Beowulf

I have been busy on the smallholding carrying out a number of small but necessary tasks as we approach Spring and a new growing season and lambing time. The extra daylight hours and the recent clement weather has been very helpful to this end. I have also been busy with a non-smallholding related project, hence the recent scarcity of posts. 

Today was an important day because we collected a new boar. Our old boar, Alfred, was too large and heavy for the two young gilts we have been growing on and he has gone on to pastures new. 

We have been looking for a new young boar for a little while but registered pedigree Saddleback boars are not easy to source. There are in fact currently only just over one hundred in the UK. There will be more soon as breeders will be producing new litters but we needed one that is mature enough to service our gilts who are just reaching breeding age.

Before we found our new boar I used AI (that is artificial insemination, not artificial intelligence) on one of the gilts, who looked like she was in season, two weeks ago. We saw a young boar advertised not too far from us in Downham Market and went to view him last week. Today we brought him home.

We have named him Beowulf (all our pigs have Anglo-Saxon names, and you can't get more Anglo-Saxon than that). He was born last July so is only 7 months old, but old enough to do what we expect of him. He is being kept apart from the other pigs for a week and then they will be moved in with each other. In the photographs you might observe slight foaming at the mouth. He can detect the ladies but has no access to them yet.

He is a fine looking British Saddleback boar and has all the required characteristics to be registered pedigree. For those in the know, his sire bloodline is Consort and his dam is Lottie.