1. Pigs – did you know?
The male, or boar, will be kept with the sows until they are pregnant. Alternatively, some farmers will artificially inseminate the sows. Boars are used to make the sows stand in the correct place when she is ready to be served (inseminated). The sows are placed in stalls so that they can be inseminated with the boar in front of them.
Today's pig industry has been influenced by 6000 years of history. From the start pigs were bred to consume waste products, fertilise the land and obviously provide essential meat. Both the Greeks and Romans ate pork and history books refer to ‘swine’ being kept as early as 800BC. At one time most people in Britain would have kept a pig however this is very rare now and pigs are generally reared on specialised pig farms.
A female pig, which has produced piglets, is called a sow. A female pig which has never had any piglets is called a gilt and a weaner is a piglet which has been taken off its mother at 28 days. They will then be known as finishers.
A sow (pregnant for three months, three weeks and three days) will produce about piglets each time. On average, a sow will have six litters in her lifetime
All sorts of products are made using pork including sausages, bacon and ham. The Romans first brought sausages to Britain which they called salsisium, meaning ‘something salted’.
Piglets are usually born at night; they weigh around 1kg at birth and can walk very soon after. Instinctively they make their way to the sow’s udder to suckle for milk. It is important to get the balance of welfare for the sow and piglet. Sows are quite clumsy and often lie on their piglets; therefore they are often placed in pens to prevent this from happening.
Adult pigs eat cereal grains like corn and soya bean meal which provides them with protein and carbohydrates and their diet is supplemented with vitamins and minerals. Pigs are also fed the waste products from milk, distilleries and bakers. It is essential that there is no meat in the waste products. A typical sow eats over 1 tonne of food each year.
Pork offal, such as trotters, kidney, liver, heart and lungs are used to make a variety of dishes including pâté, faggots and brawn. Black pudding is made from pork blood, combined with onion, herbs, spices and oatmeal or barley.
Finishers are weaned onto a solid diet at around four weeks old when they weigh 7kg. By 15 weeks they weigh over 60kg and at weeks they weigh kg.