's drive away.  There was nothing I was needed for urgently at work so we made the decision I wasn't going in.

I wasn't willing to leave them to run. If they got out onto the road, there was no telling where they could get to or the damage they could cause to neighbouring farms.  That's assuming they didn't get run over or shot.

In the end it took me six very long and frustrating hours to get them back into their pen. 

We tried building small caged carts to move them.  That was an epic failure.  The second variation was so bad, that they ripped it apart and escaped again.  This time there were three of us (and an unimpressed housecow) there to try and round them up.  It worked no better with three of us than it did with just me on my own.  Hubby's language outstripped mine in a much shorter time frame.

After an hour, we limped inside and had dinner.  I left the lights on in the milking shed, the gate to their pen open and left some fresh feed in there.  After dinner, I went out to have a look.  They'd trotted in, had a feed and snuggled up for bed.  All by themselves.

We discussed our options. 

We had a second pig house, very near the milking shed.  We hurriedly fenced it and drove the pigs in there.  They went easily.  They had room to run and play, they had a water trough that they would be hard pressed to destroy, they had soil to dig and grass to eat.  

Sour Cream and Onion in the new pen.

There were still piglets available from the same litter.  We decided to get another two and put them in the original pig run to turn over the vege garden.

We picked up the next two.  One white and one grey.  They were considerably smaller than Sour Cream and Onion, so shifting them from the trailer to their pen was as simple as picking them up by their hind legs and lifting them over the fence.  These two were named Salt and Vinegar.

I was warned by a professional pig farmer to keep them separate.  Even though they were all from the same litter, they'd been apart for about 6 weeks and they were all boars.  They would fight and it would probably be to the death.

I was able to keep them apart for maybe two weeks at the most.  Sour Cream and Onion kept jumping out of their pen.  I built it up higher.  They climbed out of that too.  I swear the only reason that humans are in charge of pigs and not the other way around is because of opposable thumbs.  I saw these knee high pigs go over four foot high fences - fences that keep my cows in but aren't high enough to contain determined pigs.

I was starting to imagine seven foot high concrete walls.  I was picturing myself climbing a ladder to tip their feed over and still not being confident that it would be high enough.

Then they made it into the pen with Salt and Vinegar.  They seemed to be getting along just fine.  There was a little rough and tumble, but that had been happening between Sour Cream and Onion anyway.  The hierarchy needed sorting.  I watched them for a few days and gave up.  It seemed there was a way to get them into the vege garden after all.

All four pigs together.