Down on the farm
Our smallholding seems to be coming along fairly well. We started out with the use of one field. The upper portion of this field was covered with dense bracken. Lower down it was extremely boggy and infested with deadly poisonous hemlock.
We concluded after some research that only pigs could survive on the brackeny bit , while the bog was definitely out of bounds to any livestock. Furthermore only Tamworth pigs would be up to the job of digging up and eating all of the bracken without being poisoned by it. With the bog securely fenced off it took our two weaner gilts a year to destroy all greenery in their paddock. Another 6 months after moving the pigs on to fresh bracken and we were able to introduce angora goats onto the fresh grass , rushes and assorted edible weeds which were now established.
These days our Tamworth sows and boar are
producing 4 litters of piglets a year between them and still menacing the local
bracken. 5 Angora goats and one little pygmy billy goat are hopefully going to
start producing pygoras in the spring.
Mother & piglets. New - born piglets.