Pigs
Keeping Pigs
An all-inclusive guide to small scale pig keeping from The Accidental Smallholder covering: Introduction, Pig Terminology, Choosing Pigs, Pig Breeds, Buying, Transporting, Housing, Land and Fencing, Feeding, Health, Slaughtering, Meet Processing and Costs.
This site also contains the extremely useful and downloadable ‘All in 1 Pig Calculator, which performs all the calculations most pig keepers need. Do you know the cost of keeping your pigs? Do you know if you make a profit or break even? This simple to use calculator puts you in control of your pig keeping.
The Pig Calculator is a Microsoft Excel workbook, consisting of five spreadsheets which together allow you to record and track the costs of breeding, raising, slaughtering and butchering pigs. The calculator is produced and supported by TAS member Pete Jesper.’
A comprehensive survey of pig breeds with links to breed websites, from the Smallholder Series.
Basic principles of rearing and management of pigs, also from the Smallholder Series.
Basic pig husbandry from the Pig Site (US).
Breeding and Reproduction from The Pig Site.
‘Scotland needs more pig farmers’, a 2016 BBC article highlighting the opportunities for pig production.
‘The future is bright for Scottish pigs', a 2016 article by the NFU.
‘5 Things I learned the hard way while raising pigs’, a light-hearted article about raising free-range pigs in the US from Modern Farmer.
‘Know your cuts’ from a pig, from Modern Farmer (US).
‘Starting with pigs: A Beginners Guide’ a book by Andy Case (Broad Leys Publishing Limited (15 Aug. 2001). A review on Amazon: ‘I've read at least 10 pig books in the past couple of years, but this gets my vote as the best one for the small-scale pig keeper. Covers everything you need to know (including what to do if you have to raise piglets without the mother's help, something a surprising number of books ignore) without going into too much mind-boggling detail. There are a lot of great pig books out there, but most of them are aimed at pig farms. This is more geared towards the smallholder, pet pig owner or hobbyist.’
Pig Legislation
Livestock ID and Traceability - Pigs from the Scottish Government.
Pig Identification and Registration: Guidance for Keepers in Scotland (28 October 2011).
Code of Practice for the Welfare of Pigs from the Scottish Government (2012).
Identification and Traceability information for pigs from Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.
Examples of crofter pig businesses
An example of a crofting Pork Producer, Helen Acreman of Lochinver.
Donald MacSween from Air an Lot, Ness in Lewis is also a pig keeper.
