Our New Pigs From Bidgiemire
On the 23rd September 2006 we headed of to Newbury for
the annual show, but this time we had a mission, we were looking to find
a suitable arc, and once we purchased it we could then begin looking
for the pigs that our seven-year-old son had saved up to buy.
The day was off to a flying start when we visited the
Bidgiemire Pig Arc stand and whilst I was examining the arcs, my son
announced that he had acquired three Tamworth piglet's. Linda and Graham
very kindly offered him a fourth at half-price as it was not a good idea
to rear odd numbers, and so it was that we had not only our new arc,
but four occupants. Graham would deliver the following evening after
the show closed.
The following day was spent now hurriedly preparing
a fenced off part of the paddock for our new arrivals. For those of you
who are considering getting pigs it is vital that you obtain your ‘holding
number’ from your local Trading Standards before embarking on a
madcap scheme such as ours. We already had our number and so delivery
was exactly as planned.
Graham arrived as promised, and Linda had given us the
gift of a book by herself about pig rearing, which I would recommend
to anyone starting off from scratch. The following Saturday the boys
went to the local market to see if the vegetable stall holder had any
of vegetables he would otherwise have thrown away, to my astonishment
they came back with more citrus fruit and I could ever imagine. All the
fruit was cut up so that our six week-old piglets would not choke. All
the fruit was eating in double quick time, although I have since learned
that pigs are not meant to like citrus fruit.
The new piglets soon put on weight and began to grow
at quite a pace. Ian Ashby, a local farmer, taught our boys, Patrick,
Fergus and Tom how to put the pigs into a trance by scratching them along
the side of their bellies before they fell over in ecstasy. This provided
hours and hours of hilarious amusement over the coming months. The boys
taught the pigs as much as the pigs taught the boys. ‘Hide and
Seek’ became a major attraction amongst their fellow classmates
who came to visit, the boys crawling through the grass to startle the
pigs who then screeched as they ran away chased by the boys. It was not
long until roles were reversed in the hide and seek game, with the boys
screaming as they ran to escape the chasing pigs.
However well prepared our fencing was, it was not good
enough and the pigs escaped more often than I care to remember, and virtually
always when it was raining. On one occasion I spent over one hour trying
to entice them back to their paddock, but to no avail. When Colette,
my wife appeared with left over chocolate roulade the pigs took no time
at all to get back to their proper place before their feast. If you are
considering having pigs, and may I suggest that you consider either buying
the full package to include the electric fencing kit, or have available
a massive supply of chocolate cake as the alternative. I know two others
who have reared small pigs and both swear by the electric fencing as
a foolproof system.
As our four pigs consisted of two brothers and two sisters,
the time came for the departure of the two boys as they were beginning
to show an unhealthy interest in their sisters.
Finding a top-quality butchers is not an easy task to
undertake, but if you are a complete novice I would suggest you ask at
your local farmers market and be guided by their recommendation. We used ‘Best
Butchers of Great Brickhill’ in Buckinghamshire and they turned
out to be superb. The result was the reward for months of rearing. 18.778
kg of special pork sausage, 18 kg of pork, apricots and ginger sausage,
20.3 kg of pork and apple sausage, 16.5 kg of pork chipolata sausages,
7.3 kg unsmoked gammon steaks, 22.8 kg unsmoked gammon joints, 4.1 kg
unsmoked Hock and 26.4 kg of dry cure unsmoked back bacon. I was amazed
at the quantity of meat two pigs produced. Our produce was beautifully
packed, presented and priced as though for the farmers market. I was
astonished to find that our two pigs had now yielded delicious produce
valued at £943.
Patrick gave his teacher some free samples having checked
that she was not "a veggie" and it soon went round the school that her
husband had eaten all bar one of the sausages. Not a bad result for someone
who did not normally eat sausages! This clever marketing move resulted
in the sale of £60 of sausages and bacon in the next two days and
demand continues unabated.
The reports as to the quality are unanimous in that
the meat has a fabulous taste and the butchers had also done their part
in producing this superb quality product.
Our two girl pigs are now one-year-old and we are hoping
that in a little over four months we can report two fine litters of our
own Tamworth pigs. Having known nothing of this breed prior to our visit
to the Bidgiemire stand at Newbury, I shall remain loyal to them as the
pigs were such fun and the produce has been wonderful.
All that remains for me to do is to acquire another
arc and ear tagging equipment in good time.
This has been a wonderful experience and my thanks and
those of our boys go to Linda and Graham who have been generous in their
support and advice on the phone whenever needed, since we met at Newbury.
I am delighted things have worked out well for them both since they moved
to Scotland.
FRANCIS SHERIDAN
CANE END FARM HULCOTT
Give your pig a piece of paradise!
|
