We still have a few Tamworth piglets available for sale out of the most recent litter (some are already reserved). The mother – Esther – is a registered pedigree sow, very good-natured and calm around people. These are good hardy stock, well suited to living outside all year round although we usually bring our sows inside to farrow – both for our convenience and their comfort.
Born on April 5 so they will be ready to go by the last weekend in May but both the sow and her litter can be seen before then if required. They are currently living outside in woodland so they will be used to electric fencing.
Esther and piglets
We are in the Allen Valleys (Northumberland) at the very northern end of the North Pennines. All buyers must have a CPH number
Price is £45 each. Please use the form below to get in touch:
After enjoying the comforts of the farrowing shed for a few weeks, it was finally time for the latest litter to move outside to the woods.
This is mostly because they are getting a bit more adventurous now with more interest in exploring but also so that they can get used to electric fencing. This doesn’t take long and normally within a day or so they learn to keep a safe distance.
The journey isn’t very far but there is always the potential for disaster with moving pigs because it’s just not possible to make a pig do something or go somewhere if it really doesn’t want to.
As usual the first problem was getting the piglets to cross the threshold for the first time, this wasn’t helped by the fact that Esther decided to just wander off on her own without waiting for them!
Working up the courage
Luckily we have fairly well-behaved pigs so, after a few minutes of minor panic (on our part) and some chasing of piglets in circles, both the mother and litter were safely outside and on their way through the woods to their new pen.
Off on a big adventure
There was even some time for a brief chat over the fence with the neighbours while on the way…
Time for a quick gossip
Once through the last gate they just need to be guided through the opening in the electric fencing but as usual a bucket of feed works wonders. After that the mother and litter were free to explore their new surroundings, meet the big kids next door and eventually settle in to their new quarters with loads of fresh straw.
The second litter of 2017 finally arrived this week, a little earlier than I’d expected but not by much. It’s definitely easier to calculate this sort of thing when using AI instead of letting them run with the boar for a few weeks. The AI date gives a more definite start point but the gestation period can be anywhere between 112-115 days so it’s never going to be exact.
As usual it seems, the quiet early hours of the morning were the preferred time for getting down to business. We were determined to supervise this time after the previous pig had farrowed when no one was around and a few piglets were lost as a result.
This time Esther managed to produce a total of 11 piglets with 10 born alive and just one that was already dead on arrival. Sometimes these things happen and we have to accept it but that doesn’t make it any easier.
I had watched the sow over the previous few days in the hope of learning more signs to look for when farrowing is imminent. I’m not sure whether I learned much but at least I got some useful photos that I can refer back to for comparison purposes when future litters are almost due.
About 5 days before farrowing
The day before farrowing
On the day before farrowing there were some good signs that it wasn’t far off – for example, a great deal of “nesting” activity with the bedding straw and a general feeling that she wasn’t settling down. I also noticed that she seemed to drink more water than usual but I don’t remember seeing that before previous farrowings so maybe that’s misleading.
After waiting around for a few hours during Tuesday evening I eventually made sure she was comfortable and went to bed about midnight with plans to check again later. Sure enough at about 1:15 we discovered that 2 piglets had already made an appearance and the sow was getting ready to produce more.
Given the size of the litter, it’s no surprise that some were distinctly smaller and more delicate when they first arrived. However a bit of warmth makes all the difference so they were soon getting stronger and were able to start suckling on their own.
A little extra warmth for the small ones
In the end we spent about 5 hours out in the farrowing shed making sure the newborns were safe and settled under their heat lamp. There was also a little extra care and attention for the sow as she had the hardest job of all in my opinion!
By the next morning it was clear that all 10 piglets had survived the night and were getting a decent feed from their mother. All in all a great result and even an improvement on her litter last year when she had 8 surviving from a total of 10 – a really good sign because the average Tamworth litter is less than 8 according to the information on the Rare Breed Survival Trust website
Last weekend I decided it was time to move the latest litter out to the woods. It’s handy for us having them in a shed near the house but in the end these are outdoor animals.
I’m sure I could sense a huge sigh of relief from Sissy when she realised what was happening.
Not many mothers would enjoy 6 weeks in a shed with 6 unruly piglets – however cute they may be!
Keen to get outside
They were all happy that be outside despite the windy weather and immediately had a good nose around.
Stragglers soon caught up
In no time at all everyone was happily investigating their new home and discovering electric fencing for the first time.
Peace and quiet eventually descended. I had to go back to check a little later because it seemed so quiet but I needn’t have worried.
Although it was a first for the piglets, Sissy was obviously happy to be back outside and set to work churning up the ground.
Not the best preparation for having your picture taken…
We have 4 Tamworth piglets (castrated males) available for sale out of the most recent litter . The mother – Sissy – is a registered pedigree sow, very good-natured and calm around people. Sow and her litter can be seen if required.
The Tamworth is good hardy stock and ours happily live outside in woodland all year round although we usually bring them inside to farrow as can be seen in the photograph.
Tamworth weaners for sale
If you want to help support a rare breed and would also like some great home-grown pork for your freezer then these come highly recommended. Born on Jan 12 so they will be weaned, wormed and ready to go by early March
We are in the Allen Valleys (Northumberland) at the very northern end of the North Pennines. All buyers must have a CPH number
Price is £45 each but could do a deal for a single buyer taking all 4 of them. Use the form below to get in touch:
Everything had been going according to my rough plans so it looked like the next farrowing would go smoothly. As usual there is always something that can go wrong and experience tells me that it probably will so it becomes an exercise in looking for the positives.
About a week ago both sows were brought in to the farrowing shed near the house to get Sissy settled and then a day or so later Esther was moved back to the woods to her usual home. Changes in surroundings are less stressful for a pig when it has company and we wanted to avoid any stress in the final days before Sissy farrowed.
Happiness is some straw on your nose
Unfortunately work commitments meant that I had to be away on business until the Thursday night (12 January) but my calculations had her due to farrow over the weekend or maybe Friday if a little early. I’m sure everyone can tell what’s coming next…
I’m told that it seemed to be a normal quiet Thursday afternoon and then suddenly by about 6pm there were piglets everywhere. In the end she had a litter of 11 which was a huge increase on her first litter.
However, unlike last year when all 5 piglets survived, this time at least 3 piglets were already dead or very close to death at birth. Even though we know that this is always a possibility with every farrowing, it’s no less upsetting but Sissy didn’t seem to notice – especially as she kicked/squashed 2 more piglets over the next hour or so.
Sissy and piglets at 2 days old
Eventually the situation calmed down and we could relax knowing that the remaining 6 piglets were suckling well and looking very strong. Sissy seemed to adjust to motherhood again after the trauma of farrowing and, as with last year’s litter, proved to be a very attentive mother from the second day onwards.
She always welcomes a break from the shed though and is happy to wander around our courtyard snuffling for any unexpected treats she can find. It’s good to get away from the kids now and then.
Sissy getting a stroll outside
In the meantime, I’m busy making notes of the hard lessons learned this time around and hoping to improve the situation for the next farrowing in a couple of months time. There are positives in that the surviving numbers for this litter are 20% up on her last litter and Sissy coped really well. It’s good to remember that the outcome could have been much worse…
The last couple of months have seen a few changes that have been a bit of a distraction from the blog updates but now it’s time for a fresh start with more regular postings. Hopefully now we’re finished with the Christmas and New Year period things can return to something like normal – whatever that is!
A Quick Catch-Up
The recent events that somehow never made it on to a proper blog update before include a few successes but also a number of “failures” which I prefer to consider as lessons learned.
There was a successful AI attempt for the first Tamworth sow – Sissy – and she is expected to farrow sometime on or after 12 January. After enjoying this success for a month or two, it was time for more AI with the second sow – Esther – but sadly I think my timing was wrong on that occasion and it didn’t take.
Sissy (right) is getting close to farrowing
The second attempt with Esther was almost 3 weeks ago now so I’ll find out in the next few days whether that was successful or not. Immediately after that it’ll be time to move Sissy into the shed nearer the house ready for farrowing partly for her comfort with the weather but also for our convenience as it’s closer to the house. This time we’ll keep sow and piglets in there until the piglets are weaned at about 7-8 weeks old, it’s easier to catch them in a shed rather than chasing them around the woods.
While I’m on the subject of failures, there was an attempt at a TB test for the cows and calves but things didn’t go to plan and a minor escape attempt meant that we had to postpone the test until later this month. In the meantime I have reinforced the defences and, as usual it seems, I’ve learnt a lot more from the problems than the successes.
Sunrise over the Dexters
The cows are doing well with their extra homework when I get a chance to work with them. This mostly involves getting them used to being penned in for a while and being moved one at a time through a cattle crush. I think that they’ll always be able to spot a vet at 50 paces so I need to be sure they’re securely penned in first before they realise what’s happening.
On a brighter note, the third “pet” chicken has started to lay eggs at last. This is the Columbine which lays a different coloured egg so it’s easy to spot when she delivers the goods. Admittedly she’s only laid 2 eggs so far – one on Christmas day and another on New Years Eve – but it’s a start. There are usually 1 or 2 eggs each day now which is as I’d hoped when I bought these 3 chickens a few months back.
Greeny-blue or Bluey-green?
When we have enough it’s nice to give some to the guests in the holiday let but the supply is a little unpredictable at times. This will improve with the longer days as spring arrives though so perhaps by then we’ll be back to filling the freezer with quiche…
After a couple of months for the pigs in their new location, there have been some considerable signs of wear and tear especially given the wet weather that we’ve had more recently. It’s a gentle reminder (as if I needed one) that it doesn’t take long for a couple of pigs to properly muck up a new pen.
What a mess!
Now that we’re a little more organised with the pens and electric fencing in the woods, it was only a matter of a minor house move with a bit of fence post improvements and the pigs were safely housed in the next door enclosure.
A couple of barrow loads of straw gets dumped into their house and the 2 sows are quite happy on the firmer ground with a selection of green growth to chomp on.
That’s much better!
I’m quite fond of the muddy coloured socks they seem to be wearing in this picture but sadly that quickly washed off.
Time to start planning ahead for next year with the first farrowing due in mid-January (for Sissy) and potentially another AI attempt for me next week on the second sow (Esther).
It’s a little surprising to me but I’ve found that the last blog update was last posted way back at the start of June and we’re already well on the way into July! There are a number of reasons for the infrequent blog updates of late but mostly it’s been because there has been so many other things happening.
Pigs
At the start of June we were still busy trying to organise the collection or delivery of weaners as we sold all the piglets from our first ever litters this spring. In the end we sold them in 3 lots with the largest being a batch of 6 weaners that went off to Bill Quay Community Farm in Gateshead.
As might be expected, there were plenty of lessons learned when trying to load up the weaners. Our only previous experience of loading pigs here had been much larger and more tame fully grown pigs that were heading to slaughter and were happy to follow a feed bucket.
It was a lot quieter around here once the piglets had gone but I did miss them a bit if I’m honest. On the bright side, their departure did mean fewer trips to the local feed store now that we only have 2 sows to feed.
Cattle
The main task at the moment is halter training the two calves which will be essential when it comes to handling them for vet visits or, dare I say it, when they eventually head off to the abattoir at about 30 months old.
Progress with this has been good with the older calf (Oscar) already happy enough to have the halter on and to be tied up for a short period.
The focus now is to get the other, younger calf (Elvis) comfortable with the halter because in the next week or two we will need to get the vet in to castrate him. This could not be done when he was younger because he was a little under-developed but on the bright side he was born polled (without horns) so we didn’t need to do any disbudding at all.
Elvis doing well on the halter
Obviously we need to make sure that we can restrain all the cattle properly for everyone’s safety but particularly Elvis during the impending “procedure”. The purchase of a few proper cattle hurdles (10ft wide by 5ft high) has helped this work greatly and luckily the calves can’t normally shift these… unless the mood takes them and they can get a run-up!
Barn Conversion
After a final burst of energy (and finances) the self-catering holiday let in our barn conversion opened to the first paying guests in the middle of June. Since that point the bookings have flooded in and at this point the barn is almost fully booked right through into September which is encouraging.
Living area and patio
Our guests have come from a range of countries including Australia, America and Belgium as well as the UK and each group is different so it’s turning into a fascinating way to experience the outside world.
It remains to be seen how much interest there will be through the winter months but with some glowing reviews from all guests so far I have high hopes for more bookings to come in the future.
Even now I occasionally find myself thinking of our smallholding as the “new” place but it’s been 3 years since we moved here so it’s time for the third anniversary blog update.
The various blog updates certainly make for some interesting reading and it’s at times like this when this blog really proves its worth. Sometimes it’s good to be reminded of the highs and lows, the lessons learned and above all else the enjoyment gained along the way.
Looking back now that seems quite a list to cover in such a short space of time, particularly while also running the smallholding and working full-time so I’m understandably happy to have them out of the way!
Hopefully we can start to enjoy the fruits of all this hard work just a little although I’ve already learnt that there’s no time for a quiet, restful day on a smallholding. There are always more jobs to be done and plenty of future plans to be made.
Cattle
Just a year ago was one of the lowest points in our time here when the cows arrived and promptly jumped 2 stone walls before disappearing into our neighbours field. It was around 2 weeks before they finally decided to come home and settle down.
One year on from the relative disaster of their arrival, our efforts are really paying off and the cows actually seem to like us. Their calves are completely calm with us and sometimes even happy to get a scratch or to give us a friendly lick. More recently the sight of a hose filling up their water is enough to bring them over to “help” as we fill their bucket.
Just a hint of a smile?
We have to remember that getting beef is a longer term plan because Dexters are a slow-growing native breed which develops over about 30 months. That’s quite a wait for a steak or a beef burger but I’m hoping that they’ll be the best I’ve ever tasted.
Pigs
Over the course of our 3 years here we’ve gone from novice pig keepers raising our first ever weaners to produce pork for our own consumption through to becoming fully fledged pedigree Tamworth breeders raising our first 2 litters.
Weaners eager for breakfast
After a few false starts it looks like the majority of the piglets from our first 2 litters will now be sold and should leave in the next week or two. I’ll be sorry to see them go but happy to cut the number of trips to buy pig feed.
Currently the plan is to rest the sows (and the land) a little through this year before the process starts again in autumn ready for weaners to be available early next year.
Chickens
Despite our best efforts, the white chickens that we inherited on moving here continue to thrive while laying just enough eggs to convince us to keep them on. Over the course of recent months our last remaining “pet” chicken – Adele – and the 3 rescue hens that we took on a couple of years ago have gone to meet their maker but I like to think that they all enjoyed their free-ranging outdoor life with us.
Eventually we’ll have to restock and at that point we can consider getting some Cream Legbars or similar so we have different coloured eggs just for some variety.
Has it been worth it?
The journey thus far has been everything I’d hoped for but at the same time it has involved a lot more expense than originally expected. The plan was always to spend the early years setting things up for the longer term so it probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
There have been a constant stream of new experiences – some better than others – and much there was a lot to learn along the way. Of course, that was the whole point of taking this on in the first place and I’m not really interested in a quiet life.
The initial work inevitably means that there would be a steady stream of sizable bills while we get everything just how we want it but there’s a good reason why you never see a wealthy smallholder!
