At the end of April I modified the pig house to take our next intake of roasties. And very cute they looked too. They must have enjoyed their spacious home and the relatively wide open space and fresh grass of their paddock because they have grown enormously and in very quick time – especially the white ones.

So much so that I’ve already given the white ones the chop – at only 8 weeks old. The squeamish better look away now as I photographed the progress of one fortunate soul from freedom to the fridge: Here he is in the ‘mata frango’ ready to get his throat cut.

…and here ready to be plucked. My able assistant ready to spring into action.

And here all plucked and ready to be hung. The lucky birds meet their maker on a cool marble slab – what luxury.

We hang them for a couple of days and then some are popped into the freezer whole for roasting and others I chop up. Here are some prime bits.

With the carcass, I usually make the most delicious soup as there is still plenty of meat on it. For the record, the largest whitey weighed in at a whopping 3.2kg after plucking and cleaning (over 7lbs in old money) – as it happens the same weight as me when I was born! and the other three: 2.5kgs, 2.5kgs and 2kgs. The six brownies are still running round the pen (for now). They are smaller but by all accounts even tastier.