Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Smallhold Farming and Rural Living => Livestock and Growing on a larger scale => Topic started by: GTFC197 on July 30, 2012, 22:44
-
Hi folks,
After successfully raising 2 lots of Berkshire pigs we have decided to go for Mangalitzas this time.
Saw some at Heckington Show at weekend and after a long talk with owner, we have decided to have a change.
-
Woolly pigs. :D Better meat too. :)
-
good luck with the new pigs.
-
and the ones you get now are direct descendants to the now extinct Lincolnshire woolly pigs I seem to recall when I looked at them last year at the show :)
-
This is why we are going into possibly breeding them aswell. We had a really good talk with the guy at Heckington Show and we will possibly be getting some within the next couple of weeks.
The piglets are born with the wild boar stripes, and apparently the sows farrow easily, no heat lamps needed and are so placid, especially if you need to go in to check on piglets.
So, as we are trying to be as near to full rare breed as possible we decided on the Mangalitzas, not fully Lincolnshire Curly Coat, but the nearest thing you will get.
Will keep you updated as to how we get on.
-
Well - you learn something every day! I didnt know there were woolly pigs :ohmy: ... Cute, though! ;)
-
I knew somebody else on here kept them - take a look here (http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=74224.0) :D
-
That picture just looks so ... well ... wrong :blink: :lol:
Good luck with your new plans :D
-
new nursery rhyme
Oink Oink curly pig, Have you any wool? :lol: :lol:
-
A pig in sheep's clothing! :lol:
Keep us updated on them Mick!
-
he he that would be me with the hairy pigs!!!! Well not got them now, but they were fun to have, Thanks for the pm Joyfull.
Yes they are easy to look after and they are very hardy, we lost 4 from our first litter, and was told it could have been the cold, so always have a lamp handy, one of our girls was a gem when she farrowed, hubby went in with her and gave her a lovely wash down and she just laid there and let him do it, pm me if you need any help, certainly not an expert but i know a little.
-
welcome back xx
-
Thanks, Nails,
Not sure exactly when we will be picking them up, but will definitely keep you in mind for any info we may need.
Once again, thanks for the offer.
Mick.
-
Just had phone call from butcher about our Berkshire Pigs that went for slaughter, according to him the meat is lovely, not alot of fat, really nice finish.
Now feel ontop of the world.
-
Oooh lucky you! We had a pig from a chap. Piggy was half tamworth and half GOP, but it was the boar he was going to breed with.
Even for a non commercial pig there was a LOT of fat on it. Joy will agree with me, but his Lincs Red Beef is wonderful!
Just ordered a jacob lamb from a lady who used to buy turkey poults from us. It will be ready 20th October.
-
Hi Grannie,
Hope you are keeping ok,
We are toying with the idea of a couple of lambs in Spring 2014, we are having our strips of land ploughed over, levelled and seeded with pasture grass, but won't be properly ready until 2014, so that is our plan.
Still having pigs aswell as they will be in wooded area.
-
latest update from butcher,
135lbs sausages, :ohmy:
loads of lean bacon, :)
aswell as all the joints, :D
not bad from 3 Berkshires. :D
-
So that'll be a fourth freezer you'll be getting on order then?!
Really well done :D
-
it's definitely starting to look that way, seems we got alot more back per pig than we did first time, still don't believe that we got all our meat back from butcher we used last time, but can't prove it.
This time we got all offal back, last time we didn't get anything.
As they say,
"you live and learn, and learn by your mistakes".
We thoroughly enjoy doing it and that is what it's all about in the end. ;)
-
here is a "very small" sample of what our pigs have given us, :)
196kg/430lb, approx, of nothing added, proper free range pork, :ohmy:
Collecting bacon on Friday, and that is being dry cured, just like they used to do it. ;)
We have now decided to stay with Berkshires because we can't fault them. :)
These were approx 8 months old when they went.
-
Ooooh looks yummy!
Yes, we are fine thanks. Brian said he wishes we had a bit more ground, but please don't encourage him!! ;) ;)
He's thinking of going into beekeeping now! :lol: :lol:
-
If it gets him out from under your feet - is there a problem? ;) Perhaps you are looking for something more time intensive for him? :D
-
Light at the end of the tunnel, taking some clearing.
-
newbies
-
enjoying Piggy Wood
-
"What ya looking at?"
-
Wow, how old are they?
-
10 weeks old. GOS x Berkshire
-
I think the "spot" part of their heritage is clearly to the fore!
Are they clearing all those spaces for you, or are you clearing them first?
-
They're certainly enjoying themselves rooting around.
-
this is about 1/8th of the "Piggy Wood"
-
just put a video of pigs on facebook cos don't know if I can put one on here, if so, how do I do it, please.
-
I put a little video on here once of Pennydog and some of our chicks, but I had to do it via photobucket. Can't remember how I did it now though!
(http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l33/grannieannie_2006/Videos/th_Video-0002.jpg) (http://s92.photobucket.com/albums/l33/grannieannie_2006/Videos/?action=view¤t=Video-0002.mp4)
-
ooooh that came out a bit big! I went into my photobucket account and just clicked on the url link on the video, then pasted that onto here.
Someone will probably come up with a quicker and better way though! ;)
-
I will give it a go, just don't know how big I can go. :(
-
As its hosted on Photobucket, I'm not sure about the size, but if you were to put it straight on here like I tried to with the pennydog in the snow one, it kept telling me I was too big.
That's why I resorted to PB.
Hope you get the video on here!!
-
I don't think you can get a video on at the moment but it's on the check list for the next upgrade of the forum software - sorry :wub:
-
bless em