Pigs

Getting your first pigs really makes you believe you have really stepped up your small-holding credentials. It is so exciting and rewarding to chose your pigs, bring them home, and spend months looking after them, playing with them, before (inevitably) entering into the butchery and cooking side of the whole operation. Here are some pictures of our pigs, as everyone loves pig pictures!

Our first pigs were Bert and Ernie (named after the iconic Sesame Street characters). Bert was a Tamworth and Ernie was a Gloucester Old Spot. They were such great characters and well natured pigs, super pigs for us to start our pig keeping. Fortunately we also had some local farmers who sold them to us and gave us loads of good advice (thanks Sarah and Roy at Tachbury Farm!) 

Our next pigs were Sam and Dean (named after the Winchester brothers in the TV show 'Supernatural'). Sam was an Oxford Sandy and Black, Dean was a rather grumpy Tamworth. But they got on well enough and it gave us some experience with a slightly rougher character and how to handle them when they are determined to be the boss!

Then we had Stan and Ollie (named after, obviously, Laurel and Hardy). These brothers were both Gloucester Old Spot pigs. Although we liked the Tamworths, we found that we were using the meat less for bacon where Tamworths are so good, and more for hams, joints and sausages - and GOSpots are perfect for that. These were lovely pigs too, and it was a hot summer, so they had a lot of wallowing.

It seemed we were destined to have boys until these two lovely Berkshire sisters joined us. Tamsim and Tara (not named after anyone in particular!) were the first pigs we had that were girls and so it was interesting to see how their characters were different. They seemed to get on well, but like all the boys before them, food was the most important thing to them! I can relate to that...

Our latest pigs are Doris and Daphne (Daphne, as least, named after the Scooby Doo character). These are a Berkshire / Gloucester Old Spot cross and they are also half sisters of Tamsin and Tara. They are both really friendly, gentle and very trusting.