The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Hash Hound on November 27, 2014, 08:00:01 pm
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Hello Everybody, I appreciate everyone has their preferred breed of pig, but I am in need of some advice as to which pedigree pig(s) to go for as a "first timer" ?? We eat quite a lot of bacon and sausage and I would prefer a more docile breed due to my lack of experience.
I have read various magazines and books and have 2 or 3 different breeds in mind, and although I realise that I may be opening a "can of worms" here, I would appreciate some feedback from members who have lots of experience in these matters. I will let you know which breed I have chosen once I have taken your advice.
Hope to hear from you soon...... :pig:
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For me, for a traditional breed which is hardy, docile, looks nice etc etc, it has to be saddle back, followed by OSB. Can either be bred pure of to a terminal sire.
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Our first pigs are kune kunes and they are fantastic.
Excellent friendly small pigs, that do well on much less food, including being better at grazing rather than digging up ground. We have sent several to the butcher and they make incredible sweet bacon, ham, sausages and joints. We have been very pleased with deadweights too, they produce a good ratio of meat to liveweight on about 1/4 the food you would have used on 'big pigs'
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Generally go for a lop eared breed - Saddleback, GOS, OSB, Large black etc.
They tend to be more docile, and easier to handle !
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I've got Saddlebacks, Gloucester Old Spots and Middle Whites and the most laid back ones are the Middle Whites without a doubt. Such a friendly and chilled out breed. And then after them is the GOS (the Saddlebacks are tear aways!)
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We always stick to lop eared as they're sposed to be more docile. British lop our faves
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Go Large Black! Really lovely pigs, beautiful bacon. They are, as has been said, docile due to their lopped ears. My big sow has been in her pen with one strand of electric tape and no energiser for the last month since it broke ::)
The babies can be mischievous but as soon as they learn about the fence etc. it just stops. I have had most of the rare breeds over the years and they all have their merits. Berkshires are generally pretty laid back guys in my experience. Big diggers though!
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As an old pig farmer said to me once.'If you piss it off it'll have ya.' This was off course refering to any pig. ;D
Pick the breed you like and treat them right. The easiest going sow can change personallities if there's piglets about or being made to do something they don't want to do. Always make sure you have an escape route!!
My preference is the Old Spot. Usually big dosy buggers,good size litters, good doer's outside(mine hate being in) and easy to please!!
Good luck in your venture
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Agree with shotblast GOS all the time
See www.gospbc.co.uk (http://www.gospbc.co.uk) for more info
Mandy :pig:
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We had our first pigs last year - 2 Large Black weaners. They learnt about the electric fence within 24 hours, and thereafter caused no problems at all. They had plenty of space. We took them off at about 23 weeks, and got back lovely meat - not remotely overly fatty (just the right amount of tasty fat!). Large Blacks renowned as excellent bacon pigs - but everything we ate was fantastic. This year we had two GOSs - also lovely. Delicious meat. Dug up the field a lot more. Equally easy to handle.
Might be a good idea to see what's around locally, and also check with the breeders when they are likely to be selling (to see if/when it ties in with what you want to do....)
It's a fantastic thing to do - even though the last day is obviously a bit grim.
Good luck
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I'm not hugely experienced with pigs, but have had OSB, OSB x Saddleback and Large Black. The Large Blacks grew more slowly than the others, but were extremely biddable pigs (partly they'd been very well produced weaners - I got them off Happy Hippy) and, when we did get them away, the taste of the meat and bacon made up for the extra time they took. Best-tasting sausages we've had from any of them :yum:
In terms of great fun pigs to have around, grow well and taste superb, the OSB would get my vote. But they do test your fencing... whereas the LBs never escaped once.
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I have OSB on my list for the future, they seem to be the right sort of temperament and size (and flavor!) for me :) They are promoted as an ideal smallholder pig in a lot of places
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We personally prefer prick eared pigs, the lop eared variety we have had we've found awkward buggers to get anywhere! We have Tamworths, Hampshires and Pietrains. Tamworths are by far the easiest to deal with, ignore anyone who advises you not to get them for a first time pig. The Hampshires arent as easy to handle, they are quite destructive, wouldnt recommend them for first time keeper. Our Pietrain is a lovely pig, very quiet easy to deal with but they dont taste very good as pure so dont recommend them either! Best to go with a breed you like the look of best and go from there :)
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When you were little did you have a set of toy farm animals? What kind of pig was there? Go with that kind. The pigs in my set were Saddlebacks and they've proven to be an excellent choice.
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When you were little did you have a set of toy farm animals? What kind of pig was there? Go with that kind. The pigs in my set were Saddlebacks and they've proven to be an excellent choice.
Ha ha! That is a blast from the past! All of them were saddlebacks weren't they? :roflanim: As a beginner a few years back I went with Saddlebacks, followed by GOS followed by Berkshires. Found the Berkshires really easy to handle. The boys are a bit of a handful by the time they meet their maker, so you may prefer to get girls.
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I kept, and may be about to buy some soon, large black pigs. I found them easy to handle, fantastic mothers and they are also a grazing pig so don't do massive amonts of damage to the land, provided they're moved regularly. they also produce awesomely flavoured meat. This is my opinion a word of warning if you keep loucester old spot pigs, they are traditionally an orchard pig and have to have a lot of space, I did read that they can become obese if they don't have a lot of space. Why not buy 3 pigs of the 3 breeds you like and at the end of a year decide which pig you like best.
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So Hash Hound..... what's it to be...?
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When you were little did you have a set of toy farm animals? What kind of pig was there? Go with that kind. The pigs in my set were Saddlebacks and they've proven to be an excellent choice.
I've just spent the last hour trawling the internet looking for toy Large Blacks to put in my boys' stockings and I can't find them anywhere!
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We've got some in our for-the-nephews-and-nieces stuff... I think they're all Britains...
Did some digging, the Saddleback Pigs set (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/281504850354?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&chn=ps&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0) comes with two Saddleback adults and 4 all-black piglets, if that's any good?
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We've got some in our for-the-nephews-and-nieces stuff... I think they're all Britains...
Did some digging, the Saddleback Pigs set (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/281504850354?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&chn=ps&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0) comes with two Saddleback adults and 4 all-black piglets, if that's any good?
Ooh, yes, I'll try those, thanks Sally.
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We've tried OSBs - very noisy, Saddlebacks - quite slow to grow and meat not so good, so now returned to GOS. Docile and excellent meat. If they're going to slaughter you shouldn't have to worry about boars getting hard to handle or them getting fat if they don't have much space (which depends a lot on your feeding regime anyway).
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As an old pig farmer said to me once.'If you piss it off it'll have ya.' This was off course refering to any pig. ;D
Pick the breed you like and treat them right. The easiest going sow can change personallities if there's piglets about or being made to do something they don't want to do. Always make sure you have an escape route!!
My preference is the Old Spot. Usually big dosy buggers,good size litters, good doer's outside(mine hate being in) and easy to please!!
Good luck in your venture
Agreed. I think the "floppy ears are friendly" is a bit naive & dangerous preconception. Every sow is unique. I work with over 3000 and some of the most aggressive are lopped ears (we have one sow, 315 orange tag, I've memorized it!! flies out of ark to kill ya...its only the lopped ears gettin her way that give ya chance to clear the fencing!!) Just pick a breed you like look of, go to agriculture shows talk to people. Treat them right, firm but fair and enjoy it!!
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I have kept Berkshires (grew fat on next to nothing) Saddlebacks (ditto) GOS (lovely meat) OSB (the best tasting meat) and Kunekune. On balance I would keep Kunes, friendly, kind to the grass and tasty.
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We breed and raise Cornish Large Blacks. These are in our experience the easiest and gentlest and brightest of pigs. Outdoor all year round, they ignore their arks pulling the straw out and nesting on open ground. We feed barley sprouts we produce onsite, 1kg seed providing 7kg of feed. Our breeding stock are hand tame, come when called by name and allow piglets to be handled and removed without any aggression.
The breed are respectful of fencing and will graze and forage if the feed amounts are less than necessary to satisfy them. We feed 1kg sprouted barley twice daily as standard, but only 1/2kilo twice a day if we want the land grazed/foraged to clear.