Tedfold Cottage Farm

The British Saddleback is a striking animal being black with a white unbroken band over the shoulders and down to both front feet. They may also have white hind feet, a white tail tip and white on the snout but this is not necessary. They have lop ears over their heads. The body is both deep and long reflecting its advantages both as an excellent breeding animal and as a producer of high quality meat. The BS is also recognised as one of the best mothers both in instinct and quality of milk produced, hence the term;

"the best 'Dam' pig you can get"

& in our opinion the best damn crackling as well!

Our Prize winning British Saddleback herd consists of our boars Tedfold Consort 2 (Clooney) and Tedfold General 45 (Depp), and our sows/gilts Muddylane Rose, Tedfold Rose, Maryrose Bell, Tedfold Bell, Maryrose Lucy, Tedfold Lucy, Clash Spot, Tedfold Spot, Chapel Lottie, Tedfold Molly and Tedfold Molly 2.

All of which (except Lottie) are from the rarer British Saddleback bloodlines.  We decided to keep the rarer BS bloodlines in order to "do our bit" to help the aims and stategies of the British Saddleback Breeders Club and the BPA. We also have 2 Exfold Princess Gloucester Old Spots (Mel & Kim), and an Oxford Sandy and black (Mary), a Middlewhite (Bluebell), and a Mangalitza (Marmite) kept purely to show pig course delegates examples of different breeds.

They are all kept outdoors all year round and from spring to autumn have access to woodland which they love, even choosing to sleep outside in a freshly dug hole each evening. The pigs quality of life is paramount for guilt (not gilt) free eating.

The Farm Animal Welfare Council, which reviews farm animal welfare and advises government on the legislative or other requirements, recommends the following Five Freedoms for farm livestock:

Here at Tedfold we strictly adhere and strive to exceed the five freedoms: We also have put Farm Health Plans (FHP) in to practice together with our local veterinary surgeons Westpoint and all our breeding stock is vaccinated against Erysipelas and Parvo virus. All visitors to the farm are required to pass through a bio-security disinfectant bath and regular reviews of the FHP and it's practices are performed. A high herd health status is very important to us.

SPOT the "other woman" in Neils life!!

Tedfold feeding regime

Our pigs are fed twice a day on sow rolls or growers pellets, dependant upon age and scraps from the vegetable patch when available. Wormers are sometimes administered inside a freshly purchased jammy doughnut - each!!

Age 2 months       - 2lbs of feed per pig per day (split into two feeds am and pm)

Age 3 months       - 3lbs

Age 4 months       - 4lbs

Age 5 months +   - 5lbs

Young gilts preparing for the show ring are given an extra 1lb per day and given access to the woods to encourage show condition and strong muscle tone. Our woods have some steep banks which helps develop a good back-end or "ham".

Sows with piglets are fed a minimum of 1lb of feed per piglet they have had (split into two feeds per day am and pm), with a minimum of 6lbs per day to begin with.  Molly pictured here has 8 piglets and so is on 8lbs per day. Feeding to maintain body score is practiced at TCF so in some sows by the time the piglets are three weeks of age can be eating double this amount.

The "old fashioned" view of draining the pig of it's back fat has been proved incorrect with the idea being that the sows change body score condition as little as possible to maximise the number of piglets in the next litter.

The first time gilts and the sows are also "flushed" before being serviced, this is increasing the food to "ad lib" for three weeks prior to service (gilts) and one week (sows) to fool the body into thinking food is plentiful and releasing more eggs to be fertilised. Our lines are very rare so every little helps in maximising the number of piglets!!

After 2 weeks growers pellets are introduced to piglets and slowly mixed with increasing amounts of sow and weaner rolls to 2lbs per day by the time the piglets are weaned at 6 to 8 weeks (ish). By the time the piglet is 8 weeks old the diet consists of just sow and weaner rolls. This is because in traditional breeds the "commercial targeted" feeds such as growers pellets, finisher pencils etc. put down too much fat on these slower growing pigs. Some breeders never even start on the pellets and go straight to sow and weaner feeds.

 If the sows farrow indoors (mostly due to vile weather conditions) or the ground is baked hard by the sun, then a freshly dug turf is offered everyday to the piglets from 1 week of age, helping to avoid the need for iron injections. If farrowing occurs indoors we aim to get the sow and piglets out within 2 weeks as they can regulate their own body temperature by then.

When the piglets are weaned the sows rations are reduced back to 5lbs immediately to aid the drying up of the milk without mastitis occurring. Don't worry if the sow looks a tad slim (if she has dropped more than half a body score then review your feeding to body score plan) with 5lbs of feed per day she will slowly regain the weight over a couple of weeks, and once her milk starts drying up you can increase the food slightly to give her a helping hand. If you are flushing her prior to service then she will be eating more anyway.

This is obviously a guideline and pigs will differ but feeding to body score we have found keeps our pigs healthy and nicely covered.

When the time comes....

When the time comes for the growers to go to slaughter, we ALWAYS send in pairs or more to try and give some comfort to the experience. We have found a small slaughter house rather than a large commercial one and the meat is prepared and packaged by a nearby butchers who specialise in locally sourced meat.

Clooney (Tedfold Consort 2) having a nice belly rub in the garden aged 8 months 

& in the ring at the Nottingham and Newark show 2011