Suzy Pig

[LadyLynn]

I did not grow up on a farm even though there were lots of farmers around us. my father was a truck driver, and so I really had never been around farm animals. that is until I went with Steve, my then fiance to meet his family in the middle of winter.
We had driven an hour, we were both winding up a semester of college, and so his folks wanted to meet me. I was already scared, nervous more like it to meet his family, and he'd talked about a recent move his family made from the farm to the city. but they still had animals on the farm, and since Steve came home, and had the only running truck, an old Ford which he still has, we went out to the farm to feed the horse, the sheep and one very big pig
Steve handed me an open can of milk he'd just got from the cow, and I was sitting in the truck not wanting to slip in the mud and snow I have pretty weak ankles at that, and am a bit pigeon toed as well, so I stayed in the truck and then I saw this enormous piink thing on a dead run for Steve.
I thought it was charging him, and I was really freaked out about it, and my startle response sent the milk can over, and the milk spilled all over the seat.

at first Steve was mad about it, but by the time we got back to his folks all was forgiven....
Then he told me that pig was so much like a pet, Suzy pig followed them everywhere, and everywhere and if she hadn't been so big she would have been living in the house,

but the butchering day for her did eventually come. I think they said she dressed out to be either 300 or 500 lbs.

Suzy pig is one of those animals, especially for a girl that didn't grow up on a farm you never forget.

[Wiztherewoz]

God, Ladylynn, that's disgusting!!! Was the bit about the butchering really necessary? I nearly got to see my dinner in reverse then. :(

[LadyLynn]

I thought so, I thought it would at least try to help people see just how big this crazy pig was. I never did dare go near it. My husband's family has a very large family, and I'm sorry most farms are farms for the reason to raise meat for your dinner table.

you have to realize that not everyone is nor will everyone be vegetarians, and even members of this pet forum.

So expect a bit of talk about butchering, and hanging weight, ect.

it may be gross but its fact.

Suzy pig, I never did know, it was just a shock for me to see a big that enormous.

[Hunna]

I'd be one broke farmer! I couldnt raise any animal with the intent to eat it.

I'd love to live on a veggie farm tho, and have a huge garden.
I want a farm, with tomatoes, and cucumbers, and squash, and peppers..
Be one of those lil old veggie stand ladies
with a pond and a duck for fun! And 2 big dogs. And fishes in the pond.
Oh, and Hubby says he gets a goose. I guess that fits into my fantasy.:rolleyes:

[Wiztherewoz]

I thought so, I thought it would at least try to help people see just how big this crazy pig was. I never did dare go near it. My husband's family has a very large family, and I'm sorry most farms are farms for the reason to raise meat for your dinner table.

you have to realize that not everyone is nor will everyone be vegetarians, and even members of this pet forum.

So expect a bit of talk about butchering, and hanging weight, ect.

it may be gross but its fact.

Suzy pig, I never did know, it was just a shock for me to see a big that enormous.


You're probably right... In fact I will avoid the threads in this section of the forum from now on, so as not to inadvertantly stumble across a similar post with a 'sting in the tale' that might interfere with my digestion process.

...I must just be more naive than I like to think I am, as I was under the impression that my fellow animal lovers would not be so blunt and blasé about the butchering of an animal that they'd just gone to the trouble of describing the quirkiness of to us all.

My bad.

[LadyLynn]

I could so easily take offense to your words, but I don't the good honest truth is if I hadn't said it, 'told you, somebody else might have and perhaps in more brutal ways, 'or roughr than you would like.

most farmers have animals and vegetables to sell to the markets, note here, many Idaho potatoe farmers also maintain milk cows, and beef cows,
and sometimes other animals.

farming is actually not just a place you live but if you are a farmer you are running a business, and in most cases they are usually profitable...

so avoid the threads if you wish, its your choice, but its not going to change the cold hard facts, that this is the facts of farming.

[Wiztherewoz]

I'm glad that you aren't offended, as I had no intention of offending you. Sorry if it came across that way, I get a bit narky when it comes to these kind of issues.

But, believe me I am fully aware that farming animals is what it is, which is why I choose to be a vegetarian. And I realise not reading about it won't change it, but reading about it won't change it either, so I choose to not read about it in attempt to keep my sanity intact. (It's not working though! ;))

I genuinely just wasn't expecting it as an add-on in this case, and you were a bit matter-of-fact about it... but I suppose that's just the way some people are about meat and butchering. To me personally, it's just as upsetting as if you had told us about a big fat dog that you used to know, then added on the end, "We got a lot of meat off of her."

That's all. But I'm sorry, I shouldn't have replied at all really, I didn't mean to cause any bad feeling. I hope you can understand that I was just voicing my own upset at Suzy's ending, impressive amount of pork or not. Wasn't trying to be a sarky trouble-maker or anything. Honest.

[LadyLynn]

don't worry about that. i do understand your point, but I think you were missing the point that not everyone here is a vegetarian, nor will they ever be either, and I felt that you were taking it pretty personally that there are "many" members here that are not vegetarian.

yes, I do understand the matter of factness I used at explaining Suzy's end. Why? Because when my husband's family told me Suzy was so so much a pet, and then that Christmas telling me we were actually eating her really bothered me a lot, but I had already eaten my fill, and I was so dazed over it, I could hardly believe it,

but at the same time my husband's family is large and with lots of mouths to feed, and as big as Suzy was, the meat, yes they did need.

and yes, it was dfficult for me to adjust to a family that is for the most part, Matter of fact and logical where I am almost a pure analytical person myself.

I just didn't get the opportunity to know Suzy pig, even as a pet. All I saw of her was a huge thing on a dead run for the fence to mow over my soon to be husband then......

I never would go help Steve with Suzy after that scare. It was too much for me. My second meeting was just as challenging, meeting Gus my father in laws German shepherd that "gaurded the farm so to speak in the snow.

So sadly yes, Suzy pig ended up feeding people, but she sure did get some love before that happened.

so no don't worry about me taking it the wrong way, I'm findng that seems to be happening in frequency on the forum, but stll the forum is probably one of the best on the web.

[Wiztherewoz]

I felt that you were taking it pretty personally that there are "many" members here that are not vegetarian.

Oh, not at all. As I've said before, if I had a problem with people who choose to eat meat, I'd have no friends or family at all and I'd live alone in a cardboard box, forcing my dogs to live off of fruit and vegetables. ;)

As much as the meat industry does upset me, I aren't going to shun anybody just because they enjoy a hamburger. (But the only problem in my own mind with forcing myself to be respectful of people's choices is that I have to be just as tolerant of people who eat dogs and sharks and horses in other countries too, otherwise I'm just being a hypocrite. And that's hard for me to stomach aswell.)

But that was going off on a tangent again. My apologies.

I'm glad Suzy got to know some happy times before feeding her family... Oh, I'm sorry... I have to add this, can't stop myself... but I don't care how hungry I was I just couldn't eat my pet... The thought of eating any animal is bad enough, but one that I'd known personally and shared experiences with... eesh. Couldn't.

By saying this I'm not saying that other people are wrong for wanting to feed their large hungry families with animals that they reared for the purpose. They're just hardened to the whole thing, I guess.