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The North Down Herd of Gloucester Old Spot Pigs

We have a herd of rare breed pedigree Gloucester Old Spot pigs: thirteen adult breeding sows; Elvira, Esther, Esmeralda, Ella, Prudence, Persephone, Elsie, Petronella, Portia, Peaches, Eyebrows, Penny and Estella as well as four boars; George our handsome, happy-go-lucky senior boar, two huge but friendly younger boars named Pedro and Paddy, and Ernest who is our new juvenile boar. We still have one of our original sows, Evadne, who is now a retired grand old lady of nine. This old country breed produces meat that isn’t a bit like supermarket pork. It’s moist and sumptuous and you get proper crackling. All our pigs are born on the farm and reared outdoors where they can dig freely and graze on grass. We feed them on rolled barley and GM-free pig nuts which contain wheat, barley and minerals, and they also get swedes, and apples from our cider orchard. Gloucester Old Spot pork has just gained international accreditation under the Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) classification of Protected Food Names and so joins the ranks of Parma Ham and Champagne as a prestigious protected food name.

Gloucester Old Spots were traditionally known as the Orchard or Cottage Pig because they were often reared in gardens and on small holdings. They are characterised by their large black spots and lop ears which flop forward covering their eyes. Folklore claims the large black spots are bruises caused by the apples falling onto them as they foraged the orchard floors for food. This rare breed nearly died out in the 1950s. Even today there are only about 700 breeding Gloucester Old Spot sows in the country.

Our pigs enjoy being outdoors and are intelligent, sociable animals with very clean habits. They all enjoy being given a pat or a hug. In hot weather we ensure they have wallows so that they can roll in the mud and use it as a sun screen. In the winter they spend more time asleep and make a cosy nest from straw in their arks. They are very good at digging using their immensely strong snouts as ploughs. One summer I found them excavating a dry stone wall between the orchard and my garden, hurling rocks around like beach balls. I deterred them from this exciting new game by nailing up a new strand of wire and they promptly made off with my bale of wire and my bucket of tools, carrying them away in their mouths by the handles. Try fencing when a pig is around and she will steal your hammer.

We are delighted once again to announce the patter of tiny trotters with the arrival of the first litter of the 2012 on Twelfth Night. Prudence produced ten piglets who are eating and sleeping a lot and scuffling about in a higgledy-piggledy heap of spots, ears and tails. More litters will be born throughout the year.

FOR SALE:
Pigs of all ages: sows with litters of piglets, breeding stock, and weaners ready to finish.