Snuggly shelterbelts

Look who got into the shelterbelt yesterday...I think she was looking for grubs, but in the process of digging them up she disrupted a couple of our newly-planted natives!

They might be small at the moment, but in a few years these trees will provide valuable shelter for the pigs (and us).

Shelterbelts keep animals warm and protect crops. Our pigs will be able to use all their energy for growing, rather than shivering in the cold winds.

More on the science of native shelterbelts coming soon to the blog...

What’s special about Wessex Saddlebacks?

The Wessex Saddleback is critically endangered – there are less than 30 new registrations of sows each year. They’re extinct in England, and purebreds exist only in Australia and New Zealand.

There’s a bit of argument about where they came from, but most people say the New Forest area in England. The reason the numbers dropped in the UK was because intensive pig farming became trendy in the mid 1900s, and the Wessex Saddlebacks were more suited to being free-range. They’re a hardy lot who are into rooting – the ground, that is.

When the numbers got dangerously low in England the Wessex Saddlebacks were crossed with the Essex breed – which look a bit the same, but are different genetically. The result was the British Saddleback.

Fortunately before this “blending” 17 Wessex Saddlebacks were brought to Australia between 1931 and 1953.

The Wessex Saddleback is one of the most un-altered breeds around, and is probably the closest to the Landrace pigs that foraged for centuries in the woods of England.

We’ve got a particularly rare line on our farm, called the Mary line.

We find the Wessex Saddlebacks have got beautiful temperaments…they’d be no good for the rumoured destroying of evidence, they seem to have more of a taste for green grass and the chocolate in their feed mix.

And there’s a particular spot on their back that they love having rubbed. Our boar Domino will almost knock you over when he gets excited having his back scratched.

Juicy, juicy roast pork

We had roast pork for lunch today, with crunchy crackling and homemade gravy. The sow who contributed to the meal was one of our first piglets on the farm. The meat was juicy and quite dark, and certainly not like the dry, white pork too many of us have had before.

I followed Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s suggestions for cooking roasts in his Meat Book: salt, pepper, oil and thyme rubbed into the skin; a half-hour sizzle at high heat; and then a couple of hours at 160 degrees c.

Two nights ago we sampled the first cuts from the sow. Fresh from the abattoir, we had loin chops marinated in garlic, honey, lemon juice and black pepper. I sealed the chops in a fry pan on moderate heat, and then cooked them for a couple more minutes. They were served on mash with stir-fried carrots, broccoli, capsicum and ginger. The marinade was subtle enough for the flavour of the pork to come through.

Winter’s wet weather continues into Spring. Just when the puddles have evaporated to a squishy mud hole, they fill again. The pigs seem to be enjoying the soft soil for digging, but it’s putting the vegetable garden very much behind. So far I’ve been able to dig enough ground for garlic, onions, a row of carrots, a few different brassicas and a good patch of rhubarb. Let’s just hope the broad beans, peas and potatoes can catch up.

We can’t complain though when the dams are overflowing and everything is green and freshly-washed.