Bob Comis operates Stony Brook Farm in Schoharie New York where he and his wife pasture raise heritage breed pigs, lamb, goat and poultry. In his posts, Bob shares his thoughts on farming, regional food systems, and how it all could be better and different.

Peter and I sorted and loaded the first batch of 2010 pigs yesterday and I trailered them to the slaughterhouse. The sorting and loading both went very smoothly.

The biggest group of pigs is at our neighbors’ place where adjacent to the pasture there is a barnyard with a very nicely built cattle loading chute that also works well for pigs. We would run a group into the sorting area, close it off, sort out the one or two that were in the group that we wanted, then run the rest back out into the barnyard, drive the keepers up into the loading chute, block the chute off, and then start the process over again. The pigs in the chute just hopped on and off the trailer and walked up and down the loading chute while we worked the other pigs. By the time we had the last pig in the chute the other six pigs were pretty much all hanging out in the trailer, so that last pig just walked down the chute and hopped up into the trailer to be with his buddies. Then we closed the door, and off I went.

Including this group, over the next three weeks, we’ll be trailering to slaughter about twenty-five pigs and ten lambs, then there will be a bit of a break and we’ll pick back up again a few weeks later.