Adam Henson was born into a farming family and took over the running of Cotswold Farm Park from his father. The farm specialises in the conservation of rare breeds as well as growing wheat, spring barley and oilseed rape and boasting a flock of 350 commercial ewes. In his blog, Adam shares the events on his farm as he juggles farming with presenting and other commitments.
"Following on from my blog our our rare breed pigs a few weeks ago, we have made a good association with Lambournes butchers in Stow on the Wold, who are starting to sell our rare breed meat. For us, this cuts out the price risk of an open market and the slaughter house and butcher are very local.
Our Gloucestershire Old Spot pork and sausages are in high demand, so we need more breeding sows. I decided to keep six gilts (young females) for breeding from one of my good litters, but that means I need an unrelated boar as all I have is their father.
This week, I went out and bought a lovely ten-month-old Gloucester boar from Malcolm Hicks, near Coventry. He has one of the largest herds of Gloucesters in the country and wins most of the big shows. My dad's theory was that if you're going to buy in stock, you may as well buy really good animals that will produce young to be proud of and particularly males, as they are genetically half your herd. I stick to these wise principles and have got myself a lovely example of the breed.
My gilts are still a little young to breed from, so speed the piglet process up I have bought two 15-month-old sows that are ready to to conceive and give birth in three months, three weeks and three days - the gestation period of a pig. Roll on the porkers for the butcher and some income from my investment."
Cached: no
ASK THE EXPERTS
Do you have any burning questions you'd like answered? Email your dilemma to our H&C experts at:
LATEST BLOGS
Cached: miss
SEE ALSO
Cached: miss
You are not signed in. You may log in to an existing account, or create a new account.