The good life for pigs
Louisa Ellerker
During this scorching weather on the farm we are keeping a close eye on the animals to make sure they have enough shade and water. As most farm animals don’t have sweat glands, we have to provide an environment to suit their cooling down needs. For a pig, that is a great big mud wallow which they tend to create themselves by rooting a hole, and we then fill it up with water. The mud on their skin allows them to cool down, and I also think it looks like they’re having fun!
A side-effect for pigs in this heat, however, is that conception is difficult, leading to potential summer infertility. Rosie, our Berkshire sow, is currently in with Vinny, our Duroc boar. In biodynamic farming practices there is little intervention, so we have to make sure there is plenty of shade and space for wallows, as well as planning a winter-based breeding calendar to minimise infertility.
I’ve been reading the headlines recently around supermarket Parma ham from sow crates in the EU. This terrible practice is a way to fully control the sow by limiting their movements, independence, and choice to conceive and prevents a pig’s natural inhibitions and connection to their astral body. It does make one consider that with heavily controlled practices, like these sow crates, productivity pressures are overriding animal welfare.
I feel incredibly proud that the pork we produce has come from an environment where the piglets, sow and boar have been able to positively explore their physical and astral bodies. Currently, Rosie and Vinny are in a spot in the garden so they are enjoying lots of fresh greens, and hopefully with some cooler weather we can expect some piglets in a few months!
