Berkshire Pigs
We rear rare lines of pedigree registered Berkshire pigs 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 Berkshire pig is a smaller pig breed which is known as "the lady's pig" because of their gentle, friendly and easy going nature.
They have "prick ears" which means their ears stick straight up, giving them excellent hearing and unhindered vision. They are full of mischief, and love interacting with their carers, especially if they think food might be involved. The sows are family orientated and excellent, milky mothers. They all love an ear or back scratch.
On the farm we have four sows; Bramble, the oldest aged 9, her daughters Rosie, Poppy, and Evie all are from the "Farewell" sow line.
Each sow will farrow once a year, which gives them a good time between to rest and gain strength and condition - this results in good healthy piglets and trouble free farrowing.
We currently have one Berkshire boar, Elvis, yes, Elvis who has been with us for 2 years, a gentle giant from the "Peter Lad" boar line who is very good with his girls. Arrow was born in Cumbria and brought up by us.
As part of our conservation work we have tried to source the best geographic spread of genes thus producing some stunning piglets to take the breed forward.
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 early hours!
Once started we watch carefully on CCTV so as not to disturb the sow at this critical stage and when the first couple of piglets have been born, we go in with her to give 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 and when the new Mum has had some food and water.
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.
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 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 Berkshire Pig Breeders Club website where you will find a lot of excellent in depth information relating to their care, needs and management.