The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: TRUFFLE on May 12, 2011, 08:01:54 am
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I went to look at some weaners yesterday which were being sold as GOS x Tamworth. Some of the piglets had those tassels (which I think are called piri piri). I thought only Kune Kunes had those??! Just want to be sure what I am buying thats all......can anyone shed any light on this? Interestingly, there are Kune Kunes on the same smallholding..........any wisdom greatfully received.
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BTW - should have added that I saw Mum - she is the Tamworth, no tassels - so I guess my question is "Do GOS ever have tassels ??"
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GOS NEVER have tassels.
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BUT I had a GOS lookalike that did have tassels, mum was a kune who got in with our GOS boar. Without the tassels she could have been sold as a GOS (obviously not a real GOS)
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Thank you! Think there must have been some shenanagins on that farm during the night! Naughty Kune Kunes!! ;D
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Does it matter? They're crosses anyway so breed standards don't really come into it.
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No, doesn't matter really, just looking to get bigger rather than smaller pigs to take to slaughter on this occasion. I actually really like Kune Kunes but just want more meat for my buck. Maybe I've missed a trick and a Tamworth x Kune would turn out a similar size to a Tamworth x GOS, but that's not what I had been led to believe (what do I know though! ???)
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They will taste delicious whatever they are .... ;D
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Thanks Hilary, Mr Pig and everyone who has commented - we are now off to Selby market tomorrow to see what that has to offer - we are comparative newbies, learning all the time, but getting some confidence from what we read and what we have experienced from keeping pigs for 2 seasons (we have a definite "pig season", but appreciate many others dont!). There is so much to learn about the different breeds and we love all of your comments, thanks!
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Be careful when buying at the mart - unless you can speak to the seller and assure yourself that the pigs are not an 'unknown quantity' (some folk get bargain price pigs which take forever to finish)
Also, once you get your new pigs home, keep them seperate from the others for 21 days to give you a chance to worm them and make sure they're not carrying any disease, before introducing them to your herd ;)
Enjoy the sale :wave:
Karen
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Hi Happy Hippy - thanks for the advice - we actually came away very pleased with 3 pedigree Oxford Sandy and Black gilts - lovely looking pigs with lots of information provided about them and we met the breeder for a chat as we were paying. V interesting place, Selby....as many rare breed people as animals!! A great day out and the cafe is fab in a very interesting way....... ;D
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Oooo photo's please ;D
I have OSB's so have a vested interest to see how mine compare ;)
If it's not really cheeky I'd love to know age and price (but you can pm me if you don't want to announce it publicly)
Karen x
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We got the pigs for £26 each - 8 weeks old. We thought we got a real bargain, and when we met the seller afterwards felt a little bad about it!! She says she would normally have got £40 each at York. There were 11 piglets from the same litter divided into 2 lots, just wish we'd had space to take them all! We split our pen of 5 with a friend. Would love to send you some photos if I can work out how!! ??? x Clare
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That is a FANTASTIC price (as a buyer) for pedigree, registered pigs ;) Not so good for the seller though :-\ I paid 'considerably' more than that for my 2 (but still less than £100 each)
To upload photo's you need to resize them quite small before you try it, at the bottom of the reply box there's a bit that says 'additional options' click that and you can browse and find them and upload them there. Or (the simpler way) email them to me at kkjmckay@aol.com and I'll do it for you ;) ;D
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truffle have you got the paperwork to go with them
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Ummmm - friend took paperwork that came with them (we split the lot) - paperwork showed pedigree mum and dad HOWEVER have obviously misled you all, as they were from pedigree stock but NOT registered, so that probably makes much more sense as regards the price - sorry, didn't mean to give anyone with registered pedigrees a cardiac!! We got a good price but not that much of a bargain!! As I understand it, OSB's are quite hard to register, only 2 or 3 per litter qualify.....am I right in thinking that?? Anyway, we will unfortunately just eat them (yum yum), so registered pedigree was never important to us (although I've already fallen in love - what fantastic temperaments!) so maybe we may end up doing some breeding at a later date.....KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON all you lucky ones with pukka registered OSB's - wish we'd discovered them 2 years ago!! ;D