This is a funny question for you all I'm sure, but what is exactly a Pig Trotter. Exactly what part anatomically is it? I am going to approach a near by butcher in a small grocery store and I want to be sure to get the right thing. They butcher their own pigs. I don't think trotters are used and well, I might as well get them? The boys might enjoy them.

I don't think I want anything smoked? Definitaly not cooked? What do I look for? What do I tell an American butcher?

I'm not going full blown raw, but something to add to their life. You all talk about how much your kids enjoy them. They do like chicken on occasion, but I worry about the bones (not cooked!! I know ) and they gulp things fast. They like to chew. Rawhides are out. Too dangerous. They like bones.

Thanks all!

http://springthing.3.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=16506



Get the idea angell, this is what you're looking for
Defo never cooked, smoked or anything else just raw. You just want a pigs foot, below the knee or hock.
Let us know how it goes

Sandy

I deal with a butcher here in the UK who butchers their own pigs and they also let me have the ears - raw and still together in a pair . I find them great for Lucy who has lots of teeth missing and struggles with a trotter.

Phew, those things in the link are huge and def not what the supermarket sells as pigs foot.... Makes me almost glad that raw pork is a no go on the continent - but just out of interest, how much of such a trotter is meat, how much is fat, and how much is cartilage, just at a rough approximation? Never having seen one, I have no idea, but would guess at a large amount of bone and cartilage and connective tissue, and little meat. Do you feed them for nutritional value, or mainly to give them a meal that will occupy them for a good long time?

I might get beef cartilage stuff from the butcher, but I was wondering what if any nutritional value it has.....

They do trotters at Rowntree Garden Centre near Bristol (Next to Cadbury Garden Centre, but think it's a coincidence!). I have managed to pick one up so far! I know, crap!! I am going to get a couple next time we are up there!!

Our butcher sells them as pigs legs, I don't want to sound like as snob but you are more likely to get them in a cheap market type butchers or a butchers in a poorer area. In the past (a long way in the past) they were eaten by the poorer people and as such receipes for using them have passed on to other people livin in the same areas. If in doubt ask your butcher if he doesn't sell them he may still get them for you, mine told me he can't sell them so just cuts them off and leaves them at the ccc because it costs so much to dispose of them but if he knew when I was coming he would bring them for me - well he said this until he found out they were for the dog, then said he wouldn't and gave me a lecture on why I shouldn't feed raw.

I've now found somewhere else to get them, from a butcher in a market, the only problem is you have to get there quick as they sell out so quickly. From what the butcher says they go for human consumption too, I don't think I could but the dogs love them.

As for nutritional value, have to be honest and say I don't know, I'm new to raw and am just following advice on things to feed.

me too lol
I get my pigs trotters from my local butcher. used to have to get up early toget them as the local chinese restaurant used to buy them for what I DONT KNOW
only pay 10p each trotter my butcher saves me a couple a week get to know your local butcher and buy YOUR meat from him and he will be your best friend lol
Pigs trotters are great esp when frozen keeps my two girls quite 4 a long time
would give them crayons and colouring book if they were children to keep them occupied but pigs trotters works for them

Sandy,

Thanks for the picture. The boys would enjoy those now and then. I can show the butcher. I will try for the ears too. What about cleanliness? Do I need to do anything (after all they are feet)? That one looks very clean. You can tell the only thing I know about butchering is the eating part. Also, the boys do have tummy troubles with eating too much fat. Do they have a lot of fat on them?

It is common in this area to boil beans with a smoked hock or two and serve with corn bread. Talk about a cheap meal. Hocks are 79 cents a pound. Absolutely delicious.

You are right about butchers. Buy your meat from them and they will throw you a bone (sorry for the pun) now and then These people slaughter local animals and the meat is the best in the area. Also the best price!

The one in the pic is a biggie, it's the size I feed to my GS but it shows angell the whole thing. The springers will get one half that size with toe end and it will keep them happy as a chew when the weather's nice outside, don't be surprised if they dance around it before eating it, seems to be a strange ritual they have
Nutritional value wise I would think there's something in them, if they have one of these as a chew in the afternoon they won't get fed again that day as there is a bit of meat on them, skin and fat, well there's not much fat on them as it's a foot but I would say they break down as roughly 50% bone, 30% meat, 10% skin and gristle and 10% fat.
My butcher brings them whenever I ask for them but I only let them have about 1 a week, they are free as he would just throw them out. The French, apparently treat them as a delicacy, or so I was told when some posh bird came into the butcher shop one day and I was handed over a few, she said they like to boil or roast them up as they are very tasty, other than that I think some butchers use them in brawn or sausages Some top chefs sell them in their restaurants and charge silly money for the dish too
A word of warning, if they have a trotter then the next day they will poop out little golden yellow nuggets so don't be alarmed at this! They are more bone than meat and are great teeth cleaners but I certainly wouldn't feed them everyday purely because of the amount of bone in them. I have also never seen any pieces of bone in their poop after they have ate a trotter, they seem to break down very well indeed, it's just the yellow colour poo they leave behind I find strange!
All the trotters I have are clean, same with the pigs ears but I run them under a tap and sometimes scrape out the ear wax if there's any in this country when pigs are slaughtered they are dropped into scalding water afterwards to burn off the hairs on the skin, I think this applies to most places that kill pigs anyway, this will clean off the pigs skin too, watch out for ear tags left behind, I've had a couple of those left in before but they snip out easy enough.
The only incident I have ever had when feeding a trotter is when Zante got a piece of bone jammed in a back molar, it seemed to have stuck her teeth together and I only realised something was wrong when she went all quiet and I could see her mouth was slightly open and she just didn't look right, she must have been like this for half an hour or so before I noticed as she didn't make a fuss. I managed to prise the bone out and she was fine, pigs trotters have section like bones in them, think like the segments, joints in your fingers, they are rounded off and pretty hard but even my old girl Sophie can eat one and she's got a few teeth missing, given the choice though she prefers a pigs ear to chomp as it goes down quicker!

Mine love trotters, they are far to crunchy for Ollie so Ruf and Titch get them for breakfast about twice a week when they get left at home and eat them on there feeding mats in the hall, Ollie then has his mince in the car.

Has anyone else braved a pigs snout from the butcher yet, that was an eye opener

My two have ate the whole pigs head
Not in one sitting though
Butcher gave me a couple he did cut them up into quarters and the girls loved them
Think my two will eat mostly anything though They aint fussy

Ooh, scared now! Just called a local farmer who sells to butchers, and he's keeping me a couple of trotters for tomorrow. Never given them anything raw before, might let hubby do it!!!

...you might get hooked

Well, Tess looked at the trotter, then seemed to ask her dad if he could possibly pop it in the oven for an hour, Bailey on the other hand has gone off to her favourite part of the garden and is munching away like a pig in clover, if you'll parden the expression!

Raw pigs trotters it is then!