Pigs and Poultry
And in the Beginning………….
Brought up on a Lake District hill farm animals were part of my life from the moment I came home as a baby. My Dad gave me my first spelling lesson when I was still in my cot and the two words were “cat” and “dog”. I was fascinated by the Beatrix Potter books and with no other children to play with in our small village, animals filled my day.
When I moved to our home here beneath the Coniston fells to start a riding stables there was the opportunity to keep more than our horses and we decided to start our own small holding. Jacob lambs were the first to arrive, then a couple of goats, a few chickens and next a pig. Pigs were, for me, a new experience and initially I was not sure at all. We had never kept pigs on our farm and I only had two previous memories of them. The first as a small child meeting our neighbour’s sow in our lonning and being totally terrified by the sheer size of the creature coming grunting towards me – I ran home! The second memory is that of home cured bacon from my Uncle’s pigs. I don’t think the smell or taste of home cured bacon ever leaves you.
Room for two?
Our first pig was a Gloucestershire Old Spot, she was called Daisy and she was huge. Too fat to get into pig as it turned out but she gave me lots of confidence. We moved on to a Landrace and hybrid pigs before concentrating on the Gloucesters. Then we bought our first British Lops and now these are our main pigs. My son keeps a Large Black sow, which we cross with the Lop boar and this year we bought a Hampshire.
We are very careful only to register pigs that meet the breed standard and we hope to breed some good enough to show each year. The rest are sold for fattening or finished for our freezer or sold on as finished pork.
Just ignore him and he'll go away!
The sheep are long gone as are our first goats but the poultry has extended and last year we acquired, Matilda, the goat who thinks she is a dog. If she can she will come and sit in the house with you! Matilda and her kid, Toggi, will usually be the first to greet you on the yard.
We are always happy to talk about our pigs and poultry and are willing to share our experiences with others.
Please contact us for stock available for sale, litters due etc.
And what's wrong with me?
