15 November, 2011 
I’ve just come in from examining Doris, one of our Berkshire pig herd’s foundation sows.
Doris failed to regain weight as fast as normal after her last litter of piglets were weaned, so we didn’t put her in with the boar. Instead, we opted to keep her back for a service timed to give us a litter at the end of February, ready for sale at the end of April.
Keeping Doris back would allow us time to build her condition to a suitable level again. Or so we thought.
Despite being given an additional ration, Doris’s progress continued to be slow so, as a precaution, we wormed her out of schedule . She was free of parasites.
We consulted the vet, who advised us to try a treatment of antibiotics in case Doris had a low-level but chronic bacterial infection. It had no effect.
In the past week Doris has shed the weight she’d put on, despite eating and drinking well. She was due to go in with Gus, our boar, last weekend but is too underweight.
After further consultations with the vet, we’re fairly certain Doris has either reached the end of her productive life—she’s seven years old—or has a growth that is consuming her energy intake faster than she can make use of it.
Doris will have to be culled.
I’m in the process of putting a fresh application in for a shotgun certificate in the hope that, after seven years living at the same address and 19 years living in the UK, I now have sufficient history to have it approved.
Of course, in the meantime I still don’t have the means to cull Doris myself.
First port of call will be the neighbouring farmers. After that, it will be the vet but that’s both expensive and not as humane as a bullet to the head.
With Doris unsuitable for breeding, we’ll be a litter down in spring and unable to cover more than half our winter costs. Given the existing problems with rising costs, downward pressure on prices and increasingly unreliable customers we have to consider whether it’s worth keeping the herd at all.
We need to decide soon, before we stock the feed and straw to see us through the worst three months of the winter. We’ll also need to decide what, if anything, will replace the pigs to pay the running costs of the croft and produce the bulk of our meat.
Decisions, decisions.
Oh, and before people rush to ask if we’ll be eating Doris, the answer is no. If she does have a growth, or indeed any other underlying condition, her carcass will not be suitable for human consumption.
Related articles
- Goodbye to Doris (stoneheadcroft.com)
- New Arrivals (heatherhurstgrange.com)
- Fattening pigs on acorns (permacultureinbrittany.com)
A shame for Doris, but at least you noticed her failure to gain condition and are not pushing her for one last litter, many folk would.
Have you thought of switching to goats, a small herd would provide milk and cheese and the young boys could be used for meat. My Lovely Hubby says it is delicious. Although you would need more goats to compare to the weight of pig meat they are slightly cheaper to keep and extremely useful on a croft.
Sue xx
A couple keep goats only a mile or so from us. The goats need top-notch housing thanks to our climate, which is wet, cool to cold and windy for most of the year. Even in our so-called summer, the goats spend much of their time stabled as the weather and ground conditions prevent them being pastured for long. And the grazing land on our croft is much more exposed than on the one where the goats are kept.
awful decisions. hope you get approved.
hope you are all well
Making decisions that some people find hard is part and parcel of keeping livestock. A healthy dose of pragmatism combined with a high level of concern for animal welfare makes the daily decisions straightforward.
Poor old Doris, she has been a good pig. I will miss the posts about her, and I wish you all well at this very sad time, I am sure Doris had become more of a member of the family and will be missed by you all.
Yes and no. She’s been a useful and charismatic member of the pig herd, so she will be missed in that regard. But she’s a pig, with a job to do and when she can no longer do the job, Doris has to go. She deserves respect and humane treatment in return for doing the job, but she’s neither a pet nor a family member.
Tricky decisions all round, I don’t envy you at all.
The longer term decision is the trickier one. The pigs have covered the running costs of the croft for some years now. It’s been tight at times but they have paid their way until very recently. If the pigs go, what can replace them? What can we produce that will cover its costs and generate enough income to pay its costs plus the crofting overheads? Poultry don’t. Cattle and sheep don’t. Vegetables don’t. That’s the challenge.
Hard decisions you’ve got there. Sorry to hear about Doris. She’s been a good sow for you guys. Glad you noticed her condition before it’s turned in to something really distressing for her. Hope the shotgun permit comes through. That would definitely be the best solution all around.
I was going to suggest goats too. I see that somebody ahead of me has already got there with the good reasons. I imagine it’ll involve lots more fencing/fence checking though…goats can be tricky that way. Some of your neighbors raise sheep, I seem to recall. Would that have potential for you too? Best of luck to you in making and carrying out the decisions.
Sheep are losing money, even for the bigger farms around us with their economies of scale. Cattle are the same—and also have much longer lead times.
Another suggestion – Quail. I know they need housing, even more so than chickens, but once constructed the run and house (read for that cobbled together with chicken wire and scrapwood) you would have a steady earner. Both the birds and the eggs are in demand at the moment.
I didn’t realise how much so until I went to our local farm shop and saw Pickled Quail Eggs for sale in an ordinary little jar for £2.95 for 6. The eggs also sell in boxes at a premium and the birds sell well in Delicatessens in this area, either as is or turned into ‘ready meal’ type things.
Just a suggestion, now I must take off my thinking cap and go and muck out my chickens, I wish they were as small as quail sometimes
!!
Well – if everyone is going to throw in suggestions – don’t change – just expand – do rabbits! We raise them in a greenhouse all year around in elevated cages – with chickens on the floor in the winter – roll up the sides and do tomatoes in the summer. Since you’ve got the butchering thing down, they would consume the leftovers from the gardens, easy for the kids to tend…..all round interesting addition!
Keep a small herd and do pig-keeping courses. Yes, I know, everybody does courses but you have much more experience in both the livestock keeping and the paperwork than most.
Not on your nellie. I wouldn’t be able to suffer the inevitable fools and know-alls. Gladly or otherwise.