[Tamsaddle]

After Lillian's photos of her incredible Hampshire bacon last month, I was hoping we had timed the slaughter of our first two Tamworths this year just right, given that we have no way of weighing them whilst still alive - but no such luck.   They were exactly 7 months old to the day - a boar, deadweight 84 kgs and a gilt, deadweight 75 kgs.    The bad news was that the back fat was 29 and 24 mm respectively, the worst ever since we started three years ago, and which was completely unexpected as neither looked remotely fat whilst alive.     Nor for that matter does the remaining litter sister who I examined even more closely for fatness as she ate her breakfast this morning.     By contrast the back legs were fantastic, 7.5 to 8.5 kgs each, with very little fat, and should make very nice hams - in the brine at the moment.    I don't think we are overfeeding our pigs - the maximum they ever get when fully grown at 5.5 months is 5 lbs nuts per day, staggered before this, or fruit/veg at the rate of 4 lbs to 1 lb of nuts.   The only other nourishment they get is whatever they root up in the woodlands where they live - impossible to measure.   Cannot think what we are doing wrong - or is it a breed/Tamworth thing specifically putting on lots of fat ??    Would much appreciate any suggestions - Tamsaddle

[Sylvia]

I let my Berkshires get far too fat, I was so afraid of not doing them well enough that I did them too well. My saddlebacks, even though I measured their feed carefully were not as fat as the Berkshires but still a bit too fat. I think all breeds are inclined to put on a lot of fat. I dare say it's a genetic thing and in the wild would see them through the winter

[robert waddell]

don't go  and beat yourself up about fat pigs      you can trim the fat and use it for cooking or making soap
all traditional breeds are fatty  they are duel purpose
you have done very well to get a carcase weight that you have(we wont know until tomorrow what our hamlops are dead weight at 6 months (they were over 100 kilos liveweight)almost to the day)
you want them growing like mad in the first 3-4 months then cut back the feeding as they put fat on after that
maybe slightly overfeeding ours get 2 kilos per day plus any extras not allot in it but it can make a difference  both financially and fat wise
feeding pigs is like buying a lottery ticket if every one was a winner there is no fun in doing it
if you like Tamworth's stick with them  we still have them even though we get better results with the Hampshire's and lop/Hampshire's also tamworth /Hampshire's we have not slaughtered this cross yet
if there is no fat there is no flavour    mangalitsas are a fatty pig BUT there hams when cooked and with a lot of fat are an aphrodisiac the fat just melts in your mouth

[HappyHippy]

Tamsaddle,
The thing you have to remember is that Hampshire's are a commercial breed (most popular breed in the USA I think) They grow like bu**ery (if you pardon the expression  ) They've been bred to grow big & lean, which they do very well, very well indeed 
Tamworths, being a traditional slow growing breed, will put on a bit more fat. I've not raised any to bacon size but the porkers I had definately had the same amount, if not slightly more backfat than the last Kune Kune I sent off - go figure 
You say they "never looked" fat, the only way to know for sure (I think) is to actually get a good feel at them - ribs & backbone should be able to be felt with only slight pressure, if not then they are overfat. To reduce fat it's the same as us humans - eat less and do more  So you could try giving them a bigger area to forrage in, putting their food into one of these balls that they have to push around to get it out, sending the kids in to hide the veg all around their space, chuck in an old football for them to play with - anything to get them moving a bit more or cut back on the hard feed and up the fruit & veg - never more than 50% fruit & veg in their meals though.
Hope that helps a bit,
Karen 

[Fowgill Farm]

Don't fret about it too much we once had 2 OSB/GOS crosses to go and i forgot to book them in so they went 3 weeks late at 30weeks old, result inch & half back fat, customers said it as some of best pork they ever had! Pork needs some fat to taste delicious, look at super trimmed pale pork in the tescasburys stores, yuk!
Bets Mandy 

[robert waddell]

yes do look at the pork in suppermarkets         bacon with no rind has been trimmed even the joints are trimmed and the rind put back on just to look good
happy hippy i think tammsaddle has shown that Tammie's can grow as an equal to Hampshire's by the carcase weight       
a good indication of when they are fat is the neck  rosemary has photos on about her Tammie's and you can see the ripples at the neck      i have said to rosemary already about this photo
the unfortunate thing about fat or lack of fat    you only see it when they are dead to late to do anything about it then     

[YorkshireLass]

Lard is making a comeback - ESPECIALLY from old-style breeds allowed to forage , as is homemade soap...hang on in there.. In the meantime could you use it in charcuterie - "chorizo" type sausages??

(If you were based near me I'd gladly take some fat for rendering off your hands )

[Sylvia]

I do render my pig fat down for lard and what I have over goes out for the birds in winter, nothing wasted. I will have a go at making soap.
On The Victorian Farmer (Thank you Sally) was JUST the copper I'm looking for and soap was made in that. I have recipes in an old housekeeping book.
Hmmm No harm in fat pigs And lard is a sight better for you than hydrogenated plant oils.

[princesspiggy]

ours were 6 mths and 83-85kg liveweight. the 2 gilts had 2.5-3.5cm back fat and  i thought that was ok. the boar had a cm more but he did look fatter in the field and i should have fed them separately really.
they still had 50-60kg of trimmed meat tho. but i also think it was a aste of feed but u live and learn.
i will keep mine an extra month on the same total amount of food. they had as much as they wanted for first 14 weeks then we cut them back.
we keep all the fat, i have rendered and flavoured lard for cooking, the dogs have some to chew on and so do the chooks.

i have never thought about soap - what a great idea!!!

yes do look at the pork in suppermarkets         bacon with no rind has been trimmed even the joints are trimmed and the rind put back on just to look good

i never noticed that! we tend not to go down the meat aisles.
do u have fotos of the meat tamsaddle?
our smaller gos was alot leaner alive and dead.

[YorkshireLass]

And lard is a sight better for you than hydrogenated plant oils.

Amen to that

(Ever since a certain biology lesson I've wondered how saturated fat can be bad for us when we ARE saturated fat...and our cells are made with cholesterol...anyhow back to pigs!)

[princesspiggy]

thats ok then cos iv been cooking wi lard and was feeling slightly guilty, but saying that, its so cold it could well set in ur veins! just keep moving!

 

[Sylvia]

It's like everything else p.p. everything in moderation (except gin )

[Tamsaddle]

Thanks for all the comments.   Might try feeding them a bit less next year, with a max. of 4.5 lbs a day, the same as Robert's 2 kgs.    I must say I had a good feel of all the remaining pigs, including the next batch (Saddlebacks and 3 weeks younger) going for slaughter mid-January, and was unable to feel any backbones or ribs.   Instead they are feel absolutely rock solid along the backbone, but despite that look like long lean pigs when viewed from the top, narrow at what would be the waist on us, unlike my own!   As everyone says, they must need quite a good fat covering to deal with the winter weather - ours never come indoors at all.    I spent a huge amount of time trimming fat off the meat this time, but it takes ages which I could well do without, and is probably why I forgot to take any photos of the meat before putting various pieces in brine, dry cure for bacon or vac packing roasting joints for the freezer.    Another factor in how much they eat is their individual strategy for devouring the maximum amount of nuts.   The Tamworth boy was with two younger and smaller Saddleback boys so was top dog (well, pig) in his pen, whereas the Tamworth girl was competing against 3 larger sows and so probably got much less to eat on a daily basis.   As for increasing their exercsise levels, they are in enormous woodland areas already, and spend the entire day with their noses deep in the mud digging up goodness knows what, quite a lot of it already excavated, extremely gloopy mud.   Exercise balls impossible due to the trees, roots and very deep mud.  Have a happy, icy cold, thickly muddy, gale force soaking wet Christmas everyone - Tamsaddle

[princesspiggy]

maybe its cos tamworths are so screechingly vocal, its easy to feed them more to keep them quieter. mine also have a large woodland but will scream blue murder for more feed. we have 2 close neighbours and there have been times when they have got extra feed to shut them up (ie sunday morning). mine have to be sent away a bit slimmer too so next time i will just have to grin an bear the piggy taunts that i am starving them! they can see our house form the field so wait in in ambush to scream when they see me!
i can feel all the spines except dorothys ( ) she is on a bit of a cutdown, and as our new boar and sow are the new bosses, shes doing a bit more running too. lol
our gos is alot quieter and doesnt reach the same ear-shattering tone!
merry xmas tamsaddle 

[robert waddell]

just as a comparison    the 3 hamlops dispatched they were born on 9Th June  slaughtered on 13Th DEC they were weighed on the 4 DEC 100kilos 100kilos and89 kilos  they should have been weighed on 12 DEC  but were not
the carcasses came back with heads pluck skin and trotters the carcase weights were 74 and a half kilos 74 kilos and 65 kilos the backfat including rind is 17mm Lillian will add photos
so tamsaddle you have done alright with the weights and you are not that far away with the backfat considering they were Tammie's   if it is sow rolls you are feeding just cut back   if it is meal you can reduce the quantity and add sawdust to bulk it out  they may be intelligent but they are not that clever that they can detect sawdust
the only thing that was removed was the tongue
we will also add the boned out weights once they have been cut and sliced