Gloucestershire Old Spot Pigs

We rear rare lines of Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs (GOS) primarily to help with the conservation of the breed. The weaners that do not reach the breed standard (which is very specific and very high) we raise and sell for meat which pays for our conservation work. 

The Gloucestershire Old Spot pig is a medium size pig. They are very gentle giants who are known as the "orchard pig" because folk lore says that when they were in an orchard eating fallen apples, more fell from the trees, hitting them thus giving them their spots. 

The GOS is a very good breed for a beginner pig keeper. They are friendly, happy, mischevious, family orientated, make great milky mothers, are very easy to look after and love a tummy rub.

On the farm we have three GOS sows, Thelma, Maisie, and Daisy. 

The later two are from the Countess line and are still young. We brought them into the herd as weaners from one of the UK's top pedigree registered GOS breeders and we are raising them until they are old enough and big enough to breed from. They are called "maiden gilts" until they are put with the boar and mated.  

Thelma is from the Princess Ann line and is the oldest pedigree registered GOS breeding sows in the Country. She produces strong litters and we have found some amazing 5 star breeding homes all over the country for a good number of her gilt weaners, older maiden gilts, growing boars and in pig gilts. Thelma has been with us since the beginning and still loves to flop down in the sunshine for a tummy rub.

Each sow will farrow once a year, which gives them a good time between litters to rest, gaining strength and condition - this results in good healthy piglets, trouble free farrowing and very happy sows. 

At the moment we have one pedigree registered GOS boar, Sammy, who has been with us for three and half years. He is a very big lad but extremely gentle with his girls. Sammy will soon be joined by another young male piglet from another very rare breeding line. We will grow the young chap on so that when the time comes for Maisie and Daisy to go to the boar, this new young chap should be big enough to put with them. We can't put Sammy with them as he is too big and his additional weight could potentially cause them issues further down the line. Watch out for the blog about our new young boar.

About a week before farrowing we bring the heavily pregnant sows into the Barn and monitor them carefully. We know the tell tale signs to watch for and its always fun trying to guess the exact hour that the birthing begins - usually in the wee small hours! Once started we watch using CCTV until the first couple of piglets have been born before going in and giving them all a helping hand. The whole process takes about 4-6 hours and ends when the double afterbirths have been passed, all the piglets have had their fill of milk and have found the heated 'creep' area, which gives them a safe place to sleep while  Mum is up feeding or drinking. 

After about a week they all move through into the indoor nursey pen, this gives them a bigger area to run around in to develop their coordination and mischievous personalities. Mum and piglets are encouraged outside as soon as possible during the sows four times daily feed times. The piglets take this opportunity to learn about their environment, have a run around and to dig and root in the soil. As sow's milk is very low in iron the piglets get all the iron they need to grow nice and strong from eating this soil. 

At about 3 weeks old it's time for everyone to move outside to one of three Nursery enclosures. The sow gets the chance to graze on and root in the fresh grass and the piglets have even more room to roam. 

Weaning takes place naturally at between 7-8 weeks when Mum is walked out of the nursery enclosure and back to her old enclosure for a well earned rest. 

The piglets remain where they are for another couple of weeks to get use to being on their own and so we can check they are feeding well with the transition from milk and hard feed to just hard feed. When we are happy that they are all healthy and eating well, we move them all into their own larger field. 

They stay together in their own field until they are either ready to go to their new breeding homes or are the right size to go off for meat, which is usually when they are between 8-9 months old.

If you would like to find out more about the breed, visit the Gloucestershire Old Spot Pig Breeders Club website where you will find a lot of excellent in depth information relating to their care, needs and management.