Breeding pigs for the chop

RAISING your own pig can surely qualify you as someone steeped in country life – and there is a growing trend to do just that among the British population in France.

Professional breeder Lyn Smith, who has been raising pigs for six years, says she is keen to encourage people to raise their own pork.

“If you have your own pig, you know that it has hopefully had a good life and you know what it has eaten,” she said.

Today she breeds around 60 pigs a year, but two years ago was producing up to 130. She specialises in Gloucestershire old spots: “They are intelligent animals and should be treated with respect.”

“Here you are much more likely to have enough land, and the regulations for private individuals are less strict. So it is a real possibility for anyone in France,” she said. “A lot of people have also been influenced by TV programmes such as River Cottage, Jimmy’s Farm and Kill it, Cook it, Eat it and realised it was something they could do here.”

While Lyn is a professional pig breeder, it is feasible for anyone with no experience to undertake such a project.

Sharon Smith bought two piglets from Lyn, rearing them and killing them in time for Christmas.

“My husband and I built a shelter out of corrugated galvanised steel and put in a layer of hay and straw. We penned off an area with two strands of electrified wire fairly low to the ground – 20 and 40cm. When they had rooted out everything in one, patch we would move them.

“They do an amazing job clearing the land – they are the best rotavators going. They even manure as they go.”

Occasionally the pigs did escape, but were quickly brought back by her sons, who lured them with food. The pigs were fed on kitchen waste – never meat – and special pig food bought at the co-op
agricole. “We used to scratch their backs, and they were always happy to see us, grunting cheerfully as we came up to them,” said Sharon.

So what was it like when local farmer Jean-Pierre Neyrat came by to kill them?

“I was worried that it would be difficult; I stayed in the house while he did the deed. I had been out to see them earlier that morning and there was a lump in my throat when I realised that this would be the last time.

“It was easier than I had expected.

I always knew that this was why I had got the pigs. It is much better eating them than buying cellophane-wrapped pork from the shops.”

Sharon was lucky to have a neighbouring farmer, experienced in butchering and with his own abattoir, who was keen to help and show how to cut the pig into joints and make sausages and paté.

Because not all farmers have this experience, Ms Smith advises using the municipal abattoir, where they do health checks and must abide by rigorous standards. Pigs also need to be registered, but, as all departments have different rules. that is something to check with the prefecture.

Sharon says she will do it again. “Always have at least two, because pigs are social creatures and are unhappy alone. Always have a plan for the end: how to kill and butcher them, because you cannot do that yourself without help.

“You can love them, but don’t get too attached, to the point where you can’t kill them. If you have enough land, the whole project is a win-win situation.”