# Our new pig!!!



## maple hill farm tina (Mar 14, 2010)

Hi, everyone!
My family and I put down a deposit on a breeding pair of Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs last spring. The gilt was born in July, and she came home yesterday. We'll pick our boar out from a litter that's coming this month, and then he'll come home in December. We're SO pleased with our gilt, though, that I had to share some photos. She's docile, friendly, and already follows my kids around the pasture like a little pup. We've named her Biscuits (and her mate will be called Gravy). So, here she is...


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

She's so cute!


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

She's a cute little piggie . 
Are you going to be raising her and the boar for the freezer, or to breed?


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## maple hill farm tina (Mar 14, 2010)

Biscuits and Gravy will be our breeders, and we'll let them have one farrowing each year. From that, we'll keep about four or five to raise and then butcher and then sell the others. GOS pigs usually have between 8-12 pigs each farrowing, so we should have plenty left over to sell each year. We've wanted them for a long time, so I'm really excited about her arrival...


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

That should be great.


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## Momma2many (Aug 3, 2012)

That is alot of pork in the freezer!!! I want to get a pig for our freezer this year.


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## maple hill farm tina (Mar 14, 2010)

Yep! Momma2many, that's a lot of pork - especially since GOS pigs get to be about 400 pounds when they're full grown. But we have a large family (we have five children, and we share our farm stuff with my parents who live next door), so we'll definitely use it all.  Plus, with the price of meat in general in the stores lately, it's getting harder and harder to keep it on the table. This was a big expense up front, but it should pay for itself in no time...
Thanks, Woodhaven, I am really excited about it all.


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

maple hill farm tina said:


> Biscuits and Gravy will be our breeders, and we'll let them have one farrowing each year. From that, we'll keep about four or five to raise and then butcher and then sell the others. GOS pigs usually have between 8-12 pigs each farrowing, so we should have plenty left over to sell each year. We've wanted them for a long time, so I'm really excited about her arrival...


That sounds great Tina! This way you can have the fun of raising and training two piglets that you can allow yourself to get attached to  and next year you'll have a freezer full of "cruelty-free" pork with no hormones or any of the other stuff you get with grocery store pork.


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## Momma2many (Aug 3, 2012)

I totally understand the wanting to be some what self sustaining. I would love to be able to live on 6acres and have a milk cow an have a baby eat year for freezer along with a couple of piggies.


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## maple hill farm tina (Mar 14, 2010)

Yep, Meredith, that's the plan! The whole reason why we chose this, particular breed is because they feed mostly on pasture, they're extremely hardy and disease resistant, they're good mothers, they're docile, and they're supposed to have extremely tasty meat. It sounded like a win-win situation for us...


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## maple hill farm tina (Mar 14, 2010)

Momma2many said:


> I totally understand the wanting to be some what self sustaining. I would love to be able to live on 6acres and have a milk cow an have a baby eat year for freezer along with a couple of piggies.


That's the whole reason why we moved here from Florida, Momma2many. We're still learning (and I suspect it will be a learning process for many, many years), but we've never looked back...


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

maple hill farm tina said:


> Yep! Momma2many, that's a lot of pork - especially since GOS pigs get to be about 400 pounds when they're full grown. But we have a large family (we have five children, and we share our farm stuff with my parents who live next door), so we'll definitely use it all.  Plus, with the price of meat in general in the stores lately, it's getting harder and harder to keep it on the table. This was a big expense up front, but it should pay for itself in no time...
> Thanks, Woodhaven, I am really excited about it all.


Tina, I just have to say that posts like this give me hope for the future of America. I love that your parents live next door. It sounds like you have a wonderful family, and a great family farm. I wish there were more families out there like yours .


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Cute pig! Congratulations!


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## RandomGoats (Sep 14, 2012)

Awe very cute


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## maple hill farm tina (Mar 14, 2010)

Zarafia said:


> Tina, I just have to say that posts like this give me hope for the future of America. I love that your parents live next door. It sounds like you have a wonderful family, and a great family farm. I wish there were more families out there like yours .


Thanks, Meridith. I'm not saying it's always easy to live next door to my parents (I'm 38, and they're not in the best health, and we don't always agree on everything), but it's important for me and for my kids. And I wouldn't live anywhere else...


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## Momma2many (Aug 3, 2012)

maple hill farm tina said:


> Thanks, Meridith. I'm not saying it's always easy to live next door to my parents (I'm 38, and they're not in the best health, and we don't always agree on everything), but it's important for me and for my kids. And I wouldn't live anywhere else...


I am with you. I live next door to my parents. I wouldnt trade it for the world, but some times my dad can drive me nuts. He is 7yrs older then my mom and well a guy. :ROFL: When I get my goat babies, we will be using their pasture.


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## maple hill farm tina (Mar 14, 2010)

Sounds good, Momma2many. We discovered that it causes much fewer problems for us, though, if we don't share pasture. Dad's horses don't get along with my goats... I promised myself years and years ago that my kids would be close to their grandparents because I never had any (both sets passed away before I was born). Whatever I need to do to make that work, I'm doing...


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

Very nice looking pig! Congratulations! That's exactly what I want to do when we move to acreage. I looked at another heritage breed the other day that was a smallish black pig... good on pasture and easily handled (just cant remember the exact name of the breed..)


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## maple hill farm tina (Mar 14, 2010)

Thanks, everyone! We really like her. Hmmm...Milkandhoney, I think I know what you're talking about, but I can't remember the name either...


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

Guinea hogs! I looked them up...I like the name..since they couldn't call them guinea pigs...


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## maple hill farm tina (Mar 14, 2010)

Yeah, that's it! They're cute! Littler than mine will be once they're grown and very, very cute. I checked out their registry site. Good info there...


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## thegoatgirl (Nov 27, 2011)

OMG, I am sooooo jealous!!! I have wanted one of those for a LONG time! We were thinking about getting one, but they're SOOOO expensive around here! What is her personality like? And congrats!


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Just beautiful! And so cute!


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## maple hill farm tina (Mar 14, 2010)

Thanks, Ariella and Kylee! Yes, Ariella, they were a bit pricey, but I really think they'll pay for themselves in a very short time...


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## Momma2many (Aug 3, 2012)

maple hill farm tina said:


> Sounds good, Momma2many. We discovered that it causes much fewer problems for us, though, if we don't share pasture. Dad's horses don't get along with my goats... I promised myself years and years ago that my kids would be close to their grandparents because I never had any (both sets passed away before I was born). Whatever I need to do to make that work, I'm doing...


My parents are gone alot throughout the year for their business. It is my old horse pasture, they do not use it. They actually let the neighbors horses in it to keep the grass down. So I am just gonna let my goats mow it now. 

I know that my kids absolutely love having their grandparents next door. When the holidays come around, my mom always has the girls over to bake with them. My girls are almost 12yr and 10 1/2yrs old, so they will have these memories for a very long time.


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