Pork in the Pasture!

Our piggies have arrived! They’ve only been here a week and are growing at an incredible pace.

So quickly, in fact, that this was probably the first and last time I trust my little guy to be sat ‘on his own’ with them. We like to encourage a healthy respect for our animals to keep everyone safe.

The pigs are loving their huge pasture, and have already rooted around and established clear ‘rooms.’

The cows are growing too, although they are nearing full size now. Soon they will be ready to be bred for the first time. Here they are next to our 5 and 7 year boys for scale.

The pigs are a mix of heritage breeds: Old Spot and Duroc. They should be hearty during the winter, and are cute too!

The pork will be ready in February. Pre-orders are already sold out. Providing things go well, we will have summer pigs available to order at the start of next year. We are making all our own feed now for the pigs and chickens, using grains from a local organic mill. The pigs are loving it and the chickens are laying spectacular eggs, so we must be doing something right! The pigs are also pastured in an orchard so they can enjoy all the fallen apples too.

This week will be spent preparing for winter: it is getting cold too quickly here and we are starting to feel a real sense of urgency. Once everything is in place, we might even have time to complete some of the posts we have been working on: watch this space for helpful tips on running a small farm, delicious recipes, and even a competition to win some of our fantastic local-milled organic bread mixes just in time for Thanksgiving!