Tamworth Bloodlines

Anyone serious enought about Tamworth's to want to read this, will also know to check the CLRC website to see a list of my pigs, but I thought I would outline some of the specific issues with respect to the bloodlines I have.

Current adult boars include JAFA Harry, Beaver Road Luke and Paddy Green Perry.

Current sows include Veliraf Perscilla and Atilla, Beaver Road Sue, and a couple of sister sows from Pam Heath in Quebec with an Irish sire. I also have Paddy Green Ellee.

JAFA Harry is a distinct bloodline for me, as are each of the Beaver Road pigs. The Veliraf girls have some JAFA in them but no overlap with my Harry. I also expect to have a couple of new gilts with other JAFA genes, through a couple of Elysian Fields' sows that I will get from Murry Thundberg. Harry is a good size, and a very deep dark brown.

My Irish girls really help provide a guage of confirmation for the other pigs I have. They are both a wonderful light orange colour and of moderate size. Not quite as big as my Veliraf girls but close. They are both friendly and with their first litters they were excellent mothers....I really can't think of an attribute that I could breed up!!

Luke is big, and his structure would suggest a bit of Duroc got in the mix at some point. Probably someone in the US was convinced that bigger is better. On the other had Sue is a bit small, and also much darker in colour than I would ideally like to see. I know her siblings look a bit more true to breed. Interestingly, Luke and Sue produce offspring of remarkably good confirmation, and Ellee is a perfect example of that. Ellee has a couple of daughters (with Harry) at Pioneer Village in Toronto for the summer. Ellee is just a bit too protective of her piglets, so I hope the time close to lots of people helps socialize her daughters a bit more than she is.

My Veliraf girls are getting on in age and I will hold back a couple of daughters from each in their next litters. Perscilla has been bred to Harry over the years and Atilla to Luke. Perry is a good looking yearling boar from Persciall and Harry, and I've used him with one of the Irish girls and like the results.

My plan is to concentrate the Irish genes a bit more. Offspring from each of the sisters will be bred back to each other, and then those offspring will be bred together....that should keep me going for a few years.

If anyone is serious enough about their own genetics to want a specific pairing of any of my Tam's I would be happy to consider it in the larger context of my own breeding program.

Nigerian Dwarf Goat for Sale

Not the cleanest picture of this guy, but with about 3 minutes of daylight these days, it was the best I could do.

This guy is a registered burebred (or will be once I get my paperwork up to date). With a number of very pregnant looking nannies around, its time for this guy to fine a new home. He is for sale for $250.

If interested in other goats, let me know, as I will reserve kids for those willing to make a down payment. Expect the little guys to be ready to go early in the Spring.

Shetland Sheep Rams for Sale

It was a good year for ewes, so I only have a couple of purbreed ram lambs for sale this year. This little guy is a twin. They can be sold as registered, or as unregistered animals, and would sell for $200 or $100 respectively. I would take back either if sold as registered that have problems with their horns, but that would seem unlikely given their fathers! For those unfamiliar with Shetlands, they are a dual purpose breed that are quite hardy, but not as big as any of the usual meat breeds. They have very tasty meat and the intact males are fine to butcher at up to a year of age.

Email at jandlwright@sympatico.ca

Pasture Pork for Sale

Taking orders for Tamworth pork, both half sides and full orders. Animals all naturally raised outdoors.
Hard to call this pasture, but this was their summer home a couple of years ago before I had my fencing installed out back. They have much nicer "digs" now and I'll try to update with pictures of their current pens.

In terms of prices for pork, full pigs are about $400, which includes up to $150 of the butcher costs to kill, cut and wrap. It also includes smoking for the bacon and hams, and if its Tamworth you really do want to smoke some bacon. Half sides sell for $225.

I tend to butcher them when around 200-220 lbs, so that will usually give somewhere close to 110-120 lbs of product for a whole pig. I will charge a bit more if the live weight is closer to to 240 lbs, and sometimes I'll let the females get a bit heavier, but no animals are ever beyond about 10 months in age. If you have expensive requests for the butcher, I'll have to pass those on as well.

If you really just want to buy the live pig, I will sell pigs for $1.25 per approximate pound live weight.

These are very reasonable, if not cheap prices, but I'm happy to start off with low prices to establish some local interest.

Email jandlwright@sympatico.ca

Tamworth Piglets for Sale

We have registered Tamworth piglets for sale. Without much effort we have sold a few weiners so far this year. We have two litters on the ground, from March and May respectively. Given the other adds I've seen on Kijiji, there seems to be growing numbers of breeding stock available. Our interest was to try and raise more piglets to sell as whole and half sides of meat this year. As they quickly grow, I've decided I better sit down and figure out how to market the little critters. I plan to use this blog to update any available livestock with pictures. It seems a bit easier than updating web sites.

Prices for registered breeding stock are from $300-400 based on age. Unregistered piglets are $75 at 2 months of age when I typically wean the little guys, $100 at 3 months, and after that age I sell based on the live weight, for $1.25 per pound (assuming they are above 80 lbs).

Please contact me if interested in breeding stock or have any questions.

Email at jandlwright@sympatico.ca