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Final batch of pigs leave the croft

12 November, 2012 by Stonehead 2 Comments

We took our last two Berkshire pigs to the abattoir today, a job made more complicated by the death of one of the porkers, a last-minute change of abattoir and a last-minute change of butcher. Still, we got everything organised in the end and were up early to load the pigs today.

Berkshire pigs, Crofting, Farming & Smallholding

Abattoir, Agriculture and Forestry, Berkshire pigs, Crofting, Livestock, Pigs, porkers, postaweek2012, Smallholding

Death of a pig

3 November, 2012 by Stonehead 5 Comments

I came home from a rugby coaching course at 3pm today. I went out for a quick check of the animals, all the pigs and all the poultry looked okay, so I went inside. At 5.30pm, I went out to feed the pigs and found one of the finished gilts—due to go to slaughter in […]

Pigs

Christmas, Crofting, death, Livestock, Pigs, postaweek2012, Smallholding, vet, veterinary

Free-range pork? Only if it’s cheap

18 October, 2012 by Stonehead 4 Comments

BBC News is reporting animal welfare campaigners want to encourage consumers to buy more free-range pork in the same way they’re trying to encourage free-range chicken. What the BBC fails to report is experiences like ours: customers say they want the higher welfare free-range pork (or indeed chicken) but when it comes to putting their […]

Pigs

consumers, Crofting, Farming, free-range, intensive, Pigs, Pork, postaweek2012, Smallholding, Supermarkets

Why the surprise that pigs ate farmer?

2 October, 2012 by Stonehead 0 Comments

The British media is making much of news from the United States that pigs ate a farmer. Authorities in Oregon are investigating how a farmer was eaten by his own pigs after his partially-consumed remains were discovered in an enclosure on his farm. Terry Vance Garner, 69, never returned after he set out to feed […]

Pigs

Crofting, Farming, hogs, Oregon, Pigs, postaweek2012, Smallholding

Two gilts, at a normal size for their age.

Growing well

30 August, 2012 by Stonehead 2 Comments

Our final three Berkshire porkers are growing well. Or rather, the two gilts are growing well. The boar, on the large side since farrowing, is growing extremely well and looks several weeks older than his littermates. The back-end view shows the massive difference between the boar and the gilts. He’s likely to be finished at […]

Berkshire pigs

Berkshire pigs, Crofting, Farming, Pigs, Pork, porkers, postaweek2012, Smallholding

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