After our sows had to go, one was old and her replacement didn’t come back into season,  we were undecided if we should have any more pigs. Why? Well they are a tie as they need feeding twice a day and access to clean water, second they trash the fields. However on the upside everyone, including us, loves our sausages and pork.

After two months without any pigs we decided we missed having them around so we’ve got a few weaners to keep us in pork and tide us over until we’ve decided what we’re doing. The Berkshire is a great breed, docile, we’ve had very little problems rearing them and best of all the meat is superb. We’ve had a couple of Oxford Sandy & Black(OSB)  Berkshire crosses several years back which we took to bacon weight, and I quite fancy the Large Black. The dilemma is with the Berkshire being so good why change? Maybe we’ll try a few weaners of each before we commit ourselves to any breeding sows; it’s all down to flavour.

The batch in the photo were 8 weeks when we got them and very flighty, not surprisingly as this was their first time away from Mum. We thought we had it covered by letting them out of the Land Rover directly into their run but they bolted straight through the electric fencing, the electric didn’t stop them, if anything it spurred them on. Off they went  into a ditch, ran along it for 50 yards and then into the hedge.  You might not know but pigs unlike other livestock are not easy to herd.  I managed to get in front of them and over about 30 minutes we managed to get them back to their paddock.  Four weeks on they are still flighty, but settled in and used to us, to the point where we can tickle them behind their ears. Yep it’s great to have the pigs back at Dumblehole.

23rd Jan and Kiwi didn’t come out for her breakfast which is most unusual,  unless the weather is very bad she doesn’t like rain! Peering into the ark it was obvious why,  she was farrowing a week earlier than we thought.   A couple of  piglets didn’t make it but five are fit and healthy. It’s pretty cold here so we put plenty of straw down.  Kiwi’s been very maternal, every time a piglet comes out she grunts at it and nudges it back in!  Two weeks on and Kiwi is letting them venture out of the ark.

I have to admit the Porkers were driving me crazy. It’s not all their fault but wading 30 yards through a foot of mud being hassled by 6 delinquent pigs each weighing  80Kg twice a day was a game that was ‘wearing a little thin’ shall we say. I thought Amanda was winding me up when she announced the butcher’s couldn’t take them for another week, that’s another 14 trips through the quickmud. What’s quickmud; it’s the clay equivalent of quicksand. If you move  fast enough you can stay on top, any hesitation and you’re up to your knees.  They say revenge is a dish best served cold, my preference in this case is roasted, sliced with crackling on the side