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free range pork for sale isle of lewis & Harris , kune kune cross piglets , Sulair
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Where to Eat... , Where to Find Great Produce... , River Cottage Farmers Market , Pigs
husband in Charge
Posted on Aug 07, 2010 at 04:33 AM
ron's blog whilst I am working in Australia
AM
Up to water and feed the 45pigs and two children don’t know which is worse. Of the 45 pigs 29 are piglets the oldest piglets
are 5 weeks today. There are 12 of them and they are full of fun and interact with me better than my kids. It’s sad to think
that they (the piglets) will be leaving in the next couple of weeks. As I was feeding them I realised that though I will only have
my piglets for six to eight weeks I will have my kids for life. Amazing what you think about when your feeding pigs.
Its’ not only the pigs and kids I have to feed and water this morning but also our chickens, geese, ducks, two cats and a dog
and of course our paranoid, aggressive and often violent cockerel. He doesn’t like me at all and I must confess the feeling is
mutual.
Nearly every day he lies in wait to attack me and today was no exception. I try to sneak into the pen but he was waiting yet
again. There is a routine here he lets me into the pen and ignores me as I walk to the feeder and fill it he even lets me collect
the three eggs that are there today. It is as I walk back to the gate that I see him standing there between me and the gate he
looks at me then without warning he attacks. He jumps in the air his spur out to the front like some kind of deadly demented
kung fu master.
This morning however I am prepared, I have padded up and am ready for him his spur hits my well protected leg and instead
of the usual scream from me I stand and stare silently daring him to attack again, he looks at me just for a moment it’s almost
a thoughtful look before he turns away and saunters back to his harem of clucking chicks honour seemingly satisfied. I walk to
the gate head held high, unhurt for once and in a moment of madness give myself a high five.
PM
Finished the lunchtime feeds and just got ready to go into town where the annual international market is on. The two kids that
are at home are coming with me. So I have dressed carefully putting on “my kids think I’m an ATM” tea-shirt.
PM PM
Back home again and it didn’t work the kids are now convinced that I am an ATM. The market cost me a fortune even though I
bought very little the kids however (one aged 11 and the other aged 7) managed to buy lots and they assured me that
everything they bought (or should I say I paid for) was really really important really dad or was it the tea-shirt. Ah well time to
feed the pigs again.
more piglets
Posted on Aug 01, 2010 at 02:25 PM
one month later & we now have 3 litters of piglets. First litter born 1stJuly, 2nd litter born 11th July & 3rd litter of pedigree kunekune's born on 18th July.
We have been extremely lucky, all were first litters for the sows, first litter , 12 live piglets, 2nd litter 9 live piglets & 3rd litter 8.
all born out in the field without anyone present, all mothers doing very well. Piglets all extremely healthy.
First 2 litters of piglets already sold & half of 3rd litter hopefully.
it has been a real joy feeding them every day, watching them play and grow, my 7 yr old daughter has been very involved in their care & helps feed the piglets now they have all started on solids.
We are really seeing our 2 years hard work coming to fruition, with 11 weaners ready for slaughter as well.
All my hard work in the garden is paying off, with all the vegatables looking healthy. I think the only crop not to work is the sweetcorn, but the plants are still growing so maybe we might get one or two cobs before autumn sets in.
unfortunately I have had to leave it all to work in Australia for 5 weeks, leaving my husband in charge, I just hope he remembers to decatipilar the brassica's regularly!
beautiful surprise
Posted on Jul 07, 2010 at 11:11 PM
We had put a friends quite large & fat kune kune boar in with our 2 female pigs back in March, coming back from Australia neither of them seemed or looked pregnant & we assumed he had been too lazy too mate. How wrong we were, noticed that spotty the larger of the 2 females looking much larger about 2 weeks ago , then noticed her teats filling out, last wednesday I realised she was very heavily pregnant after squeezing colostrum from her teats so quickly separated her from her sister, on thursday evening had the sudden urge to visit her, it was still light up here so wandered down the croft at 10.30pm, & peered into arc to find the most wonderful sight , she had given birth to 12 kune kune cross piglets all very beautiful & very spotty black tan & cream some complete with piri piri's, or snuggled up feeding whilst she just slept utterly exhausted.
She has become a fantastic mum, really careful how she lies down, very good with the masses of visitors she has had over the weekend cooing at the piglets.
After 3 days all of the piglets have been leaving the arc to play around her feet whilst she grazes , they are already play fighting & all look very strong.
I then noticed that her sister a much smaller pink pig has suddenly expanded & teats are thickening so am expecting more piglets any day !
catchup
Posted on Jun 23, 2010 at 11:39 PM
since my last posting I have been working away fro 5 weeks in Australia. I returned the end of April then the really hard work started, gutting the polytunnel ready, planting ,digging , fencing, chasing escaping pigs, taking on 4 geese, receiving 4 ducks, watering , feeding, chasing escaping pigs.
Its just past mid summer, still light at 11.30 pm & light again by 4 am, I went up to Callanish stones for the solstice, went to my van for a short kip at 2am only to wake at 4.30 missing the non existant sunrise by 11 minutes, so sheepishly returned home to sleep for a couple more hours.
starting to get on top of the garden, have changed the original area where I kept the weaners when they first came, into my new potato & brassica patch, all doing well, every time I dig and use my hands in this area they come out absolutley black i think it might be all the pig poo deposits -the potatoes seem to like it though, trying some sweetcorn, it is just about alive.
in my original garden have courgettes yellow & green , marrows, pumkins, tomatoes,cucumbers & beans growing in the poly tunnel + some herbs & tiny aubergine seedlings I think they may be sown to late .
outside more courgettes just about coping with the climate , carrots , onions , garlic, parsnips, 3 different types of radish, leeks, lettuce spring onions, beetroot, & spinach, so all the hard work in May was worth it .
The weaner's are all coming on well. trying to balance their feed so they don't get fat before i can take them to the abatouir when it opens in August.
tried to get my 2 18 month old sows pregnant by a very fat kune kune boar before I left in March, unfortunately dont think either of them are pregnant , will now have to wait until september to try again , to time them with the abbatouir being open next august. Thought I would keep the largest , escapologist & friendliest of the male weaners an extra month to serve the females then he can go for bacon in ocotober.
My whole body aches with weariness from all the physical work, but I feel fantastic. I am so glad we made the move here. Just had one chick hatch from the 12 eggs we tried in the incubator , just watching my 7 year old daughter laughing & playing with the chick , & my 11 year old son feeding the ducks, chickens & geese & trying to outwit the very feisty cockerel we have , is worth every gale we endure during the winter to live in such a special place
eating their house
Posted on Feb 17, 2010 at 11:36 AM
since taking on the 12 weaners, the weather has deteriorated rapidly.
they quickly grew out of their first home with a very little outdoor space. Now have them fenced in our garden , where they have done a fantastic job of ploughing my new vegetable patch.they are digging far deeper than my 2 big pigs , going down about 18 inches to get to roots. They have also eaten 2 temporary straw houses built for them. The 2nd was built putting fencing wire around the straw thinking they couldnt get to it, but I under-estimated them again.
I am now waiting for some fencing to be finished so i can move them up the croft. We have had loads of rain again in last few days, so every where is thick mud & it is impossible to fit the strainer posts in, 2 of the pigs have learnt how to jump the fence, so each feeding time is very interesting trying to put food in the pigs area before they jump over to steal as much food out of the containers before I can fight them off. what is quite comical is that once the food is over the pigs jump back into their pen.
My son came up to look after them last week whilst we were away, he wasnt looking forward to it & was moaning about us taking the pigs on, 5 days later he is just as besotted with them as we are.
The chickens are coming back in to lay now, I need to find some new customers for the eggs, we had 9 yesterday.
last night I ordered seed potatoes , strawberries & onion sets, need to get planting as we are off to work in Australia for 5 weeks march to late april which is my usual planting time. just hope we get a couple of weeks dry weather so i can get out in the garden
escaping pigs
Posted on Jan 17, 2010 at 10:25 AM
the weaners are doing fine , one boar seems particularly bright & has worked out if he stands on top of the other pigs he can climb over the fence. then 2 other boars worked it out & i had mayhem at feed time as I was fighting getting the food into the pens before the escaping pigs had wrestled it off me . then the first pig decided that life on the out side was better & escaped & started tearing up my vegetable patch luckily very little for him to destroy.
luckily my husband came up with a solution to keep them in , green netting we use for wind proofing the garden put around the top of the fence posts this seems to be containing them well . they had reduced their patch to thick mud already but they are amazing rooters digging huge holes, the soil looks very good so have decided it will be my potato patch & other root veg later in the year & because its fenced I may be able to keep the rabbits out.
the temporary straw house is still standing although a few gaps are appearing as they seem to be eating the straw.
it must be a week for escaping pigs as my 2 sows escaped as well , managing to unbolt a gate and ending up in the garden, one of them was in season & quite boisterous nipping my bum several times though luckily quite gently as I enticed them back up the croft with a few pig nuts.
All the ice has melted , we have had several gales in the last week & every where is wet & muddy again ,Just found a hole in my wellington , so socks covered in mud , the joys of crofting!!
weaners settling in
Posted on Jan 03, 2010 at 01:20 PM
we have taken on 11 weaners, they are GOS , berkshire + what ever else was around at the time , probably a bit of tamworth.
They are what we call lewis pigs, & the weaners look remarkably like Kune kunes in colouring though at 10 weeks old they are not much smaller than my 9 month old Kune Kunes. With them is a 6 week old berkshire cross who is half their size but they are very tolerant with her & I feed her seperately.
8 of them are males & they all look as though their hocks are made for ham.
one big problem we have on the island is that the abertoir is not open all year round and wont open until august & closes in december.this worked well for the lamb trade but now there are a growing number of pig owners this is quite a problem trying to time litters with the opening of the abertoir.
These weaners will be near 10 months before they can go to slaughter but they will be slow growing on the croft so hopefully not too fatty.
Answer this question
Posted on Jan 01, 2010 at 12:48 PM
what is the going price for a half /whole free range pig
introduction
Posted on Jan 01, 2010 at 12:47 PM
Hi
I live on the isle of Lewis in Ness , this is our local beach.We have been here for almost 2 years and been keeping pigs for about 18 months, we now have 2 freerange mixed breed sows, 3 kune kunes & have just adopted 11 weaners help!.
i also keep chickens and grow my own veg as well as run a mental health business with my husband.
Our long term plan is to create along with other crofters Hebridian pork products.
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