pigs

Spring Update 2016

Now that the weather seems to have settled down a little I can safely think about doing a “Spring” update here. We’ve had a bit of everything from the weather over the last week or so – snow, hail, rain, sun, cloud – but the forecast for the week ahead seems to show a more appropriate rise in temperatures coming.

Cattle

After the novel experience of calving over the winter, the routine for the cattle has settled back into something more normal. We still need to book a visit from the vet in due course to deal with the castration of the second calf. It just wasn’t possible to do this as we had planned at about 1 month old but on the plus side this calf was born without horn buds so there was no disbudding needed!

They are now getting a little fed up with the feed we give them and are eager for any scraps of fresh grass they can get at. A couple of bags of lawn grass cuttings were happily munched last week but I’m told by others that this is not a good idea because the cows will start noisily demanding more even when we aren’t cutting the lawn!

Chickens

Yet again we’re already well into the “egg hunting” season with one or more of the white chickens deciding to sneak off and find a quiet spot to lay in the woods. It can be frustrating to search high and low but find nothing and then suddenly find a clutch of 8-10 eggs under a well hidden hen.

As for chicken numbers, we have 10 white ones (including a cockerel) that were mostly hatched in our first year here. We also have just remaining one brown chicken – an ex-battery hen – who seems unphased by being the odd one out and is usually happiest wandering around with a single white chicken for company.

The pigs seem to be really enjoying their time in the woods and our two sows have done an excellent job of raising their respective litters. It’s been quite an eye-opening experience to have this many mouths to feed and to see how quickly they can get through the pig feed.

A definite plan for the future is to look into other alternative sources of feed for the pigs. We can get occasional waste fruit and vegetables from a local shop but this number of pigs get through a lot of feed and we need to keep up a good balanced diet to sustain decent growth rates and to maintain their general good health.

Useful notes on our first ever litters

For my own reference in future, I have decided to note down what I can remember of the overall sequence of events surrounding the farrowing for both Sissy and Esther. Looking back now it’s a little bit of a blur mostly because it was our (and the sows) first time for farrowing. I can imagine I’ll forget something crucial which would be helpful for the next time so it’s good to have this noted somewhere.

Despite having a good plan in place in advance, the reality was that there were minor differences between each of the pigs which were dictated by the circumstances at that time. This was not entirely unexpected as many of the books and information about farrowing contradict each other to a certain extent which makes it hard for first-timers like us.

The first litter will be ready to go in a week or so with the second litter ready about 3-4 weeks after that so if you’re interested in supporting a rare breed and would like to produce your own pork then you can’t go wrong with a couple of Tamworth weaners! Click here for more details

Pre-farrowing:

About 1 week ahead of time we prepared the shed and moved both sows indoors together so they could keep each other company. We decided to farrow them inside as being nearer the house would make the job more manageable for us and besides the weather was too cold to leave everything to nature outside.

Rigged up a heat lamp in a corner of the shed and blocked it off with a sheep hurdle to give the piglets somewhere to get away from their mother

Set aside all the bits and pieces in readiness for farrowing – iodine spray, cloths/towels, bucket for warm water etc.

Farrowing:

We were on-hand for the first farrowing (Sissy) between 5pm and 11pm on Thurs 25 Feb with only 5 born and all survived. The first piglet arrived a little unexpectedly so we had to hurriedly move the other sow (Esther) back out to the woods so that Sissy could have the shed to herself.

Second farrowing (Esther) eventually happened in the early hours of Mon 18 Mar with 8 surviving out of 10 born when we checked at about 7am. That includes one piglet which needed some intensive care at the beginning and at one point we almost gave up on it but he had rallied around a couple of hours later and is now indistinguishable from the others.

Post farrowing:

The piglets had limited interest in exploring for the first couple of days and were just happy to suckle and sleep. The heat lamp worked really well and it only took them a day or so to realise it was a good spot for snoozing

By the end of the first week they are getting much more inquisitive and exploring the shed until a human appeared then they’d scuttle back to the heat lamp corner.

After 2 weeks they were fully active and investigating their surroundings (and mothers food)

By 3 weeks they should be getting at least some hard feed as mothers milk production will peak around that point and then starts to reduce over time.

Both litters were moved out of the shed and back to the woods somewhere around 3 weeks old

Outside living:

It was always planned to move each little back to a prepared pen in the woods, partly to clear the farrowing shed in time for the second farrowing but also so that the piglets get used to electric fencing at an early age. If necessary we could move the piglets back into the shed in preparation for selling them once they are ready to go.

We moved Sissy and her litter by leading her first and returning to carry each piglet in turn (with 2 people). The piglets were between 2 and 3 weeks old so carrying was the safest and quickest option.

We moved Esther and her litter by herding all of them together (with 3 people) because the piglets were a couple of days over 3 weeks old (due to other commitments elsewhere).

Initially a creep fender was used in the woods to try to contain the piglets until they were used to their new surroundings which worked well for Sissy’s litter for a couple of days. Unfortunately Esther’s litter were that little bit bigger and had jumped the fender within an hour or two on their first afternoon in the woods so it was removed completely in the end.

Once they are all in the woods, the only problem we found was that we needed more buckets as the each group had differing quantities of feed plus each group had a ration of sow rolls for the mother and also another ration of smaller pellets for the piglets. Keeping each to their own feed was eventually only partially successful but so long as everybody ate something I was happy!

Sissy helping her litter finish their food

Tamworth weaners for sale

We currently have a total of 13 weaners for sale from our 2 pedigree Tamworths.

These are good hardy stock and they are quite happy to live outside in the woods all year round. If you want to help support rare breeds and also would like some great home-grown pork for your freezer then these come highly recommended.

The 1st sow farrowed on 25 February and the litter consists of 2 gilts & 3 castrated boars. At the moment they are all outdoors with the sow and will be available around 21 April.

The 2nd sow farrowed on 21 March and the 3 gilts & 5 castrated boars will be available around mid May. They are currently still inside and will be moved outside when they are around 2 or 3 weeks old.

PRICE: £50 each – if interested please use the contact form below to get in touch

We are based near Allendale (North Pennines) and all the animals can be viewed on request. Delivery may also be possible for a nominal extra amount to cover petrol. All buyers must have a CPH number

Time to shuffle the pigs around

With the clock ticking and the due date for Esther, the second pig to farrow, rapidly approaching, it was time to rearrange the pig housing. First on the agenda was to move Sissy and the first litter out to the woods where a new pen had been setup on some fresh, clean ground.

While the move was pretty simple for Sissy, it was a little more traumatic for the piglets (and us) but eventually they were all caught and hand carried round to the new pen. They quickly settled into the pig ark and burrowed around the straw but it took them a little longer to adjust to the outside space they can now access. However on such a nice day I don’t think they were complaining about the chance to get some sun.

It wasn’t long before they convinced Sissy that it was feed time again, even though she was enjoying the chance to wander around outside at her leisure. Once this final step was underway and I knew the litter were settled enough to feed, I could finally relax and Sissy continues to prove what a great mother she is.

Once everything had settled down in the woods, it was time to clear out the “farrowing shed”. Not the best task but at least the weather was good with a light breeze to take away the worst of the smells!

A proper clean out including a full jet wash for the floor and everything was almost ready for Esther, the second pig to farrow. There is just the small matter of a few barrow loads of clean straw to put in there and then she can take up residence. Her first job will no doubt be rearranging all the straw because no matter how nicely I get it set up, it’s never good enough for the pigs!

First time farrowing for all concerned

I can remember thinking at the time I did the AI on the pigs that the gestation period (roughly 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days) seemed to be such a long time. Despite the apparent success of my first ever, amateur efforts I still somehow couldn’t imagine that the end result would actually be some healthy, active piglets one day.

As it turned out, my early planning and preparation for the event particularly relocating them both to an outbuilding near the house well before the due date really paid off. Yesterday (a few days ahead of schedule) the first pig – Sissy – got down to the business of farrowing with no encouragement from me.

In the time it took me to do the rounds of a few mole traps (no moles were hurt!) and get back to the house, she had already produced the first piglet. Although there had been no obvious signs immediately beforehand, the piglet was fortunately spotted wandering among the straw so I could move the other sow back to the woods. This allowed the new mother (and me) the space to ourselves so we could concentrate on the task at hand.

This first piglet arrived at about 5:15pm and we eagerly waited to see more, expecting them to arrive at roughly regular intervals. However despite lots of huffing and grunting the minutes ticked by until a couple of hours had passed with nothing appearing so we started to fear the worst.

Obviously the first one piglet wasn’t aware of this concern and it must have thought that 1 piglet to 12 teats was a pretty good deal!

Thankfully around 2 hours later, nature decided it was time to get things moving and she eventually delivered 4 more piglets between about 8pm and 10pm. All were delivered with no help from me apart from a quick wipe with a towel and a spray of iodine on the navel just to be safe.

In no time they were all clamped on to the “milk bar” and a little peace descended interrupted by the sound of wet sucking noises and contented grunting from the piglets. Equally important to me was that the mother has handled her first litter well and seems to be providing for them while staying calm with me bumbling around in the background.

While I might have liked to see a few more in the litter, I’m happy that all 5 were born healthy with no problems and everyone survived the first night. They probably got more sleep than I did…

Don’t forget the pigs

It’s been a little while since my last update on the progress of the 2 Tamworth gilts that we have kept for breeding. There has been much to learn particularly about feeding and land management because this is the first time we’ve taken on animals all year round.

Even though I’d expected the new pens in the woods to get a bit beaten up, I’d somehow not fully appreciated that they aren’t going to recover until next Spring (at the earliest). It looks like I left it a little too long before moving the pigs to some new ground.

These 2 gilts are the start of our breeding herd and as such will be almost pets because we hope they will be with us for quite some time. The permanent pens that were put up in the woods have been excellent but as noted above it didn’t take long for them to suffer too much wear and tear. As a result I had to subdivide the remaining much larger pen using electric fencing so that the pigs can be moved around a little to rest the ground through the winter.

After looking into the idea of sending the two pigs off to a boar, in the end it made more sense for this first time if we handled everything ourselves. Not least because it reduces the risks associated with mixing our 2 pigs with other pigs elsewhere although the same would have applied if we’d hosted a boar on our land.

Sissy was the first to suffer the indignity of A.I. and after waiting 3 weeks for the natural cycle it became clear that my efforts had been successful.With one of them now in-pig that meant I could turn my attention on Esther next. Following that was another interminable 3 week wait but that’s just finished with all signs indicating a second success.

Fingers crossed now for their farrowing around the end of February and also in March with planning already underway in case the weather is bad at that point and they need to farrow inside. If all goes well then we hope to have pedigree Tamworth weaners for sale around April or May 2016

Another first for the pigs

At long last the work to subdivide the larger, stock-fenced enclosure in the woods using electric fencing has been completed. The delays were solely down to my dithering because it’s all completely new to me and I didn’t want to get it wrong on my first attempt.

In the end I had to simply get on with the job and the pigs will have to put up with the fact that the end results don’t look very professional. Most importantly it works which is the main thing and I have yet to get a blast from it but that may only be a question of time.

The real push for this was because the weather has been unreasonably wet lately which meant that the pigs were close to needing water wings at times. What had started out as a beautiful pen on a gently sloping, grassy bank in the woods has now become a quagmire in need of a few days of better weather before it can even start to dry out.

Even the next door pen which was regularly used as a daytime play area was beginning to suffer from the wear and tear. There really wasn’t any alternative if I wanted to keep them fit and healthy so the electric fencing jumped to the top of the priority jobs list.

Luckily I was able to rig up a short length in this day pen so that I could get them used to the idea because they’ve never seen it before so I wanted to ease them in gently at first. As it turned out they’re fairly quick learners and it only took a few zaps before they started to give the fencing a wide berth.

They are now happily ensconced in their new home with fresh straw in the ark and plenty of grass to root up in their spare time between feeds. They seem to be very well settled now and have electric fencing on two sides with a dry stone wall and some stock fencing on the other two sides.

Another significant plus should be that future litters can be familiar with electric fencing before we sell them on to others as weaners for fattening up. This will definitely helps the new owners because smaller pigs can easily panic and push through (or damage) an electric fence when first encountering it.

Preparing for pig AI

The months have flown by since we got the 4 Tamworths at the end of February, the 2 “eaters” were sent off on schedule in August and the 2 “keepers” (Sissy and Esther) have done well since then. However the intervening time hasn’t been wasted as I’ve read up on pig breeding and making plans for farrowing early next year which could be outside or inside depending on the weather.

The main focus has been on AI because with only 2 gilts here at the moment it’s just not worth having our own boar. I eventually decided to use AI for one pig but could still choose to send the other one off to visit a boar. There is an element of concern when mixing with other pigs as that creates an opportunity for passing diseases but if correctly managed that the risks should be fairly low.

After checking the back ends of our pigs on a regular basis – probably far more often than is healthy – it looks like I have timed everything correctly. This morning had been noted in the calendar as the day to place the order for fresh AI and after a quick final check earlier this has now been done. The next day delivery service is impressive but also crucial given that the whole event is particularly time sensitive.

To spare their blushes I don’t think I’ll post pictures of the actual AI activities on the blog but also I expect that I’ll be too busy with a sizeable gilt that may not be so keen on the whole business…

Rare breed pork for sale in the Allen Valleys

We will have some fresh outdoor-reared, rare breed Tamworth pork available for sale over the weekend of Sat 22/Sun 23 August. This can be collected in person (by prior arrangement) or could be delivered if you live within the Allen Valleys area.

This meat is from our pedigree Tamworth pigs that are raised outdoors in a natural, stress free woodland environment. Click here to read the blog updates about our pigs if you’d like to find out more about them.

Most standard cuts will be available including roasting joints, chops, steaks, sausages among others with everything vacuum packed and labelled by the butchers before we collect it. As a rough guide, we expect to have a selection of 1.5kg and 2kg roasting joints available as well as chops, sausages, etc in packs weighing around 350-500g.

Pre-orders are recommended to avoid disappointment, particularly if you want something specific as we will only have a limited amount on this occasion.

Please complete the form below to let us know what you would like or find out more information and we’ll be in touch.

Summer stock take 2015

Despite the occasional unseasonal weather just lately, I wanted to post a summer stock take for the current livestock. As luck would have it we had a fairly decent day of sunshine last weekend so I was able to get some quick snapshots as well.

Cattle

The two Dexter’s are quite calm now and happy enough in their slightly overgrown fields. They were moved after about a month in the first one and have been make good progress on the grass in the current field.

They’re still not too happy to have any humans too close but I can get close enough to check for any obvious problems and they looking very healthy to my untrained eye.

Chickens

The two flocks of chickens seem to think they own the place and can cover a surprisingly wide area at times. The white flock consists of 1 cockerel plus 9 hens (Leghorns?) and there are 4 brown hybrids (1 remaining pet and 3 rescue hens) –

However both flocks are under performing with egg laying and I suspect a problem with worms or other parasites so we’ll be doing a round of treatment very soon.

Pigs

All 4 pigs are doing really well and the 2 “eaters” will be heading off in about 3 weeks time. So far I’m feeling ready for the change in approach with them when I no longer worry about weights, growth rates and abattoir deadlines.

The 2 “keepers” are just reaching maturity as they are around 7 months old but I’ll be watching closely and waiting until they’re around 10 months old (in October) before tackling artificial insemination.