Our latest batch of pigs have just headed out, and they are looking great! These two sows are a Duroc/Hampshire+Landrace/Yorkshire cross, and they came to us from a large pig breeder in Alberta. The pigs are a mix of quick-growing commercial breeds, and Danish Landrace are well known for their length and excellent bacon. These pigs are long and lean(ish), and should make excellent pork.
Usually, we like to buy local piglets, but there were none available to us this spring. One strange thing that happened due to these piglets coming from a large breeder: their tails are docked. This is common for large pig operations, because pigs that are kept together in higher concentrations tend to get a bit neurotic. Sometimes, a pig will chew on the tail of the pig in front, resulting in infections and injury (which no one wants), so the solution that the large pig producers use is to dock all tails, which causes the end of each docked tail to be exquisitely sensitive. If a docked tail is chewed, the affected pig will immediately remove their tail from the zone of chewing. Our pigs still wave their tail-stubs around when they are especially happy, it just looks a little odd.
These pigs have especially enjoyed: fried chicken, and having the hose turned on so they can decide to run through the spray.
We will be accepting orders for sides from these pigs until August 12th, and thereafter will be accepting orders for freezer packs. Any pork that is left will be sold in individual pieces at the Sooke Country Market on Saturdays.