This morning I told my wife that it’s time I butchered the hog. She looked at me like I was double bat crazy. “Kill Bubba? No way!” she says. She tells me that if I want pork, go out and shoot a wild pig. I tell her that I haven’t seen a wild pig on the place since spring.

I don’t raise hogs but I got this one when it was a piglet. My intention was to butcher it in late fall for pork and use some of the meat to make venison sausage.

Somewhere along the way my wife took a liking to the pig and named it Bubba. That did it, when a critter around here gets a name its home free. To my wife’s way of thinking, it becomes part of the family and enjoys all the privileges of a resort. In Bubba’s case that’s corn, acorns and mud.

When my wife’s outside Bubba will bark and sometimes escape, something he’s particularly good at, and come over to where she is. I don’t believe Bubba thinks much of me, he knows I would rather see him on the grill or in a frying pan.

So, it looks like Bubba is safe. I’m not going to upset my wife over one hog. I’ll take some of Bubba’s corn and put it in a feeder down by the creek and see if I can lure in a wild pig. If that doesn’t work I’ll just buy a hog, one without a name.

This evening I told her that if she starts giving names to all the critters on the place we might as well pack up and move to the city where she can shop at the local market.

Any of you folks out there who raise livestock ever have this problem or is it just me?

My sister has a very patient (usually) husband ;-). The girl even brought home snakes as a little kid.

We raised some pigs with friends outside of town once.
We named them things like "Roast" and "Chops."
Ate well that winter.

Every once in a while my sister would raise a goat or a pig or a calf for the meat. She would give it a name like "Snack" or "Sausage" to remind her kids not to get too attached.

If you would have taken advantage of the way Bubba is standing one .22 short and you would have had fresh pork for supper. Hogs are not pets. They are cured ham, tenderloin, and sausage. Larry

"Honey, I'm sorry, but while you were at work today, Bubba suffered a massive heart attack. We tried to save him, but it was no good".

"And hey, waste not, want not!"

Never give a name to anything that is lower on the food chain than you are...

I read this thread and have mixed thoughts. First, I assume I'm the only one (and I don't know why) who was ever a 4H club member. Talk about kids becoming attached to their livestock. Wow.

And then the more important part of all this, doing something your wife has forbid you to do. I don't even want to consider the ramifications of that one. And you expect to sleep next to her? You could end up like Bubba if you did the wrong thing.

So my best advice to you is surrender. Do as she asks. Corn is cheap compared to domestic warfare.

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Dick Burg

Years ago I would go to the auction & buy drop calves for 8 or 10 bucks. Raise them to the bucket & later butcher them. First one the kids named Bunny besause I got him on Easter.When butchering time came the kids all hid & my wife & I did the deed. Later when beef was on the table the kids asked if it was Bunny? We said No but you could tell the kids knew better. So don't ever name your animals, never.

Good luck.
Bubba didn't have a name at first, either.

Here's wishing you fresh-cut pork products.

My Landlord raises a couple of hogs. He's sort of a "gentleman farmer" you see. The first, the breeder sow and hog have names. "Ty" and "Gretchen." They seem to be pretty safe, although lately there has been talk of sending them off to the sausage factory and getting some younger breeders.

The little ones, I guess they're on their third or fourth litter now, get named things like "pork chop", "ham hock" and so on.

Funny story. My wife said she heard the xxxxist screaming and squeeling out back one day and went out to see what was going on. Landlord, his wife and one of his buddies are out by the hog pen doing something, my wife can't see what, but the noise is coming from over there. Landlords youngest daughter, who's seven? maybe 8 years old, is standing there watching. My wife asks her what is going on. Little girl turns with this angelic look on her face and says "Oh, they're just castrating the pigs."

I'm pretty sure those kids don't worry much about who's on the plate. Shoot, they make a party out of what we call, "The Great Rooster Purge" every year or so. The roosters around here learn to be quiet and not attract attention quickly.

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John 3:16 .

My kids named some livestock after themselves and would actually ask which one we were eating!!

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Mafuta54

You aren't the first one to have this problem. My exwife was raised on her grandparents farm and they had a goose that got turned intro a pet. When her grandfather butchered it and the grandmother cooked it, no one could eat it (even the grandparents).

I would sell the hog (if your wife agrees) and get another. I lived for a while in Iowa and while there I learned that hogs are actually pretty smart animals. That is one expensive pet though.

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Luke 22:36

Ranked seventh in intelligence among animal species, I understand. Another interesting bit of trivia I heard from a neighbor who raised breeding stock: contrary to the popular view, they don't overeat. Don't say of an indulgent person, "He/she eats like a hog," but rather, "He/she eats like a horse." Horses don't know when to stop, if they like the fare.

To the OP: I'm curious; what will be done with Bubba if/when he dies of natural causes?

Regards,
Andy

I raised a turkey and some sheep for several years. Named the turkey Thanksgiving....

Chop

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MSG US Army

I showed Bubba's picture to the Lovely Missus P&R Fan. Her response was "AAWWWWW".
I guess if he lived here he'd bunk with our 7 dogs and 19 cats.
When I married her almost 24 years ago she advised me I was going to have to accept her wishes when it came to pets. Never realized what that would entail.
The Woman is darn lucky she's cute.

Just a thought, if Bubba dies of old age, will he still be good to eat?
Jim

My daughter named all 15 odd chickens.

It was okay since we weren't gonna eat them they were for her to learn about animals. But it did cost me when I had to take one to the Vet for a sliced open head. It lived but it cost me $135.00. I was lucky in that it was overtime money that was only going to go into...you guessed it...the "GunFund"!

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Have guns...will shoot'em.

The first mistake was naming him..........after that he was a member of the family.......enough said.

My wife grew up on a cattle ranch in the Dakota Badlands. They always sold cattle in the Fall and butchered one for winter meat. One year the sale was not that great and the only steer available for winter meat was one the kids named "Charlie". She said it took her Dad all year to eat Charlie because no one else in the family ate beef all winter. I cowboyed a bit for a couple of old batchler brothers who were cattle ranchers, they always bought their eatin' beef in the grocery store, they never ate their own beef.

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Keep Shootin' and check 6

Gosh, I don't know. Hogs can live a good long spell. The wife and I may go before he does.

[QUOTE=P&R Fan;136857364
Just a thought, if Bubba dies of old age, will he still be good to eat?
Jim[/QUOTE]

An old hog, especially one that dies of old age, isn't worth eating unless your starving to death and then you still might wanta think twice about it.

This is the second year we have gotten our beef from a friend. He is very particular about how he raises his beef and this year actually tried to raise one that was totally blind, he lost that battle. Last year my wife name the little steer "Freckles' due to his white spots on his face. Last year we ate Freckles and that was what we were taking when people asked us what we were bringing to the cook-out...Freckles. This year she named the steer Bobby, I just hope she doesn't name the next one Dick.

P&RFAN, I feel for you; been there!
Around 1980 or so, there was a chance of nuclear war. I told
the missus that we could load up all the critters, including the
horse, and head for Canada. Said we could get some Great steaks out of it. I've seen her new house, and understand the horse is doing well.
TACC1

Just rent this movie. It will bring tears to your eyes sniff, sniff

Babe (1995) - IMDb

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Still Running Against the Wind

Just because we can't hear a carrot scream when we rip it out of the ground by the hair doesn't mean they have no feelings. I'm so hungry, but
hey, whatta ya gonna do....

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Halfway and one more step

Well, he is a handsome looking pig.

Wasn't there an episode of The Simpsons like this?

Fine looking pig there Kel. Looks to be sporting about 35 pounds of bacon.

I had a Aunt that raised Brafords (Brahma-Herefords) on a ranch near Yoakum TX. Come fall she would run some of them into the slaughter house/butcher and specify that she didn't want any of the meat back from "her" stock. The butcher always said "OK". I wonder..........

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

That's kind of like the tourist driving along a rural road when he notices a pig with a prosthetic leg. He thought this unusual so he stopped at the owners house to ask about it. He found the owner and inquired about the story of the pig. The farmer said, "Mister, that pig saved our lives, my wife and I." There was a fire and we were asleep and that pig just kept squealing and oinkin' until we woke up and barely got out of the house alive!" The tourist was impressed and awed. He ask if the pig lost his leg in the fire. The farmer said, "Heck no, he made it out OK, and you know mister, you just can't eat a pig like that all at one time."

Pigs are very close to humans in many physiological ways. Pig skin is used to cover burn patients. Valves from pig hearts are used in humans. Also, pigs are the only animal other than humans where the females are born with hymens.

That cracks me up for some reason.

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No life story has happy end.

This is wisdom. Back in 1959, humorist H. Allen Smith published a book called Don't Get Perconel With A Chicken, a collection of writings by children. The title came from an essay by a girl who'd spent summer on grandpa's farm. She'd been warned not to get "perconel" (personal) with the chickens but ignored that advice and gave one of them a name. Later she had to help eat that bird and didn't enjoy it.

My dad told me he got a little too attached to the sheep he raised in 4-H back in the 1920s.

Good Grief!! Don't get started on sheep!!

Just ran into that joke the other day. It seems a cowboy found a book on ventriloquism. So he read it and then practiced while in the saddle. So one day he came across an old shepard's camp and got invited in. So for fun he decided to practice.

He asked the guy if he ever talked to his horse. The old guy said "horses don't talk", so the cowboy asked the horse why he didn't talk to the old guy. Throwing his best voice the horse said "why would I want to talk to him. He's mean to me, never feeds me any oats and expects me to eat grass for food. I don't like him. Boy that really shocked the old guy.

So he asks him if he ever talks to his dog. The old guy says dog's don't talk. So he asks the dog about that and throws his voice. The dog said why would he want to talk to him, he's mean, never give him dog food and to eat he expects him to catch rabbits. Wow the old guy is upset.

So he asks the old guy if he ever talks to his sheep. The old guy looks really scared and say "sheep lie".

So on to Saxonpigs comments on pigs. I wonder how he found out about that little tidbit. I also wonder if he grew up on a hog farm, and if he got caught breaking one or two.....

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Dick Burg

Don't mess with the pigs, they'll SQUEAL on ya'

To the OP; When naming a farm animal, always use figuritive names, such as "bacon' or "ham-bone" for a pig, "T-bone" or "burger" for a cow. It's a constant reminder to all "don't get too attached because they WILL end up on the table!"

Trade the pig with a neighbor in the same situation, then eat the neighbor's pig. Solved

Had some kids (BACA kids) that had a rabbit named "Stew".
He was a cuddly little pet until he became one with his name.....

I can relate. I named our last two steers "Chuck" and "Porter" to remind everyone what they were for, it seemed to help

Ours ended up going to the auction and the proceeds bought store bought pork. I wanted to ask where they, the family, thought store bought pork came from but decided it was better not to.