While I don't eat meat, I commend you for not wanting another farm animal to go to waste. You're story reminded me of a story my grandma told me of when she grew up in the Depression. The upstairs rooms in their farm house were cold, they didn't run fires in them, so my g-grandma would cure the pork and hang it in an upstairs room, but it needed a certain length of time before it was cured and safe to eat. A local family would come by every Sunday to play cards and eat dinner with my family (g-grandma didn't turn anyone away), well they stole a bunch of the pork from the upstairs room that wasn't ready yet and all ended up in the hospital, not surprisingly, they never showed up at my grandma's house again. Guess they really weren't there for the friendship. Long story short, I hope those animals keep you and your family well fed and I'm glad they didn't die in vain. {edit to say, also don't eat pork that isn't fully cured :)}