Sallygarden Smallholding - The Forum For Sustainable Living

hi everyone i am new to this . me and my kids want to get one or two pigs to rear . my partner and i want to teach our kids were food comes from!!! so how do i get started??? cause i dont have a clue about how to set it up {ie}paperwork for dept of argri ..... any help would be great

Hi and welcome

Hi,

Welcome. Have you thought about the type of pig you would like to get? I would recomend the rare breeds if you want the best tasting pork/bacon, there are a few breeders around, we have a few contacts if you need any help with that.
Before you buy your pigs (you must buy 2) contact your local dept. of agriculture and tell them what you plan to do, they will send someone out to inspect your premises and answer any questions you may have. If all goes well they will send you out your herd no. and pin no. as well as a mountain of paperwork!!! You need the herd no. as it is a legal requirement and you cannot purchase/slaughter pigs without it.

Pigs are relatively easy to care for and are great fun to have around, I would be careful what breed you go for if the children are involved with their care, some pigs are very big and powerful and have no space awareness!! I,ve landed in it several times!!

Good luck with your future pig keeping.

Morag

Hi

Yuo'll have great fun with your pigs as long as your fencing is robust and up to the job. The 8 week old weaners (piglets) grow fast and soon become pretty flambuoyant, especially when hungry, which is most of the time!

We run a course on keeping pigs, at the moment we don't have any, they've just gone in the freezer, but we should have more in July I'd say. If you can't wait till then for into we also have an Ebooklet which includes all the information I wish we'd had to hand when we first started! Its about 25 A4 pages long, with pictures, and costs E8 to have it posted to you.

Then there's the forum here where folk will always help you out.

Keep in touch, Rebecca

I've just gone through the process. Where are you from or do you have an email that we can correspond through. You can get me at morganconnell@hotmail.com. I've done bucket loads of research and would love to help you out.

Morgan