[Daisys Mum]

Just been to see my 2 middle whites hanging in the butchers, 1 was 78kg with 18mm of back fat and the other was 92kg with 33mm of fat.
They were fed separately and both got the same amount, when the got to 5 months I kept them on 4lb a day and apart from getting a few apples twice a day that was all they ate, they had quite a lot of grass in their field.

[kja]

the middle white is a early finisher not a good breed for heavy weight !!!
...... take a look on the RBST info it will give you all the info your looking for.

[Daisys Mum]

the middle white is a early finisher not a good breed for heavy weight !!!
...... take a look on the RBST info it will give you all the info your looking for.

In the back of my mind I knew this but as I had 4 Saddlebacks going off last month I told myself that these guys needed to stay a bit longer as "they weren't very big" 

[sokel]

The 2 middle whites we had last year where the same. Watched everything they ate but kept them too long and they had way too much fat.
Yet the 2 GOS that we kept well over a year old is perfect, not too fatty and the meat is lovely and tender

[bloomer]

think positively, you'll not run out of lard in a hurry!!!

[happygolucky]

I think its the same in us humans, some possibly move around less and so burn less fat.....(think that's me)

[Tudful Tamworths]

It's often difficult to get it right when you switch breeds. Don't take the earlier comments too much to heart, because most of us learn by trial and error.


Personally, I cut down my pigs' feed once they have reached the four month mark, because that's when most start laying down fat instead of converting feed into muscle and bone.


Enjoy your meat and, if you're planning to stick with middles, have a chat to some breeders before you get your next ones. If you want, I can put you in touch with several of my friends who keep the breed.


All the best
Liz

[hughesy]

All that fat could be a good thing sausagewise. The OSB's we're finishing at the moment are the very opposite. Way too lean.

[shygirl]

You can't beat looking at the carcuss for learning about pig weight and fat levels. I think everyone has overfed their pigs at some point. experience and time is what it takes to get perfection, remember to feel their bodies to assess their Condition too.
I'd love some middle whites, are they tasty?

[Tamsaddle]

What I find extraordinary is the huge difference between your two pigs - 18 mm and 33 mm fat, on the same rations.    The bigger one must have been eating a lot of the smaller one's nuts and apples I suppose, but even so, I wouldn't have thought that much variation would have been possible over the short lifetime of a pig.  Just goes to show.

[thenovice]

Don't worry, middle whites taste superb, and fat means flavour! With my first experience with the breed, the lady I bought them from (she knows her stuff) said no more than 2 to 3 pounds of nuts per pig per day. I thought that was low, but they had grass, apples and scraps too, and they turned out brilliantly. More fat than shop bought pork, but super tender. Killed mine around 5 months

[Daisys Mum]

Oops! Just got the invoice through and it says 23mm fat not 33 but it certainly looked like 33 stamped on the pig.

[HappyHippy]

Ah, don't beat yourself up  as others have said, switching breed takes a readjustment and it's not always easy/possible to get it 'right' first time.
But as Bloomer said, lots of lard  You could make soap (for yourself if you don't want to go down the certification route for selling) or you could sell it as lard.
I only found out the other day that lard is a highly monounsaturated fat - a bit like olive oil. So contrary to the popular belief that it's a bad, artery clogging fat - it's not ! It's all in the marketing 

Give me a shout with your email address and I'll send you a recipe and instructions for lard soap if you want 

[suziequeue]

We've got lots of lard from our pigs from last year.


This blog has quite a good description of making lard and there are some posts of the River Cottage forum about lard too.


Great for short crust pastry. As a last resort you can also make fat balls and lard mixed with seeds etc in half coconut shells for the birds in the winter.

[Daisys Mum]

Got the pigs back this week and the pork looks amazing, the butcher did trim the chops but there is still a good big eye of meat there, I had asked him to make lots of mince and sausages if the shoulders were too fatty to roll but they are not. I think they must just have put on all the extra fat after they had grown well, we are having a joint tomorrow.