TO MARKET TO MARKET
“It’s all because some lazy bugger couldn’t be bothered to take the bread out of the bags.” Tony has spoken. I have just asked the question about how the meat crisis came about to Tony, a self-sufficient guru from Leitrim. “The feed processing plant must have chucked everything into their vats and plastic bread wrappers allegedly went into the mix too. These carcinogenic chemicals have been passed on to the animals and in turn to us”, he explains with authority.
Tony has been growing his own for years, and not just vegetables. His three-acre small holding where we are walking around on a bright winters day is home to an array of animals, pigs, chickens, goats and they are all in some way destined for the dining room table. “Pigs are fantastic recyclers.” Tony is telling me. “They will eat anything, and I mean ANYTHING… but unlike a cow, the pig only has one stomach, which makes processing things such as old plastic bags a bit more difficult.”
BACON SANDWICH
Tony is a bit of a one for conspiracy theories and feels that the scare is just the tip of the iceberg. “It’s my opinion that the whole thing is just a ruse to get Ireland into signing the Lisbon Treaty. We are heading towards a one government world…..” I thought Tony was going into one of his rants but he takes a second and sighs. “If you listen to all of the theories it will drive you mad. You would be painting up the sandwich boards with slogans about the end of the world and parading yourself up and down the high street.”
Tony did the parading up and down the street thing for a while and still has a lot of conspiracy theories. He has yet to be proved wrong, mainly because most of them are about aliens, but has decided to spend his time being productive in the garden as he feels he should be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
“Pig farmers might need to pass on their stock if they can’t sell them on, it’s a perfect time to call in to the farm and get a hold of a little porker to bring home. Chickens can be picked up for 50cent after their productive laying life has finished and after some r and r they still give you a bumper batch of eggs too.” I think he is being a bit flippant about the whole situation but I don’t challenge him, I am more intrigued to know just how practical it would be to have a little Babe running around the garden, so I ask Tony how would you go about it.
WHAT’S IN A NAME
Pigs like to be together so get two or more so they can keep each other company” he begins. “If you want one as a pet, just a word of warning… they get very big very quickly. A friend of mine had a pet pig but had to put it down when it bit the butcher, (it’s a long story….) and she couldn’t eat a bite she was so upset. Basically if you are keeping pigs for food DON’T give them a name, or you’ll never sit down to a lovely roast pork.”
“How much room does a pig need, would you be able to put one in a town garden?” I ask. “Generally each pig will need at least 150square metres to run about in, so a smallish garden would do if you could stand the mess. They need to be kept secure as they can get out of the tightest spot, you wouldn’t want to be upsetting the neighbours now. I even found some of mine taking on an electric fence once, they wouldn’t back down and I had to switch the power off in the end, they can be very stubborn sometimes. If you do electrify a fence start when they are piglets so they get wary of them instead of thinking they can win in a fight,” he continues.
A ROOTING AND A SNUFFLING
“Do they help the garden at all?” I ask. “Well, they do a lot of rooting and snuffling so don’t expect any grass or flowerbeds. They are great for clearing areas and fertilising, but like all crop rotation, don’t leave them on one piece of ground for more than two years,” Tony advises knowledgeably. It’s funny for me to think of the pigs as a crop, but I guess that is what they would be.
“Are there different types of pigs you can get? I know of someone in Fahan who has pot bellied pigs but they are pets.” I say as we head towards the heated shed where Tony is breeding one of his sows.
“ There are different types of piggies.” Tony tells me “Berkshires, Tamworth’s and Middle Whites, they are the fastest growing ones. They all like mud but contrary to popular belief are quite clean animals. Did you know they have different names for different sizes? Tony asks me. I didn’t. “Go on.” I prompt,
“There are the Porkies weighing in at 60-75 kg. Then cutters at 76-85 kg and the Baconers at 86-104kg. They grow very quickly and sometimes it’s only a matter of weeks before they are at the Porkies stage.” Tony points to his pens. “ I made those out of sheets of corrugated iron and pallets. The pigs love them and they are easily moved around.”
“What will I feed them if I decide to invest in a couple?” I ask.
“Now there’s a question, feed them all of you scraps and certified feed, check out the DEFRA site, whatever you decide on, make sure you take it out of the wrapper first…”
“It’s all because some lazy bugger couldn’t be bothered to take the bread out of the bags.” Tony has spoken. I have just asked the question about how the meat crisis came about to Tony, a self-sufficient guru from Leitrim. “The feed processing plant must have chucked everything into their vats and plastic bread wrappers allegedly went into the mix too. These carcinogenic chemicals have been passed on to the animals and in turn to us”, he explains with authority.
Tony has been growing his own for years, and not just vegetables. His three-acre small holding where we are walking around on a bright winters day is home to an array of animals, pigs, chickens, goats and they are all in some way destined for the dining room table. “Pigs are fantastic recyclers.” Tony is telling me. “They will eat anything, and I mean ANYTHING… but unlike a cow, the pig only has one stomach, which makes processing things such as old plastic bags a bit more difficult.”
BACON SANDWICH
Tony is a bit of a one for conspiracy theories and feels that the scare is just the tip of the iceberg. “It’s my opinion that the whole thing is just a ruse to get Ireland into signing the Lisbon Treaty. We are heading towards a one government world…..” I thought Tony was going into one of his rants but he takes a second and sighs. “If you listen to all of the theories it will drive you mad. You would be painting up the sandwich boards with slogans about the end of the world and parading yourself up and down the high street.”
Tony did the parading up and down the street thing for a while and still has a lot of conspiracy theories. He has yet to be proved wrong, mainly because most of them are about aliens, but has decided to spend his time being productive in the garden as he feels he should be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
“Pig farmers might need to pass on their stock if they can’t sell them on, it’s a perfect time to call in to the farm and get a hold of a little porker to bring home. Chickens can be picked up for 50cent after their productive laying life has finished and after some r and r they still give you a bumper batch of eggs too.” I think he is being a bit flippant about the whole situation but I don’t challenge him, I am more intrigued to know just how practical it would be to have a little Babe running around the garden, so I ask Tony how would you go about it.
WHAT’S IN A NAME
Pigs like to be together so get two or more so they can keep each other company” he begins. “If you want one as a pet, just a word of warning… they get very big very quickly. A friend of mine had a pet pig but had to put it down when it bit the butcher, (it’s a long story….) and she couldn’t eat a bite she was so upset. Basically if you are keeping pigs for food DON’T give them a name, or you’ll never sit down to a lovely roast pork.”
“How much room does a pig need, would you be able to put one in a town garden?” I ask. “Generally each pig will need at least 150square metres to run about in, so a smallish garden would do if you could stand the mess. They need to be kept secure as they can get out of the tightest spot, you wouldn’t want to be upsetting the neighbours now. I even found some of mine taking on an electric fence once, they wouldn’t back down and I had to switch the power off in the end, they can be very stubborn sometimes. If you do electrify a fence start when they are piglets so they get wary of them instead of thinking they can win in a fight,” he continues.
A ROOTING AND A SNUFFLING
“Do they help the garden at all?” I ask. “Well, they do a lot of rooting and snuffling so don’t expect any grass or flowerbeds. They are great for clearing areas and fertilising, but like all crop rotation, don’t leave them on one piece of ground for more than two years,” Tony advises knowledgeably. It’s funny for me to think of the pigs as a crop, but I guess that is what they would be.
“Are there different types of pigs you can get? I know of someone in Fahan who has pot bellied pigs but they are pets.” I say as we head towards the heated shed where Tony is breeding one of his sows.
“ There are different types of piggies.” Tony tells me “Berkshires, Tamworth’s and Middle Whites, they are the fastest growing ones. They all like mud but contrary to popular belief are quite clean animals. Did you know they have different names for different sizes? Tony asks me. I didn’t. “Go on.” I prompt,
“There are the Porkies weighing in at 60-75 kg. Then cutters at 76-85 kg and the Baconers at 86-104kg. They grow very quickly and sometimes it’s only a matter of weeks before they are at the Porkies stage.” Tony points to his pens. “ I made those out of sheets of corrugated iron and pallets. The pigs love them and they are easily moved around.”
“What will I feed them if I decide to invest in a couple?” I ask.
“Now there’s a question, feed them all of you scraps and certified feed, check out the DEFRA site, whatever you decide on, make sure you take it out of the wrapper first…”
