Perfect pigs

July 21, 2009

This year's pigs have now been happily installed for a good couple of months and are very content and growing nicely. This year we've mixed breeds, going for some Oxford Sandy and Blacks alongside our customary Saddlebacks. It's interesting to see that the OSBs are significantly smaller than the Saddlebacks, which is going to make for a bit of a challenge when it comes to the butchery and deciding who has what. We've got thirteen pigs this year, in two enclosures, and have definitely reached our limit - we can't do any more than that. With so many of us involved I'm now not going over as often as I used to, which is nice from a lazy perspective, but has meant that I haven't got to know them quite as much as would've happened before. The scheme is going well now and has actually inspired two off-shoots, with a couple of groups of friends now doing something similar elsewhere on land that they have found. It's great to see the idea taking off and giving people the opportunity to experience rearing their own meat.

Ruth Valerio, 21/07/2009