Author Topic: Yet another newbie (Read 5865 times)

Marshlady · « **on:** June 07, 2009, 01:19:47 pm »

Hi everyone,I'm in Norfolk and we have a couple of acres of our own and also rent a field from the farmer next door. We have a few layers (rather ageing ones), some table birds (declining in number by the day and should all be in the freezer by the end of this week), three weaner Berkshire boars and two orphaned welsh mule/texel ewe lambs( which were originally planned for the freezer but of course as they're girls and we bottle fed them for six weeks, there's no chance of that now), as well as the usual cat, dogs, horse etc. I do visit this site and have found it really interesting- now it's time I joined in and ask a few questions of the experienced old hands out there.

Fluffywelshsheep · « **Reply #1 on:** June 07, 2009, 02:49:32 pm »

Welcome to the group

sheila · « **Reply #2 on:** June 07, 2009, 04:06:14 pm »

wellcome to the site. Hope you find it interesting!

Rosemary · « **Reply #3 on:** June 08, 2009, 07:16:14 pm »

Hi and welcome to the forums.

MiriMaran · « **Reply #4 on:** June 08, 2009, 07:25:23 pm »

Hello and welcome! The people on this site and fantastic for friendly advice!

Hilarysmum · « **Reply #5 on:** June 09, 2009, 07:13:25 am »

Welcome, as a pig fanatic I am interested to know why Berkshires (no reason except avid curiousity)

Marshlady · « **Reply #6 on:** June 10, 2009, 07:40:45 pm »

why Berkshires? Well after much research I thought that OSBs and Berkshires were probably the easiest for first timers- good eating, placid temperaments, not too inclined to put on fat and not too big! And I couldn't find any OSB weaners at the time so the Berkshires won. And they're reputed to make the finest crackling...what more can I say? They're great, though I'm finding it a bit tricky to suss out when to take them on their very long holiday (so good they never come back...)..cos they don't look big enough really but are coming up to six months and I don't want the dreaded boar taint, whatever that is.

Hilarysmum · « **Reply #7 on:** June 11, 2009, 06:46:48 am »

I wouldnt worry too much about boar taint, take them when they are big enough in your opinion. 6 months seems very young to me for traditional outdoor pigs, they grow much more slowly. Again thats just my opinion. If your boys are not within smelling distance of a female I cant see any problem.

I have a friend who last year sent her 18 month old serving boar off. I can state from experience that he was delicious. If a little on the large side (1 chop filled a large le creuset frying pan). he was tamworth x.

Our abattoir wont take them under 50 kilos and really prefer them at around 90 l.w. Something to do with the cutter.

sunnyjohn · « **Reply #8 on:** June 16, 2009, 10:55:41 pm »

Hi and welcome! Whereabouts in Norfolk? And may I ask how you went about renting the land? Was it on offer or did you just knock on the farmer's door? And what sort of rent agrement did you sort out? I'm enquiring about renting land around Buckinghamshire, and it's proving difficult to find and arrange.

All the best

John

sandy · « **Reply #9 on:** June 17, 2009, 07:48:44 am »

Morning!!!!Rain, Rain, Rain Welcome to the forum!!!!

Farmer · « **Reply #10 on:** June 17, 2009, 09:54:50 am »

Hi Marshlady...welcome to the forum...ask your questions, I've found the people on here are all very eager to help and very knowledgeable...and quite a nice bunch really...good luck!

farmer

garden cottage · « **Reply #11 on:** June 17, 2009, 04:57:04 pm »

hi and welcome to the madhouse we raised our own gos x bershire last year and found the meat to be excellent.

Marshlady · « **Reply #12 on:** June 17, 2009, 07:53:47 pm »

Thank you for all the posts- I've been away for a few days.

I'm delighted to read that the pigs are too young to go as my instinct was just that- they need more time to mature. Talk about a learning curve! They're good fun though and, like many others' pigs of those on the forum, they are getting lots of fruit and veg rejects from the greengrocer which they seem to love. Our local abattoir doesn't like taking small consignments of animals over July and August as they're so busy so I'll plan to book them in for early September, at eight months old.

As to the field renting- well, we're really lucky as our house is converted from a couple of farmworker's cottages and we are surrounded by the fields of the farmer from whom we rent one field. They are great friends so it works very well. The rent was based on the average income from the crops from the field in the preceding few years and we pay for any fertiliser when required etc, and are responsible for keeping it well. At the moment only the horse and a couple of ponies are on it but the lambs (all two of them- as if that'll keep the grass down!) will go on once they're big enough to be safe from foxes etc. And I hope to acquire a few more sheep as, since we're keeping these two ewe lambs, we might as well have a few more and make the work worthwhile, and then we can breed from them next year as another neighbour has a very docile Jacob ram.

I have found this site really useful, though it took a while to pluck up courage to post as I really am a newbie to all this. I still have four table birds as the freezer is full...they're all girls so perhaps they'll lay a few eggs and can join my other three ageing layers.

Stablechooks · « **Reply #13 on:** October 10, 2009, 11:34:49 am »

Hi Marshlady,
How's it going/gone with the Berkshires. We're planning on having a couple of Berkshire weaners in Feb/March next year. Am getting organised with the fencing and Ark now... any further tips for a first-timer?