Fanfare ... Launch of Sallygardens Pig Rearing e-Booklet

When we first started offering pig rearing courses to smallholders here at Sallygardens we got a steady flow of interested participants. Its been a real pleasure meeting other like minded people setting off into the world of self sufficiency and more often than not the teaching and learning has been a two way process. Many of our visitors have had expertise in other areas of interest to ourselves. Some have even kept pigs before on an intensive commercial basis and were delighted to see how things might work at the opposite end of the scale.

What I hadn't anticipated was the high level of interest expressed by people, not only from all over the country, but also from abroad. Since many folk can't travel to us for our two hour course, and at times we don't have live pigs on the smallholding, so we decided to offer an alternative in the form of an e-booklet that covers all the topics you need to start with raising weaners for the table. It's aimed at the smallholder and currently includes details of Irish agricultural law, but as requests for the booklet are received from abroad I'll be adding sections for the UK, USA and Australia.

Heres an introductory paragraph from the booklet:
Why I decided to write this booklet
We began life on our smallholding in the Spring of 2005. With no previous experience of livestock, and only a dabbling in fruit and vegetable growing, the learning curve was exponential! Hours, days, even months were spent researching everything from pigs to potatoes. Books, forums, websites and friends were, and still are, valued sources of information. As we progressed we collated all the collected knowledge in various files and boxes … this booklet is a distillation of all those nuggets of wisdom, something we wish we had found presented to us in one useful source! I hope that in these pages you will benefit from our research and save yourself hours of time, with information at your fingertips, direction to further sources and plenty of inspiration.

If you wish to buy the e-booklet please leave a comment on this post and I will contact you directly with a Paypal invoice or you can arrange to post a snail mail cheque. The e-booklet will be emailed to you on receipt of payment and costs €8 for an emailed version, or €10 for a hardcopy printout (A4 pages) plus postage.

I'm also working on similar e-booklets about goats, and another on poultry.

Comments

[Podchef]

Rebecca and Dan Hillman have done what many of us dream to do--leave the rat-race behind and set up a smallholding in the country. And they have leapt into it in a big way.
From self-sufficiency, to bio-fuels, to livestock keeping the Hillmans and their children have embraced the rural life with gusto. Fully aware of the hardships and work smallholding can present, Rebecca and Dan constantly research activities they are interested in before they tackle them. Nowhere has this yielded better results than in their pig keeping.

Rebecca and Dan approach the topic of pig rearing with a fresh and practical eye. From the first time they brought weaners home to their Sallygarden smallholding to the night they fell back exhausted from processing sausages from their own carefully raised, and loved pigs, they have shared their porcine adventure with the world via their blog (http://sallygardens.typepad.com/sallygardens/ ), their workshops (http://sallygardens.typepad.com/sallygardens/workshops_courses/index.html), and now a thoughtfully put together and informative e-book on Pig Rearing.

Whether you are considering raising a few piglets to slaughter age, are planning a switch from conventional pig rearing to a more natural, pasture-based method, or a interested in how meat can be humanely raised, the Sallygarden E-Book, "Rearing Weaners for the Table" is worth a look. From practical considerations of what to wear when working with your pigs, health and safety for you and your porky friends, to animal husbandry matters of selecting a breed to raise and how best to feed, water and house your pigs, this book is filled with insightful information.

Written in a clear and easy-going manner "Rearing Weaners for the Table" is full of advice and practical tips learned through experience. Although written specifically about rearing pigs in Ireland, this book is practical enough to suit anyone reading in the UK, and has much to recommend it to Canadian and American smallholders wishing to keep pigs. In addition to practical information on the logistics of keeping pigs, finding a slaughterhouse, and what to do with all of the delicious meat, this book is full of anecdotes of Rebecca and Dan’s experiences, photos and a helpful spreadsheet of costs associated with the venture.

I’ve always enjoyed keeping pigs. In general they are social and amiable creatures. They are easy enough for beginners to care for and have minimal requirements to be healthy, happy and tasty. In a world filled with food contamination scares, genetically-modified cyber foods, E-numbers in everything, and industrial scale cruelty to the animals raised for the food we eat, it is good to know that with a little determination, and a practical guide like "Rearing Weaners for the Table" you can provide a safe and healthy source of meat for your family while taking care of and enjoying the company of some of the most delicious and hilarious livestock worth keeping.

Neal Foley
Aka Podchef
The Gastrocast Podcast
http://kitchengardens.net
[email protected]

Neal Foley is the host of “The Gastrocast” a weekly cooking show on “food, farming and the politics of what we eat”. He trained as a chef at Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry Cork, and smallholds on 7 acres. He is a sustainability expert, holds cooking and agricultural workshops, and has pasture raised pigs off and on for the last 16 years, in addition maintaining an assortment of cattle, sheep, chickens, cats, dogs and daughters.

[Rebecca (Sallygardens Smallholding)]

Neal, sincere thanks for your kind review.

[The Friendly Farmer]

The Secret to Keeping Your Pigs Happy and Healthy
by The Friendly Farmer
http://thefriendlyfarmer.blogspot.com/2008/03/secrets-to-keeping-your-pigs-happy.html

Finally, an Irish guide to outdoor pig keeping has been produced. If only I had this when I started out it would have saved me a lot of time googling! Rebecca Hillman of Sallygardens Smallholding has put together a booklet 'Rearing Weaners for the Table - A Beginners Guide'. The booklet brings together all the essential information to the one location, and is an excellent beginners guide to producing your own pork.

Its available from Rebecca at http://sallygardens.typepad.com/sallygardens/

[Jean]

Well done - it's a great book.

[Rebecca (Sallygardens Smallholding)]

A Review by Jean of The English Armchair Abroad
http://grandgennetay.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Sallygardens Guide to Rearing Weaners for the Table

Rebecca, from Sallygardens Smallholding, sent me a copy of her Pig Rearing e-booklet to review. She wrote the book because so many people who knew about her smallholding in Ireland had contacted her to ask advice on pig rearing. Books are of course available but in my own experience (and admittedly I am not near an English bookshop) pig books are not always available. I'm still waiting for mine to come from Amazon an amazing FOUR WEEKS after ordering it.

I want to say straight off that I do NOT yet have any pigs but that our weaners are arriving in the middle of April. Rebecca's book is aimed at people like me who are just starting with pigs and want a few inside nuggets to help them through the first few weeks of pigdom.

So often, when you take up something new and perhaps go on a course to help you get started, it is the off the cuff comments that are especially helpful. I have had experience of this in my own work and also in other areas of our life. Also the questions that OTHER people ask. I learned the hard way about wearing welly boots and not trainers when inspecting our bees but I was able to pass on that seemingly obvious piece of advice to a new beekeeper the other day. And this is where Rebecca has come up trumps. For example, when you go to collect your pigs she tells you to :

"Ask the breeder the brand of the treatments they have used. The information may be useful to a vet if you have any future problems."

OK, it's obvious - but it never occurred to me to put it on the list of questions. Careful and thorough interrogation of the breeder is essential and for those of us venturing out for the first time any help at all is welcome!

She touches on which breeds are easiest to rear on a smallholding and the different characteristics of these breeds. Realistic to a fault she includes a detailed cost sheet of how much she and her husband spent during the first year of owning pigs and then again the second year - the point being that set up costs are not repeated. It is an exercise worth doing before embarking on this new adventure - the amount pigs eat is not insubstantial and the rising cost of feed may be enough to put some people off!

Inevitably, if one is rearing weaners with a view to eating them the slaughter day will arrive and here again Rebecca is characteristically honest; after slaughtering your pigs she says:

"You will either delight in a culinary experience you’ll never forget and will want to repeat, or you will become a vegetarian."

Rebecca's very affordable (8 euros) book touches on all the absolute necessities of pig rearing: food, acreage required, housing, legalities of buying and slaughtering, how to find a butcher, processing the meat, cost and so on. It's a book that will compliment your other pig husbandry books.

Does it stand on its own? I don't know yet but if Amazon don't come up with the goods it will have to!

If you would like to buy a copy contact Rebecca at Sallygardens - if you haven't read her blog before you will be hooked

[Lorna Sixsmith]

wow - well done. I'm not intending getting pigs as yet but I'd definitely be interested in the goat and poultry booklets. We are down to 5 hens now and once they all fly off to 'hen heaven' as my daughter calls it, I want to get some more interesting breeds. And I'm always on the lookout for info on goats!

[Alison]

I would like to buy a copy of your ebook on Pigs as I am venturing into rearing some weaners for eating. Your book sounds very informative and I am sure it will be a great help.

Thank you
Alison

PS. I have paypal account so can pay you as soon as I get your invoice.

[sharon O Neill]

Me and my partner are thinking about rearing a couple of pigs, would like to obtain your hard back booklet asap.
Many thanks

[Bob]

Hello I am interested in your pig ebook ,it is not for me but for a friend who is considering getting a pig so I thought this would make a good little gift . Thanks regards Bob

[Austin Warters]

I would like a copy of your book on keeping pigs, can you send me details of how to purchase. Thanks

[conor keane]

i would like to get a copy of your guide to pig rearing. don't know what paypal is so can send you a cheque for the €8 for email version. looking forward to hearing from you.

[conor keane]

would be interested in doing the on-site course about pig rearing. when is the next available date?

[Mary Pettet]

I am thinking of rearing weaners for the table, but would first like to check that i can manage to rear them as happily as possible and can afford to do so. Your book sounds ideal for my purposes!

[kevin nunan]

Hi, I would like to get a copy of your pig rearing e-booklet. Could you
please forward a paypal invoice.

All the best,

Kevin.

[Dave Gray]

Hi,

I would like a copy of the pig rearing ebooklet. I'm on paypal, so an invoice should work.

Thanks,

Dave

[oran hallinan]

Hi, I would like to get a copy of your pig rearing e-booklet. Could you
please forward a paypal invoice.

[john murphy]

hi
i would like a copy of your pig rearing booklet please can u send me the invoice please

[stefan zijta]

hi
i would like a copy of your pig rearing booklet please can u send me the invoice please

[Miriam]

Hello,
Can you please forward me an invoice for the pig rearing booklet.

[Gary McGeown]

interested in finding out more about your pig rearing booklet

Gary

[Peter Randall]

Hi, please send me a paypal invoice for your pig raising book. Thanks

[laura magarahan]

hi i would really like to get this e book...im going into rearing a few piggies for the table. thanks this is just what i need

[Madeleine Young]

Am intersted in receiving a hard copies of your pig rearing book, and also rearing goats.

Thank you
Maddie