The Life of a Blythburgh Pig

A Blythburgh pig is born in a straw filled farrowing hut located on the sandy earth of the Suffolk heritage coast. Its mother has a free range life style with the choice of being outside if it sunbathing weather or staying inside if it’s raining. Really being free range is as simple as that really, it’s giving the pig the freedom to choose to go outside or not.

The piglet spends his or her first four weeks with Mum until they are ready to be weaned off milk onto solid food.  At this stage they move from the free range breeding herd to the free range finishing herd, and they are placed in large straw filled tents or huts located in acre sized paddocks with continuous outdoor access.

Pigs are such inquisitive animals, it is instinctive for them to dig and root in the soil, which means a Blythburgh pig will nearly always have a trademark muddy nose.  This continuous activity and investigation not only leads to great muscle development but results in a slower more natural growth rate for the pig.

Intensively reared pigs are typically sent to slaughter at 18 to 19 weeks old, but Blythburgh pigs remain on the farm until they are 25 to 26 weeks old.  This extra time allows a flavour and succulence to develop within the meat that is not found in today’s intensively reared pork.