As the weather turns colder and the nights draw in, many smallholders may be starting to scale back their outdoor activities to concentrate instead on planning for the spring. If you’re new to the good life, or have decided to keep life simple for now and not keep livestock all year round, you may be enjoying the luxury of staying warm indoors and flicking through the seed catalogs, deciding what you want to grow next season.
But it’s not just the veg patch that needs careful planning. For many, next year will see the start of a brand new venture — pig keeping. If you’ve never tried it before, you have a lot of work to do before you take charge of your first weaners. But the great thing is, you have plenty of time to prepare your land — and yourself — for what’s to come.
As well as getting your paperwork in order — most importantly, sorting out your County Parish Holding number (CPH from the Rural Payments Agency) and your herd number (from the Animal and Plant Health Agency) — there are a few more things to consider while you’re warming your feet in front of the log burner. To help you get started, here are some of the most common questions I get asked by people who are thinking of raising their own meat pigs for the first time.
1. How many pigs should I start with?
Three is the magic number. Pigs are herd animals and should be able to share the company of their own kind, so keeping one pig on its own just isn’t right. So why have three, rather than two? Well, it might never happen, but if one of your pigs died, you would end up with one lonely pig. Raising four pigs gives you the option of sending two at a time for slaughter, but find customers for the meat before you decide.
2. What breed should I start with?
This story is from the November 2019 edition of Country Smallholding.
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This story is from the November 2019 edition of Country Smallholding.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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