Our Pigs
(September 2026)
_edited.jpg)
For the past decade, we have been breeding Oxford Sandy and Black pigs here on our farm, selling the marvellous meat we produce through our on-farm butchery and the Larder Café.
We chose the Oxford Sandy and Black breed for their gentle nature and fantastic characteristics, as well as their ability to produce delicious pork joints for roasting and sausages for our customers.
When we first looked to acquire some Oxford Sandy and Black pigs, we were lucky enough to meet Pat and Pete Colson Oxford Sandy & Black Pig Society. Their knowledge of pig keeping, the breed’s lineage and bloodlines helped us establish our own
OSB herd here.
We now proudly have ten registered breeding sows, with the bloodlines of Cynthia, Clare and Iris, and two breeding boars, Trevor and Paul, both from the Jack bloodline.
Through careful breeding and sharing bloodlines, we have worked hard to create a business where the breed can be used to its fullest potential. By using the farm to supply the butchery, and the butchery to supply the café, we have made this traditional breed a viable part of our farm’s economy. In return, we can help keep the Oxford Sandy and Black breed alive and well for the future of
UK farming.​
Our sows farrow (give birth to piglets) on average once every 10–12 months, with litters of around 9–10 piglets. From each litter, we look to keep males or females that conform to breeding standards, including correct markings and colouring, ears (no pricked ears), underlines (teats in alignment) and a good overall appearance.
Those not kept for breeding are grown on the farm until they are 12–18 months old before being used for the butchery side
of the business.
The pigs spend most of their lives outside, growing slowly over the course of the year. They are only brought into the barns during extreme weather, such as excessive heat, extreme cold or prolonged wet spells.
%20(1).jpg)
​
As a traditional breed, the Oxford Sandy and Black does not lend itself particularly well to reaching slaughter weight within six months. We allow up to 10 months of slow growth, only increasing the feed afterwards to add any additional fat required. Through experience, we judge their body shape and size to determine the right time for slaughter.
We use a local abattoir, just 35 minutes from the farm, to dispatch the pigs, minimising stress for the animals. We collect the carcasses the following day, bring them back to the farm’s cutting room to be butchered, and have the meat ready to sell
that weekend.
For us, it is about producing a high-quality, traditional product from animals raised slowly and with the care they deserve. From the fields, through our butchery and finally to the customer’s plate, we are proud to follow the whole journey.
It is a way of farming we believe in, allowing us to play our part in protecting the Oxford Sandy and Black for future generations. We are incredibly proud of our herd and what we have built here, and look forward to continuing to breed these wonderful pigs and sharing their fantastic produce with our customers for many
years to come
“Flaming June” and “making hay whilst the sun shines”
(June 2026)
“Flaming June” and “making hay whilst the sun shines” are two old sayings that rung very true last month.
With an early heatwave in late May and a second a few weeks later, plus some rain in between, the grass-growing situation seems to have been fairly favourable. Although they won’t be bumper crops, compared with last year’s early drought and lack of rain, we’ve had just enough to keep the grass green and growing. There should be enough fodder in the barns to see us through the autumn and winter.
In a climate of change and instability, some things in farming never change: the ability to accept and adapt to the conditions we’re dealt, and the unending optimism that next year things will be easier and better!
Spring voices, shifting seasons
(May 2026)
_JPG.jpg)
From late frosts to early heatwaves, the weather continues to test even the most seasoned growers. Whatever we want to believe or ignore, a change is occurring, and there is very likely more on its way. But there are still plenty of seasonal norms to be enjoyed: walks in the woods, trips to the seaside, shearing the sheep, and gardening in both sun and rain.
Around the farm, the songbirds are in full spring voice, busy feeding and nesting. Swallows are appearing high overhead and, for the first time in three years, somewhere in the direction of Page Hill, a cuckoo has been heard.
Around the ungrazed margins of the solar park, with its habitat of scrub, long grass, seed heads, and insects, goldfinches are in abundance and making
the most of the feast on offer.
What June has up its sleeve, we will have to wait and see...
Between blossom and rain
(April 2026)
After another mild and wet winter, April starts again with unfavourable growing conditions. Cold mornings and warm, dry days mean the promised April showers seem to be holding away. Rain dances throughout May might be called upon.
The last of the sheep have lambed and left the sheds; the cattle have moved out of the winter yards and are enjoying their summer home in the meadows. Fences have been replaced and repaired for the months to come.
The trees and hedgerows have shown a fantastic display of blossoms and young leaves. If not a month earlier than planned, the order in which they appear remains the same. The frosting of the May blossom on green hedgerow is the crescendo of the spring flowers before the heat of early summer arrives.
Tim's end of summer summary
(September 2025)
To state the sweatingly obvious: that was a long, dry, and mostly hot spring and summer.

​
Over the past week, the grass has just turned a funny greenish colour—a long-forgotten reminder of what grass should look like.
It is amazing how being surrounded by desert colours becomes the norm!
​
The animals fared well considering the lack of anything green to eat. But with hay crop yields 75% down and no silage having been made, a warm autumn and a late flush of grass would be much welcomed to keep winter feeding to a minimum.
​​
​News from the Pigsty!
A famous boar, Ajax (previously of Season 3 of Clarkson’s Farm), came to visit for his summer holidays. Hopefully, his presence on the farm will bring us some fresh bloodlines in the form of piglets in the next couple of months. Our three homebred sows—Daphne, Camilla, and Claudia—didn’t seem overly impressed by his past résumé, but we were accommodating enough and made him feel part of the family during his stay.
From our last litters of Oxford Sandy and Black pigs, we have three gilts (future mums) and three boars (future dads) that look to be of good breeding standard, ready to go on to other farms around the country and help work towards keeping the breed alive and well.
​
On a positive harvest note, the apple trees have been laden with fruit! (Due in part to the lack of rain and the stressful summer the trees faced.) This means plenty of fresh apple juice for the café and plenty of apples for the pigs to scoff—making them as happy as pigs in a sizeable heap of fallen apples!
