COTSWOLD “That’ll do pig”Feature
Rebecca Jones, also known as the Cotswold Shepherdess grew up in the Cotswolds. After eight years in Australia she returned home to become a sheep farmer and is currently promoting and supporting British farming in and around the Cotswolds. In this issue she visited Butts Farm near Cirencester and got to know the famous Old Spot pigs.
I DON’T think I haven’t met anyone that doesn’t know the line “That’ll do pig” from the movie “Babe”. As a nation we find something very amusing about pigs. They seem to have a comical
character that never fails to make us smile. One pig breed that the county can lay claim to is the Gloucestershire Old Spot. There is a sense of pride and a passion for this breed, even the Uley Brewery named a beer after it “Old Spot”. It is the oldest spotted pig
breed in the world, pink with its famous black spots appearing on all parts of its body. The many tales of how the “old spot” got its spots are many, my favourite is that when the pig would graze the orchards the apples would fall from the trees from where the pig would scratch and bruise the skin and the black spots would appear overnight. Last year saw the Centenary
for the Gloucestershire Old Spot breed society which has kept this breed going over the many years and came very close to extinction. Mr W Nixon persuaded the local farmers to sort out their stock and keep records of this breed and after agreeing the society was formed in 1913 with Volume 1 of the herd book published in 1915 with a record of all breeding boars and sows. Judy Hancox from The Butts
farm near Cirencester keeps Gloucestershire Old Spots and uses them as the emblem for the farm. Judy has been keeping pigs for 23 years which she
Inspiring life in the Cotswolds
happened upon purely by chance “I never liked pigs,” she said.
It was her friend Richard Lutwyche from the Gloucestershire Old Spot society who needed somewhere for his four pigs to go on a temporary basis that persuaded Judy to take them in and keep and after a while the pigs liked her and Judy liked the pigs. Now all these years later there
is an assortment of pigs which you can visit. Not only the Gloucester Old Spots but there is the Oxford Sandy and Black with its ginger hair and black spots which originates from the neighbouring county of Oxfordshire but also a very woolly Hungarian Mangalitzer who is full of character. They say you can eat
everything on a pig apart from its “oink” and the Old Spot meat has a very distinct flavour that you would expect of an outdoor pig. The meat is very strong in flavour and the bacon has such a wonderful smell when frying some for breakfast. Gary Wallace who is the Master Butcher at the farm shop which is now in its 11th year and also Judy’s husband can help you decide on which joint for your Sunday lunch or how thick to have you bacon sliced and can tell you which field the pig came from as they only sell their home grown pork in the shop. If you would like to visit the shop it is open Tuesday-Friday 10.00am – 6.00pm and Saturdays 08.30am – 2.00pm. The farm is open from Easter onwards.
73
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88