Laertes, Lady Lavinia and the Little uns

The happy family

Laertes the boar (son of Oldfarm's Polonius) and his misses, Lady Lavinia produced nine lovely, healthy piglets on the 28th January. It was one of the coldest days of the winter so far with snow on the ground. I saw her in the morning briefly before leaving for work as she was dragging in wet, dirty grass into the new house we had moved into the field for her (nesting). It was to be the designated maternity wing. 

We had awful trouble with the last house as neither would sleep in it for days. They actually slept out in the cold rather than go in. This was despite me climbing in to show them it was safe and desperately hoping they wouldn't decide to come in on top of me. But they just looked in at me as if I was mad (which I probably am.)  So I was surprised to see that she accepted the new house so readily. Laertes was much more wary and didn't venture in at all. 

When I got home that day I sneaked down to have a peep. I could see her back and just assumed she was still in labour, so I went to get her some more straw as it was freezing.  When I came back and started to put the straw in, I saw a piglet peep up from behind her. At that point she jumped up and there was a lot of squealing as she blundered about, not being sure where to put her feet down without standing on a baby. But don't worry; those squeals. Even new born they were well able to let her know if she had hurt them.

She started to nose up the straw in a pile around them to keep them warm and then came out for some food and a drink. She was surprisingly relaxed with me being close but I didn't tempt fate and try and get a photo of them until the next day. 

One day old

They reminded me of guinea pigs I had when I was a child who grew to number 24 from two. Their colouring and markings resembling Dolly Mixtures. Lady Lavinia is half Irish Grazer (Tamworth) and a Gloucester Old Spot cross. Laertes has Saddlback, Duroc, Hampshire and Landrace in there so you can see they are a good mix.

Then I was given all the old advice, so much that my head was in a spin. I consulted Oldfarm and was reassured that I did not need to pull their teeth, dock their tails, keep Lady Lavinia in a cage so she wouldn't squash them or carry out any other barbaric practices. I was even told they would need an infra red light. Actually, if I had had one that mightn't have been a bad idea but I'd say mum would have over heated. But no, they are a hardy outdoor breed and when I put my hand in gently on them when they were asleep, they were as warm as toast. She hasn't any cut nipples although she is a bit bemused at my inspecting them when she's eating and she hasn't squashed any. And this is despite her being a new mum.

I separated Laertes for the first few days just by a strand of electric fencing and he was thoroughly miserable and stood looking over it at her and his babies. So when he actually stopped eating I let him in and he just did a lot of sniffing about. He seemed to know what was going on and was very gentle with his babies as they cavourted underneath his 300kg frame. The big softie lies outside the house during the day and then at night quite happily returns to his own house in the next field.

Playing in empty buckets

These piglets are unlikely to see their first birthday as they will probably be ready for slaughter around 8 months or when they reach 75kg. But, they will have a lovely life outside as nature intended, rooting and wallowing and sunbathing and living in a family group. And they will produce the most amazing tasting pork and bacon, the like of which you have probably never tasted before.

If we eat meat then we should raise animals with dignity and respect. They deserve no less.

Buy free range, buy organic, pay a bit more for meat from animals that have had a decent life and haven't been kept in the dark in a concrete shed their entire life prevented from behaving naturally. How can meat from pigs raised like this be healthy?