How do I bring him round??

[tootles]

I want pigs.
My husband does not.

We have the space, I have found a supplier, I have found a feed supplier (which we can supplement with our chestnuts and I will grow root crops for them too). We can build them a house quite cheaply with leftover building materials we already have. I have found a man who will slaughter and butcher. I am ready to go.....
I want a couple of weaners to keep from the end of July until mid Spring, fresh pork for Easter 2010.

The trouble is that, for some reason, Mr T is completely opposed to the idea. I don't really understand why. He thought, to begin with, that it was just a pie in the sky idea and that it would go away. It isn't and it hasn't!

What can I do to persuade him????? If I am going to grow crops for them I need to get started soon.

Any suggestions would be gratefully recieved.


p.s. I haven't yet mentioned to him that I want breeding rabbits (for the pot) too.......

[zazen999]

My way of getting people to agree to stuff is to offer them 3 choices and make 2 of the choices things that are much worse than the one you want them to agree to. They usually agree to the one I want quite quickly.

Not sure what would be worse than pigs though...being a vege myself.

[SarzWix]

Well, if you have room to grow the crops for them, then start doing that bit anyway. Then sit down and carefully work out the costs, and how you'll pay them, write down the pros, and cons (honestly!), realistically what might go wrong (ie crop failure) and how you'd cope with it. Also, how much meat you will end up with from them, and how long that will feed you for (weeks/months?).

Then present him with that all that info, and tell him you want some equally well reasoned arguments from him as to why not, and that just "No" isn't good enough.
See where that takes you

[Two_Sheds]

Does he like bacon/pork?

Perhaps he's afraid he'll have to muck them out himself? Or he doesn't like the idea of killing the pets?

[maytreefrannie]

My father kept pigs - we lived in the city but there was a big garden and several people on our road kept pigs or chickens back in the day - there was a bacon factory nearby.

Anyway, he told me once that my mother was not at all in favour of getting pigs - he said he brought the first one (a sow in young) in at night while she was asleep. When the bonhams (piglets) were born my mother loved them. She became the most interested in the pigs and even helped to look after them from then on.

Just a thought - he might accept them once they're there?

[Rhona]

I wondered if he was a bit unsure about the slaughter bit...

Otherwise, get a copy of HFW Meat book or something and leave it open on 'crispy belly pork' and homemade sausage pages (I'm assuming...haven't got the book but you get my drift). I'd be down the piggy shops straight away...

[FionaH]

My way of getting people to agree to stuff is to offer them 3 choices and make 2 of the choices things that are much worse than the one you want them to agree to. They usually agree to the one I want quite quickly. .

Thats inspired stuff Zazen!
I have tried most things on Mr H but he is still dead set against chickens

[RedThorn]

As a man speaking, my OH always gets what she wants in the end, I finally starting to realise that Resistance is futile! she always wears me down in the end but she does it in a way that I feel guilty

All jokes aside, she does wear me down, because she always gives me logical answers to my questions and will keep coming back until all my cons are proven to be smaller than her pros.

Personally I'd also be likely to dig my heels in , purely because I'm vege but that just me and we don't have the space etc for them. I am also of the opinion that If you keep animals, you should use them all, they are not just pets...

Good luck on both ventures.

[Nicos]

They do smell quite a bit- could that be a reason??

Maybe a day helping someone with pigs might be an idea???- when there is a litter for him to play with!

[flowerofshona]

Im pretty sure you need to contact the ministry to keep piggies ?????

[Nicos]

Im pretty sure you need to contact the ministry to keep piggies ?????

Tootles is in France- I don't think you need a license over here.
I think they were introduced in the UK to control swine vesicular disease originally???

[tootles]

Here in France you can keep two without needing to register a herd. Although, being in France, it is all very 'grey'!
Thankyou for everyone's suggestions. Rhona, I aksed him to get me the HFW book for christmas, he wouldn't!
I don't think he has a problem with the slaughter aspect, we have a friend who would sort that side for us. He knows too that they don't smell.
I think that he sees them as being too much of a commitment. Although, and I have told him, that they wouldn't stop us from going away in the summer if we get them for my birthday - end of July. We could still have three weeks away and the keep them until Easter. No litters. No commitment. No fuss, Just bacon, ham, pork and a damned good reason not to go to my parents next Christmas.........

I'll just have to keep trying.

[Nicos]

Can you 'find' some truffles on your land!!!??? ( does he know it's not the right time of year though????)

[Jardiniere]

Hiya tootles - hows department 12? Bonne annee.......
good luck with getting the pigs....i want some eventually (along with a goat or two) but is the being stuck with them that is the problem - my neighbour looks after my chickens but might not want to care for pigs and goats so are having to wait! We go to engerland about 4 times a year (three adult children, one granddaughter who starts school on Monday!)
Really interested in the scheme - keep me (us ) posted.

[lynda66]

see now i'd secretly build the house, install the piggies ....... then say what do you mean how long have they been there, they've been there months ...... but then once i set my mind to something i do it regardless lol.