The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Sylvia on July 26, 2012, 04:35:12 pm
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Following on from the youtube clips of Adam's Farm I have been watching "Jimmy's Farm". He is trying to preserve a breed of pig called an Essex.
They look to my untrained eye exactly like a Saddleback. Is there a difference and if so what is it? :pig: (by the way, youtube should be banned----last nights dishes are still in the sink :o ;D )
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your untrained eye is getting better they are saddelbacks the saddelback was formed from the Essex and the Wessex pig back in the early sixty's but some lines can be traced back to either breed :farmer:
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So there were a few more than 60 left on this planet? :-\
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they must have had them all at yorkshire show last year one class had thirty in it :farmer:
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Essex ears are pricked, I believe.
I have a number of Saddleback piglets where the 'Essex' has come through - in the form of prick ears rather than the lop that they are meant to have. They are little cuties, though :D
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Maybe if we stopped eating them there would be more than 60 :innocent:
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Jimmy's farm Essex pigs were lop-eared. In fact when he entered a boar in a show the judge called him (the pig) a Saddleback with no come back ???
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Ah Warescotfarm, actually the opposite is true ;)
Bear with me (I know it seems strange) but if no one wanted to keep these pigs and raise them for pork there would be no need for the breeders to have litters born. Without these litters being born, there would be no good, young gilts coming through to replace the sow in the breeding herd and if not being bred regularly the sows fertility would drop off and any future litters might be smaller (if the sow was even able to conceive at all).
So, in truth, by keeping and eating the ones who don't make the grade for breeding, people are actually helping to ensure the continued success of the breed :thumbsup:
In the UK 'Essex' isn't a recognised breed of pig - they are known as British Saddlebacks and the breed standard says they should have lop ears. The only one with a white saddle and prick ears that is a pedigree breed in the UK is the Hampshire (but not the original Hampshire breed from the UK, just to confuse things even more ::) :D)
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Yeah I know, was just being a pain ;)
We love raising glouster old spots, if I had land would have loads of piggies, I love those saddlesback / essex breeds too ;D
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there are saddelbacks with prick ears but some breeders are at it with crossing with the Hampshire to get better conformation :farmer:
just to confuse even more the RBST sells a little pig book and it claims the Hampshire originated in the borders i am assuming the Scottish borders is implied with this book :farmer:
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I keep an Essex Sow and piglets. They are smaller than the saddleback but perfect for a smallholder with a very uniform temperament. Moreover, they are well adapted to Essex conditons and thrive in clay.
I love my Essex Pigs. There are at least 60 around here! ( I have nine! and the city farm has 3 breeding sows and 29 pigs at the moment without going round my neighbours!) and I suspect 1000-2000 is closer to the real figure..... they are LOVELY meat (though having tasted it I am getting to be a bit of a Tammy fan and have just bought 3 tammy/essex cross weaners ;D )
They are saddlebacks, they just aren't British Saddlebacks because they have no Wessex in them.
The only Essex pigs are derived from one farm.
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Well, I'll be blowed. It gets a bit confusing, doesn't it ??? ;D
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Jimmy's farm Essex pigs were lop-eared. In fact when he entered a boar in a show the judge called him (the pig) a Saddleback with no come back ???
There is a bit of variation on the old saddle back.....some have spiked ears some have lop ears. and some are not black and white but brown and white.
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Confuseder and confuseder :-\ ::) :-\ I'll stick to my Kunes. ( though, I was told last week that my pigs were way too big for Kunes. I'm 5ft. 1. and they come just past my knee) ??????
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in all probability Sylvia your kunnies are not 100% genuine kunnies in the last 10 years they have increased there number of piglets in a litter 3 fold and doubled in size but only some it is not an across the board increase it all comes down to the integrity of the breeder if there was DNA testing available more than a few breeders would be crapping it and not just the kunnies at that :farmer:
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Oh well, they're 100% good old pigs as far as I'm concerned the dears of them. What would have gone into them then to increase size and litter sizes (9,9, 5 and 7) do you suppose?
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Jimmy's farm Essex pigs were lop-eared. In fact when he entered a boar in a show the judge called him (the pig) a Saddleback with no come back (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/Smileys/default/huh.gif)
Thats because they are saddlebacks. The BRITISH saddleback is a cross between the Wessex Pig and the Essex Pig (both saddleback adapted to their geography)
The Essex Pig is a saddleback which hasn't got Wessex Saddleback in it. As I said, the only pure bloodline is from one farm.
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How on earth would you know the difference KC, and is the only farm Jimmy's farm? :pig: :pig:
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if it is only one farm that has them they must be well inbred by now :farmer:
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In my younger days essex pigs were well in bred, with high heels, white skirts and little brains but lots of fun ;D
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Jimmys farm DOESN'T have a breed like of Essex Pigs.
He bought his original pigs from Pets Corner in Harlow where mine came from..., they all died because he put them in woodland and they aren't bred for that..... which he was told He bought some more but has since diversified big time, so keeps all sorts of pigs, including large whites cos he has his own range of food out. he hasn't got a separate breeding line for Essex.
He isn't trying to get the Essex reinstated as a breed, the Essex Pig Society is! FFS, he's just jumped on a bandwagon!
There are a lot about actually for a rare breed pig, problem is ensuring the blood line is pure, there are only about 14 potential pairs.
My view, I like that I have a friendly, affable, hardy sow who produces lovely piglets and lovely meat. If I'm more likely to keep that in future by having the Essex as a separate breed, I'm all for it.
I raise meat pigs, which I don't register, I will register Domini, my replacement sow.
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I would be very interested to know the registered name of one of the Essex pigs that you claim still exist. Unfortunately, examination of the herd book and DNA analysis at different times has failed to identify any pure Essex or Wessex pigs in the UK and current registered British Saddlebacks have some degree of introgression of the 'other breed' in them somewhere. The amalgamation took place in 1967 and is now regarded as a major mistake but we cannot unfortunately undo what has been done in the intervening years. There is a small population of what appears to be pure Wessex Saddlebacks in Australia.
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There was an article in PP magazine(I think) that stated that there was no distinct essex or wessex lines within the BS herdbook. So are these "essex" pigs that are outside the BS herdbook recorded in any way? I would have thought that to have any hope of reinstating the breed it would need to have several generations of accurate breeding records?
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Oh well, he seemed a nice bloke though a bit of a twit. Imagine trying to keep pigs behind a couple of strands of barbed wire or just putting poultry out on free range and expecting them to take care of themselves(foxy took care of most of them ::) )
Nevertheless he seems to have come up trumps, how I don't know ??? ???
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The records are kept by the Essex Pig Society. Charlotte is a direct descendant of the Glascote herd, whih wasn't interbred.
I certainly don't agree that its acknowledged that the Essex is extinct (as you suggest), for an Essex Bird Charlotte can track her lineage a lot better than most of the other Mothers round here!
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Nevertheless he seems to have come up trumps, how I don't know ??? ???
hes not a mate of the people who had the boar is he sylvia?? ;)
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kitchen cottage
Please let us have Charlotte's pedigree name so that we can see for ourselves.
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Seems as if such things aren't open for scrutiny.
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Nevertheless he seems to have come up trumps, how I don't know ??? ???
hes not a mate of the people who had the boar is he sylvia?? ;)
It wouldn't surprise me ;D