Jamie saves our bacon!

In response to this recent TV programme, we thought we would share with you our views and what we do here at Mill Cottage.

I think the programme gave a fair description of how commercial pig herds are run. The general public have become so far removed from the farming process that it may have seemed shocking to some. That’s not to say that we believe current methods are best practice...

Type of pigs

Commercially in the UK: Tend to be Large White / Landrace hybrid breed - a fast growing, huge pig, selected for its length (in order to maximise pork sales) and leaness.

The Mill Cottage Way: We breed Kune Kune pigs, a slow growing, grass eating pig.

Birth

Commercially in the UK: Sows are kept in groups, indoors and then a week before they are due to give birth they are moved into farrowing crates. Farrowing crates are restrictive pens, which prevent the sow from turning around and which aim to reduce the risk of the sow lying on and crushing her piglets. They will stay in these until the piglets are weaned at 4 weeks. They produce 10-12 piglets each litter, with 2.3 litters a year.

The Mill Cottage Way: We allow the sows to wander at will indoors and outdoors throughout their lives. During birth, they will make a nest in the straw and produce up to 8 piglets. The mother is very gentle when she lies down to let the piglets suckle. To date, we have not lost any piglets through being squashed. The sow always leaves the nest if she needs to defecate. The piglets do this from birth too! For the first week or so, we keep the sow and piglets in a large straw area indoors so that the piglets are not at risk from predators or drowning in the mud! The piglets are weaned at 2-3 months, when they are fully able to eat adult food. We allow our sows to have piglets once every 8 months – certainly not any sooner.

Housing

Commercially in the UK: Though illegal in Britain, sow pens will not be banned in the EU until 2013, a situation Jamie believes leaves British farmers on an uneven playing field. In the UK, 65% of pigs spend their whole lives indoors. Some are given straw but none of these pigs get to go outside. Free-range pigs live outside and sleep in small metal huts filled with straw. Only 4% of our pigs have this sort of good life but half our breeding sows are free-range.

The Mill Cottage Way: We allow the sows to wander at will indoors and outdoors throughout their lives. They keep their nests clean at all times. They are able to demonstrate natural behaviours – sleeping cuddled up together, rooting around for food, playing with a ball (if it has food inside it!)

Castration

Commercially in the UK: Male piglets are castrated because the hormones they produce as they mature gives the meat a foul taste called "boar taint". Although all male piglets used to be castrated in the UK, these days commercial pigs grow so quickly that they are usually slaughtered within the first year of their lives before they mature and therefore there is no need for castration. Only 1% of UK pigs are castrated and this usually takes place on organic or rare-breed farms where pigs grow at a slower rate. While castration is sometimes a distressing experience for the piglets, once completed, these animals enjoy a longer life, often in the highest welfare environments. In Europe, 99% of pigs are castrated as they like to grow their pigs through maturity to a bigger size.

The Mill Cottage Way: Our piglets are 9 months old when they are sent for slaughter. To prevent any "accidents" between the boar piglets and either the sow or the sow piglets we do get ours castrated by the local vet at 10 days-2 weeks old. I asked the vet if they could use local anaesthetic for this procedure and was told that the stress and pain involved in sticking a needle in was greater than the operation itself, and would not be effective as the anaesthetic would numb the skin, not the insides and it is the pulling out of the testicles that hurts. The piglets were away from me for less than 2 minutes and as soon as they were returned to their siblings in the carry cage, they resumed normal behaviour immediately.

Tail Docking

Commercially in the UK: This is done to prevent piglets biting each other’s tails and damaging them.

The Mill Cottage Way: We would never do this. The piglets are in a stimulating environment and although they play fight with each other, it never turns that vicious and as long as the pigs are not bored, they will not need docking!

Breeding

Commercially in the UK: AI is regularly used in order for the "best" boar to be used on several hundred sows at the same time. It also saves moving a boar around the country and the added stress (for the boar) and paperwork (for the owners) that this entails.

The Mill Cottage Way: Never found the boar had a problem dealing with our sows! We are happy to have the boar visit for a couple of months at a time.

Death

Commercially in the UK: Pigs go for slaughter at around 4 months. Each pig is stunned with electric tongs on its temples to knock it out. The slaughter men then have one minute to place the pig in shackles and kill it with one clean cut through the jugular. If they don't get it done within the minute then the pig will start to come round.

The Mill Cottage Way: We take our pigs personally to the slaughterhouse, leading them in without fuss or manhandling by shaking a feed bucket – they are used to this. We currently use the abattoir in Aldershot as it is the closest to ensure they are not stressed out by the process. It is also a small abattoir which deals with big farmers as well as small holding slaughters. The carcase is taken from the abattoir to Brocks Butchers where it is cut up for us. We collect it direct from the butchers for our own use. We would like to try Laverstoke Abattoir – a more upmarket place, where we are 100% certain welfare comes first. However, the costs are impractical. We will keep an eye on it.

Cooking

Commercially in the UK: British shoppers go loony for pork loin. So much so British butchers are forced to import 14 million pigs' worth to meet the demand.

The Mill Cottage Way: We get whole pig back so have all cuts! We can experiment with all the cuts of meat - even the currently unpopular ones that Jamie Oliver is trying to push: shoulder, belly, neck.

Pig ‘Em Up

Commercially in the UK: Many places serve pig products that make it unclear for the consumer to establish where it was kept, bred and slaughtered. Even with the labelling in supermarkets, it is still very unclear. Restaurants, cafes and other food outlets are even less open about where the food comes from.

The Mill Cottage Way: We like to know that our pig products were born with us, have spent their whole life with us, and have been taken personally by us to the slaughterhouse. There’s not much more local than that!

Read the Label!

Commercially in the UK: British farmers abiding by mandatory UK standards of animal welfare struggle to compete with their less constrained European cousins. "Nearly 70 per cent of what we import into this country would have come from pigs that would have been illegal to produce in this country", explains Barney Kaye from the National Pig Association.

The Mill Cottage Way: We would like to see clear labelling. Ask your butcher / supermarket where the meat comes from and how it has been reared. Even better, go to the farmers' markets and buy direct from the person who produced the product!

So, what now....?

Buy British pork.
- Look for these logos when you’re out buying your packs of meat. If British pork is not available where you shop, ask why not!
Try cheaper cuts of meat like belly, shoulder and neck fillet steak.
- If you’ve never cooked these cuts before don’t worry, because Jamie Oliver has written some delicious recipes to get you started – look online!
Demand clear labelling
- At the moment it is not a legal requirement to state where your pork is from in the EU. As minimum welfare standards in the UK are higher than in Europe I think this should be changed so that you can see clearly where your pork was farmed.
Farmers' Markets
- Buy direct from the farmer so that you can ask the questions you need to about how the animal has been kept, bred and slaughtered.
Local food outlets
- Ask the manager of your local supermarket, cafe, restaurants, pubs etc. where their pork comes from. If they don’t stock British pork, ask why not!
Waste Food Products
- Ask your supermarket Manager to look into ways of using their waste food products for pig feed. This is a complicated issue and there are many regulations around what can and can't be fed to farm animals. However, at present, all the major local supermarkets would rather send leftover / not for human consumption quality fruit, vegetables and bread to the landfill rather than giving it away as pig feed. They will only give it away if you have an official charity number! However, if enough customers asked for it we may see a change in their policies.