Meet our Friday guest Hogger ... Maisy the Berkshire

Yes... it's me in the field with my piglets! The Guest Hogger this Friday evening.

Maisy is my name and I was born at Le Logis, Cours in France. I am a Pedigree Berkshire Sow with attitude! and have a posh Pedigree name  - registered as 'Le Logis Lady 4 " however,  you can call me Maisy or Maise, I answer to both.

I live a happy and free life here in France - often sharing a paddock with my litter sister Daisy, who I argue with all the time - just like sisters do,  and our mate "Lucky" the Jones's first Berkshire boar. I am fed twice a day; able to root to my hearts content , and also to spend quality time with my piglets.  All stress free...

Likes: plums and extra scoops of pig nuts and my favourite boar is "Lucky" 
Dislikes: having my ears bitten by my sister Daisy

My mum came from a farm in Devon called Dittisham Farm and Dad, he was from another farm in Devon called Smallicombe.  They met at Le Logis Rarebreed Pigs in France, where Lorraine and David Jones have been building their Berkshire herd for 5 years now. 

"OK Maisy - thanks for the Berkshire Introduction and for being our 'Friday Guest Hogger'.  Good luck with your next farrowing in three weeks time." Will let you hog the news...

A little more info about why we chose Berkshires ...

The Berkshire pig was our first pig and what a breed it is!

Back in 2009 we decided to keep pigs, after a lot of research on what pig would be good for us  - the Berkshire came out tops.  

Why? Great temperament; hardy; manageable size and suited to an outdoor system. They reach slaughter weight of 60-65 kgs by about 24 - 26 weeks. Great porkers with a lovely character. The oldest rarebreed on record and on the vulnerable list with the Rare Breed Survival Trust RBST. To eat them is to conserve them!

They make a perfect pig for the first timer and the taste of the meat is second to none.  The pork is highly prized by food lovers in Australia, USA and Japan where it is known as Kurobuta pork or ‘The Black Pork’, which must be from one hundred per cent pure bred Berkshire pigs. 

It has taken us nearly 5 years to build our Berkshire breeding stock and today we have a total 7 Pedigree Berkshire sows and 2 Pedigree Berkshire boars. All our Berkshires come from prize winning herds.  

We are very passionate about the pork we produce and in order to achieve this we make sure that the pigs have a stress free environment throughout their life - even until the end. We always take our pigs off to the abattoir in twos or three's and give them practice in getting on and off our trailer before they go for slaughter, which is a 25 minutes drive away from our farm.  All designed to ensure their last journey is as stress free as possible. We know the abattoir well and our pigs often get a smile from the vet inspector when they arrive , they are dealt with immediately by the abbattoir and not held overnight in pens.
We are proud of our pigs and the high welfare conditions that we provide.

After slaughter we take our carcasses to a local Agricultural College in Bressuire - and we are qualified to use their cutting rooms in order to cut and pack our pork under the guidance of French Artisan butchers to European CE quality standards. We produce meat cut to both French and British standards, as well as sausages, hams and charcuterie such as rillettes and pates.

Today we are selling breeding stock to many French 'eleveurs' who are hearing about "Berkshire pork". 
Meanwhile you can buy our Berkshire pork at Le Logis or at Champdeniers Market on a Saturday morning - next market September 6.

To know more about Berkshire pigs take a look at the official website http://www.berkshirepigs.co.uk. 

Why not attend one of our Piggy taster sessions with a group of friends and know more about how your pork arrives on your plate.