Tag: pigs

Whenever I collect another batch of pork from the butchers there is always a real sense of pride along with all the other obvious feelings. Pride partly because we have produced something ourselves but more importantly we are proud to have reared animals with the respect it they deserve and given them the best life possible while they were with us.

As it turned out, the latest results were some of our best which is particularly pleasing because rare breed pigs (not just Tamworths) can be quite tricky to rear with the right balance of meat and ratios.

In no time at all, our larger pork selections boxes were all sold, in some cases before we had even collected the meat from the butchers. It’s nice to know that the quality of meat from our Tamworth’s is so highly regarded!

Recently we’ve been trying out the Wool Cool insulated boxes from 3R Sustainable Products and have been very pleased with the quality. This will come in very handy for the future as word spreads and we start to deliver further afield either ourselves or by using an overnight courier.

There are now just some assorted individual cuts still available but with more pigs due to go at the end of March there’s not long to wait until we have more boxes available

In the meantime, there is pork fillet – great for stroganoff or stir frying – or some chops and diced pork – both of which are great from our slow cooker. Of course there are always sausages available in a range of flavours including traditional, pork and leek, cumberland, lincolnshire and more.

Don’t want to cook?

If you’d rather eat out then Gary Dall at The Roxburgh, Whitley Bay has done some really interesting things with our pork in the past. Their place in the Good Food Guide 2019 was not easy to come by but it’s richly deserved I’m sure.

Judging by the many great reviews from customers (and the Secret Diner) the results are going down very well but make sure to book well in advance to avoid disappointment

Having said that, I’m not known for being an adventurous eater so I’m not sure that I could bring myself to order some of the dishes. The presentation is always impressive though so if you’re brave enough then keep a look out for pigs heads on their menu in the near future

Despite all the preparations, forethought and planning leading up to Esther farrowing there was still a surprise in the works for us.

The theory was that we would move Esther into a stone outbuilding nearer the house a few days before her due date so that we can keep an eye on her more easily. This would also mean she was separated from the 2 meat pigs that have been company for her but were due to go off to the abattoir at about the same time.

Having checked her at breakfast time on the Saturday morning, I was happy that she could be moved into the shed at mealtime that same evening. This would mean the meat pigs could stay in the woods until they were loaded in the trailer on last thing on Sunday or first thing on Monday morning.

Everything was continuing according to the carefully made plans so far…

We got down to the woods to move her at about 4pm and immediately noticed that the 2 meat pigs rushed out to greet us but there was no sign of Esther coming out of her ark. Highly unusual because she’s normally fairly keen on her food and moves quickly even at this late stage of the gestation

As I got closer to her ark the reason became clear, she’d already farrowed 5 piglets and looked to be still in the process of producing more. Luckily she is a very placid mother and happy for us to be around her even during farrowing.

An immediate change of plans was required, I would not be comfortable leaving a sow with new born piglets in the same pen as a couple of mildly boisterous 6 month old boars.

In the end, the 2 boars got some unexpected luxury accommodation in the farrowing shed for a couple of nights and we left Esther where she was. The pig ark was very sheltered and she’d done an excellent job with looking after them so far. There seemed no benefit to disturbing them at that point especially given that we’ve got some very mild weather at the moment

We’ve not had pigs farrowing outdoors before, mainly because we’re fascinated by the whole process and like to feel that we’re helping by being on hand. There have been a few occasions where we’ve managed to save piglets that where weaker when born but that’s not always possible.

It’s just a fact of life (and death) that sometimes an apparently healthy looking piglet will be born very weak or even dead and while it’s never easy to see though but we just do our best to help where we can.

The final outcome for this litter was 3 gilts and a boar – there was another boar that seemed okay at first but sadly he was dead by the next morning.

Most importantly for the surviving piglets, their mother was doing well and soon up on her feet again. It’s obviously tiring for the sow during the farrowing but she worked up quite an appetite after missing her Saturday evening meal due to the early arrivals.

By Sunday morning she was glad of her extra rations and a chance to come out of the pig ark to stretch her legs.

It’s been a troubling time since the last expected farrowing – mainly because I still can’t quite explain why I misjudged events so completely.

Admittedly it is true that Sissy already had quite a reputation for carrying a few extra pounds compared to her sister (Esther). Added to that is the constant juggling of time between the smallholding activities and a full time job not to mention the usual family commitments.

As a result I’ve been doubting myself even more than usual when studying Esther for any of the usual signs as the expected farrowing date gets closer.

More recently there have finally been enough signs for me to believe that this time we’ll actually get some piglets around the middle of the month.

Although not completely clear from the picture below, there are definite signs of the teats forming up and this could be confirmed by gently checking her underline

Next on the list of tasks will be a preemptive worming injection sometime over this coming weekend. This will not only help her but also passes the protection on to the unborn piglets. That should mean they get the best possible start to life with no unwanted parasites.

Now it’s just a waiting game and I’ll be keeping an eye on her development. In about another week or so it will be time for her to move inside in preparation for farrowing.

After the anticipation of an impending farrowing and my failure to spot some key telltale signs, I eventually had to admit that Sissy was not actually in-pig as I had originally hoped.

It would seem that she was just taking advantage of a lapse in concentration, my own (incorrect) assumptions and the chance for a few quiet nights on her own in the shed

Once I realised that nothing was going to happen, it was obviously time for Sissy to take the Walk of Shame to a new pen in the woods. I wasn’t interested in mucking out that shed anymore for a freeloader!

To her credit, Sissy was extremely well-behaved and happily led the way round to the woods so perhaps she is trying to get back in my good books. She also adopted a very apologetic expression on arrival at her new accommodation…

As it happens, the remaining 4 meat pigs have now reached the age where I need to separate the 2 non-castrated boys from their 2 sisters. Taking the path of least resistance is always the best option when moving pigs and the first one I got into our trailer was a gilt so that decided the way the move would go.

Now Sissy has a couple of 5 month old gilts for company and, since one of them could potentially replace her if necessary, maybe she will pull herself together when I next try the AI

After all, this unfortunate situation can’t all be my fault or can it?

It seems like no time since the last farrowing but after some thought I realise that was actually back in August 2018. I probably should have been more aware of that because we still have 4 meat pigs from that litter and they’re doing really well

Preparations for the farrowing shed were going well earlier this week and included some minor repairs to the piglet corner protection which takes a bit of a beating each year. After putting down some fresh straw with the food and water troughs nicely organised, the quality control team assessed the results and gave it a 5 star rating!

Moving Sissy in from the woods was thankfully relatively straightforward, apart from a minor detour when she decided to explore the next door field rather than head back to the farrowing shed. This caused a brief moment of panic because I know that our Tamworths love to explore new places and we didn’t have the time for that sort of excursion today.

Luckily my glamorous assistant was on hand with a pig board to steer her back in the right direction and normal service was resumed very quickly…

With impeccable manners as always, she (the pig not my assistant) simply trotted alongside me all the way back to the outbuildings. She wasn’t even particularly interested in the feed bucket that I was carrying and almost seemed to remember the route all the way to the farrowing shed.

So now we’re all set and the waiting begins. My calculations can be fairly accurate since I know exactly when the artificial insemination happened and using an estimate of 114 days, I’m hoping for a Sunday farrowing. As I recall Sissy seems to favour farrowing during the late afternoon/evening based on past litters so maybe there won’t be any sleepless nights!

Despite my best efforts with the calculations from the date of the AI, in the end Esther decided to hold on to her latest litter for an extra day or so. Past experience with her litters seemed to show that she was fairly reliable at 113 days but maybe she lost count this time!

After spending nearly the whole night with Esther on the Monday, I gave up waiting and went to bed around 5am for a couple of hours of sleep. She had been exhibiting all the usual signs for imminent farrowing – nesting with the bedding straw, restlessness etc – but apparently decided the time wasn’t right.

Even after a few years of breeding pigs I still can’t quite bring myself to leave the sows alone to get on with it themselves. There’s always a nagging thought in my mind that if someone is around then any complications that happen can get dealt with swiftly.

Through the morning on Tuesday we checked her roughly every hour or so until eventually she started delivering them at around 10am. Luckily we already had everything ready such as handy cloths, an iodine spray and even everything needed for helping any slightly weaker piglets

In the end, she produced a litter of 10 healthy piglets which is well above the average for the Tamworth breed. Sadly there were another 4 piglets either born dead or beyond saving but perhaps that’s for the best because 10 piglets are already quite demanding and so more would have been a greater strain on Esther.

There were a couple of piglets that were born alive but a little weak so they were immediately cleaned up and placed into the warming bag until they showed more signs of life. This is just a simple combination of a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel in the bottom of an insulated freezer bag but it really does work wonders.

With this litter Esther has proved to be an even better mother than before and all 10 are feeding well. There was a little variation in sizes of the piglets at birth but even the smaller ones are doing well and able to fight their way on to a teat when needed. As time goes on any size differences will usually even out but we’ll certainly be keeping an eye on the smaller ones as they develop.

Even a few days after all the excitement of the farrowing, I still find myself stopping off at their shed to have a look and check on them.  If I’m quiet I can even sneak into the shed while they’re all sleeping and grab a picture like this:

Despite getting up bright and early last Saturday morning, I was still caught out by the slightly early arrival of Sissy’s litter. According to my calculations she wasn’t due until that night at the earliest but apparently she had other plans and had done most of the hard work by the time I checked on her at 6:30am

However when I first tried to open the shed door I could see there was a single tiny, cold piglet well away from the heat lamp and blocking the door from opening. Luckily we have another entrance to that shed so I was able to get in and check whether it was likely to survive. At first glance I didn’t hold out much hope as she was hardly moving but being a lifelong optimist I felt we had to try.

The almost lifeless piglet was immediately named “Sick Note” and put into intensive care using our previously successful methods. It’s nothing fancy and doesn’t involve expensive equipment, just an insulated bag with an ordinary hot water bottle wrapped in a towel at the bottom because the most urgent thing is to warm up the piglet. If you can get that far then the next step is to get the newborn to suckle from the mother so they get the best start possible.

Within about an hour she was very obviously recovering and must have been stronger than I had originally thought when I first found her. Before long we were able to put her back in with the others under the heat lamp and by midday she was happily suckling alongside her litter mates as if nothing had happened (on the right below)

In the end it was a smaller litter than we had hoped with only 5 alive and 2 born dead but with pig breeding you have to take the rough with the smooth sometimes. Having saved one this time around I realise that it’s important to recognise the successes because they definitely help when dealing the inevitable tougher aspects.