But the pigs know me and are calm as the humane killer (a gun with a captive bolt) ends their life. Paul Smith, a butcher, licensed slaughterer and friend, helps me with the dispatching and has done it for more than 30 years. He respects the animals and we make sure it is quick and virtually instant. There is minimal trauma: no loading them on a lorry with hundreds of other animals, travelling miles and then waiting, penned up in an alien environment while they hear terrifying sounds around them. Pigs, when put in pens with other unknown swine, will fight. It is what they do to sort out their pecking order. At my supermarket, when chatting to one of their butchers, he said that the pigs knew what was coming and it wasn’t pleasant.