Pig Blog

Pig Blog - The Rear View!

70 Biofuels: Friend or Foe (04.04.08)

There's a sense of disbelief in some sections of the farming press that the growing of crops to make biofuels may not now, following a damning report on their effectiveness, be the route out of their troubles. Arable farming is booming - in contrast to livestock farming of course - and even some big City funds, always keen to sniff out a money making plan, are starting to make millions available to the industry.

So, if the Government ignores the latest report which stated that biofuels are actually far worse for the environment, then City money could change the face of the farming industry for the worse, as highly mortgaged farmers cash-in their land and equipment to exploit the boom and get out. Large industrial farming units do not have the 'romance' of the small farmer.

And, ironically, if there is a complete turnaround by the government and biofuels suddenly become enemy number one, then the money will wash out as fast as it came in, leaving an industry bereft of a future.

69 Bluetongue (03.04.08)

The warmer weather that heralds Spring is great news for all, but this year it brings a worry that once temperatures reach around 17C, the Bluetongue midge will be active again and the disease will start breaking out on farms, threatening cattle and sheep, but not pigs.

There is a planned vaccination programme - great news of course - but this will not be available until, most people predict, June, so everyone in the farming industry is hopeful that they can hang on until then. Seems another great example of how things are planned, not in some sort of defined strategy, but following the chaos theory!

68 Tractor Design (02.04.08)

Spent some time reading a supplement in the august publication The Farmers Guardian on tractor design for the 21st Century. Now, tractors haven't changed that much in the last few decades, apart from getting bigger and 'rounder' - obviously now using more sophisticated plastic extruder machine tools - but the latest concept designs look hilarious. Like Buck Rogers having a go ploughing and harrowing in some weird and wonderful machine of the future.

But your average tractor driver is no Buck Rogers, so what they are going to look like perched on a machine more suited to the Beano, is anyone's guess!

67 A Rare Scottish Pig Found (01.04.08)

There are only eight rare breed pigs left in the U.K., but the good news is that one that was thought to be extinct, has turned up in Scotland, very near the English border. Known as the Dumfries and Galloway, it is a squat, pink pig with a tartan border. Originally a cross between the aggressive Dumfries and the more sensitive Galloway, it was first bred on an estate owned by Robbie Burns. Later, the more aggressive male specimens were rumoured to have accompanied Scottish troops on many famous campaigns throughout the world. Females were left at home, but could still be seen causing trouble at a number of Glaswegian bars, right up until the late nineteenth century.

We are looking forward to welcoming some specimens here.

66 The Archers (31.1.08)

It used to be that listening to Radio's 4s The Archers was a cure for the stresses of modern day life. A cow might die, the weather might be bad, a crop might be ruined, but you could be safe in the knowledge that only once in about a decade something nasty would happen.

Then, something changed. Someone at the BBC decided that The Archers, as with EastEnders and Coronation Street, had to keep the audiences attention with tension-filled cliff-hangers and plot lines that involved the aggression of modern life.

Now Ambridge has turned into something akin to a Midland's Albert Square.

I trace it back to when Sid was heard in the shower (yes, horror of horrors, in the shower), with Jolene. With that one broadcast, the age of The Archers innocence came crashing down. The Archers came of age with a bang and joined the list of other broadcast soaps desperate to thrill and excite. Modern life had arrived with a vengeance.

We then had the issue of Adam's and Ian's Civil Partnership; Ruth's (yes, Ruth's) near fling with cow-man Sam; Brian's rutting with sultry Siobhan, who then conveniently dies, and leaves love-child Ruairi to sow discontent amongst the Aldridge clan; Kathy's rape; Jamie's near kidnap; Roy and Hayley's premature child; and, not least, 'Tiger's' desire to build Ambridge New Town.

And the whining: my goodness, if Adam and Debbie don't one day take the very large silver spoons sticking out of their mouths, they'll be a double murder to contemplate.

Now, when you listen, every intake of breath, every police siren in the background, every late night telephone ring, could signal a plot line so dramatic, that you have to have a very cold shower afterwards.

It used to be that you could miss 20 episodes, turn back on, and things really hadn't changed that much: everything would fit like a comfortable pair of shoes. Now, if you miss one episode, you have to find out what the hell has been happening, because something will have.

Am I the only one to miss the old Archers, a retreat from the horrors of the deeply depressing modern-day soap opera?

65 Spanish Meatballs (28.03.08)

Can't remembers its name, but there is this programme on at the moment which is featuring Spanish cooking.

It did a pork meat ball recipe. Now, as is the trend these days, don't cook these unless you know what you are doing, as it might kill you.

But, as far as I can remember, beat 12 eggs in a bowel. Add an amount of pork (didn't hear the exact amount), add parsley, garlic and whip it up into almost a mousse. Roll into a number of meat ball type shapes and deep fry for five minutes. Looked gorgeous, although I doubt its a cure for high cholesterol!

64 NFU President Turns Against Hobby-Farmers (1.03.08)

There always has been a tension between those that regard themselves as proper farmers and those that proper farmers regard as hobby farmers, or to the rest of us, smallholders.

We are smallholders, not 'farmers', and, like many serious smallolders, we don't like being called hobby farmers, as though the things we do can be dismissed a waste of time; an idle past-time.

NFU President Peter Kendall apparently said (quoting The Times Countryside Editor Valerie Elliot):

"We have to ask, should hobby farmers be allowed to jeopardise the professional industry? In these days of bluetongue, foot and mouth disease, avian flu and increased disease threats from climate change, should these keepers not need a licence or some form of competence, to look after farm animals? "

And although he claims he was mis-quoted - don't they all - it would appear the head of one of the land's most powerful institutions is worried about the 'careless' smallholder.

Now, okay, there are good smallholders, and bad smallholders, but from my recollection, I don't recall smallholders starting, for example, the latest foot and mouth outbreaks. The two most recent outbreaks (last summer) were started by a research centre. The one before that - the big one - was started, I believe, by a pig farmer. Note, a pig farmer, not a pig smallholder.

And, who are responsible for the latest Avian Flu outbreaks? Not smallholders with a few chickens, but the massive poultry farmers who think that stuffing thousands of chickens into a shed and hoping nothing terrible happens is a great idea.

And what about those outbreaks of mad-cow disease some years ago? Not smallholders with a few cows, but the farming industry's equally brilliant idea of feeding cows to cows.

And ever met one of those huge tractors down a country lane and wondered how a spotty teenager - the farmers' offspring - who, not old enough to drive a car - is allowed to take onto the road a massive, multi-charged beast, capable of wreaking havoc?

I would think that many smallholders would prefer the NFU President not to stand in his huge greenhouse and throw rocks.

63 Delia Speaks (18.02.08)

In the world of mass home economics, Delia Smith rules. If she uses a product, then that product becomes a must-have item.

She has power that marketeers dream about.

So what are we to make of her latest protestations? A cry from the mob - a stand against the up-tight foodies who are never happier when explaining that the dinner-party was such a success because of that rare ingredient from a remote Italian village (oh darling, you should have been there); or, a very clever marketing move?

I think the latter, because lets be honest, foodies are not in the majority, and represent maybe no more than 20% of the market. The rest don't really care one way or another about sourcing quality food. And these lot are, I bet, sick and tired of hearing about the plight of farm animals. And its not even a matter of money. Many people could afford better quality ingredients, but maybe it would mean less money spent on leisure pursuits, or that must-have electronic gadget, or that shiny new motor sitting outside.

So, up steps Delia, with a view that will make the majority of British shoppers sigh with relief. So what if it's frozen, so what if it's a short cut - who cares? Get the food bought and get it on the table.

Fair enough, but you can't help feeling that in one move, one of Britain's favourite cooks has allowed the nation to take one huge step backwards in thinking about where our food comes from.

Time will tell if she's correctly read the mood of the nation!

62 Chicken Licking Good (15.02.08)

Hats off to Tesco; while we're all wringing our hands about the plight of poor boiler chickens, up pops Britain's largest grocer with the £1.90 chicken. Now that's one great Vs up to the foodie crowd and just shows that one of our largest supermarkets really doesn't give a monkeys about the recent campaigns. And being as big as Tesco's, means you don't really have to be bothered anyway. So-what that Sainsbury's uber-foodie Jamie Oliver says no to cheap birds; so-what that no-one's sap Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has prostrated himself for our humble feathered friend? In steps Tesco's with the chicken deal of the decade.

Of course, nothing is quite as it seems, as reading the Farmers Guardian it appears that the £1.90 was mere stock dumping, as the people with food consciences raise organic and welfare chicken sales by 70%. And with the chicken overhang now gone, lets fervently hope, that the £1.90 chicken is never seen again.

61 Pork Bellies (26.01.08)

Heard a rumour that the pork belly market has collapsed - best check my position: oh no, it's dropped like a stone; best check my exposure: oh no, £3.5 billion! Best not tell the wife about that...........

60 Axminster Turn on Chicken Saviour (22.01.08)

Just read in one of the national newspapers that chicken saviour Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has been criticized by the local politicians of Axminster for portraying their home town as chicken haters. Oh really, so what programme were they watching then? I thought they came out of it fairly well, alongside a patient HFW who admits that a double-barrelled named toff might not be the best one to lecture people on how much they should spend on meat.

Mind you, having read some of the smallholder web-sites, and you get the impression that the bastions of the grow your own, eat your own brigade, have also had their feathers ruffled, with such comments as "...do people realise the meat chickens are not pets..." I guess that the joy of eating free-range chicken, brought up in the warmth and comfort of self-congratulation, is not so much fun when everyone else is having a go; because how then do you feel superior?

59 Commercial Pig Businesses in Crisis (14.01.08)

Confirmation last week that the pig industry is in crisis, but what makes the news so bad that two of the country's major producers went into administration, is that they specialised in outdoor systems. Now pigs reared outdoors should attract the sort of premiums that make for a healthy business as shoppers turn their backs on the unattractive factory farm methods.

Okay, without their accounts, it would be hard to make sweeping statements on how the companies have been run - and both are part of the same group - but, even so, this does not bode well.

And, ironically, in the local newspaper, there appear advertisements of other producers pro-actively looking for land to rear outdoor pigs. But, look a little closer, and one of those companies obviously still keen on rearing pigs is a well-known feed company, which underlines the reason quoted for the two bust companies having got into their precarious position: the cost of feed.

The industry has had two whammies. The cost of animal feed which has rocketed some 30% over the last year, but also the ending of the deadweight contracts, which means that far from getting a guaranteed price per kilo of £1.10, the pigs are sold onto the fickle open market with no guarantees and averaging 90p a kilo. Okay, 20p doesn't sound much, but if you're in the bulk business - small margins make sense over high numbers - then you're business model is shot to pieces.

One thing is for certain, 2008 is going to be a crunch year for many pig producers and a lot of companies will not be around to celebrate the arrival of 2009.

58 What Lies Beneath (10.01.08)

Having lost the DVD remote control over Christmas, we decided to look under the settee and have a hunt for it. But, along with a mobile phone, pens, PlayMobil people and other assorted items, mostly belonging to the kids, was a flattened mouse. Actually, completely flattened, like a flower specimen in a book.

One of the cats must have brought it in, savaged it as they do, deposited under the sofa, and then something must have squashed it.

But that would explain the odd smell we picked up all through the Christmas holiday.

57 Chickens (9.01.08)

All this talk of chickens makes me think of ours which have the opposite problem from those poor blighters in HFW's shed. Our scraggy flock has too much freedom. We let them out when we stagger down in the morning and they put themselves back at dusk, having spent the day roaming around the garden and visiting various parts of the farm.

I say flock, but there are two distinct groupings, the old girls (and boy) who we brought here and the new arrivals from last spring which were hatched in the garden. Some of the first new arrivals hang around in the gang controlled by the old cockerel - still king of the hill - whilst the newbies (a mixture of SASSO, Cream Legbar and Welsummer crosses), tend to race around on their own.

So, their routine is quite set. I let the newbies out first, they stop for some corn that I put down before His Imperial Highness, the old cockerel, is let out with his elderly grouping and chases the young pretenders out the way. Whist the old girls are gingerly stepping down from their perches, the newbies dash off across the farmyard to where they know the game-keeper fills his bags with corn for the pheasants. Feed there is plentiful.

Once replete, the old boy gathers together his odd collection of hybrids - Cream Legbars, Welsummers and one SASSO - and walks them across the yard to see if there's any corn left. Having pecked there, they then move off to see the cows which are in one of the loose barns. After shuffling through the barns, it's back outside to pick-over bits and pieces that might offer the odd grub, or even dead mouse, a tasty favourite of all chickens.

Across the farmyard again and into the garden, keeping together as a loose group, before hoping that, before dusk, I might have thrown out some more corn.

The downside is of course, they lay their eggs in various places, which provides us with an egg hunt everyday, not so exciting as it sounds, as you're hoping you're not staring into a rat's nest!

So, unlike battery chickens, our guys have the run of the place, but that brings it's own problems. Eggs of course, but also the risk of picking up some nasties, not keeping track of who might be missing and spotting any signs of illness.

Mind you, if I had a choice of sharing a square metre with 18 other chickens, feeding all day with just half-an-hour's darkness, nothing to do that reflects my natural behaviour and a life span of 35 days (some of ours are now in their fourth year), I think I know what I would choose.

So, to coincide with Spring, our little flock is being given new quarters, with a small orchard being fenced for their exclusive use. No doubt there will be grumbling and moaning about that!

56 Foodie TV Feast (8.01.08)

Typical, you wait months for some good foodie programmes, then, like buses, loads come along at once.

This week we've got three brilliant episodes on the plight of the chicken from the guru Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, then Thursday sees some more knocking of poor supermarket food by food critic Jane Moore, then Jamie Oliver takes over the baton with some graphic cooking of cheap chicken meat. And Channel 4 is promising some more.

BBC3 is having a go as well, although I'm not sure if Kill It, Cook It, Eat It, hasn't lost its appeal. The first three programmes shown last year gave everyone, who bothered to watch it that is, an insight into how animals are slaughtered and then prepared to be sold as meat. Good, informative TV.

But the programmes shown this week are wandering into the territory of voyeurism. It's almost as though some BBC executives got around a table and said, okay, we didn't really get much of a rise from the last programmes (killing animals on TV is not 'new' anymore) and we've gone to the expense of kitting out this abattoir for a studio audience, so how can we cause a stir this time: that's it, we'll kill some 'baby' animals (their word, not mine). So we have the spectacle of suckling pigs (eight weeks old, just weaned) being slaughtered.

And the next programme deals with goats (nice fluffy things) and then, horror of horrors, lambs. Now if killing cute lambs on the TV doesn't get a reaction, what will?

But, BBC might get more of a reaction if they were to show the programme on Saturday night at 7pm - it beats Strictly Come Pratting About anyway, rather than screening it on BBC3 (now what number on Sky is that) at 10:30pm. Come on BBC, if you're going to drop your trousers, at least do it when everyone is around!

55 Jamie Oliver versus Sainsburys (7.01.08)

Never believe what you read in the newspapers, but if it's true that chef Jamie Oliver has had a pop at supermarket giant J Sainsbury, then really its only to be expected, especially after setting himself up as the chicken's champion and, before that, the king of the grow-your-own vegetable. It takes a brave man who bites the hand that feeds of course (some £1.2 million per year from Sainsbury ad campaigns I understand), but maybe it's a sign that he's rich enough to now get principles.

For a long time I've thought it odd that Oliver has been striking out on worthy foodie causes, while taking money from one, in may people's eyes, of the enemy. Supermarkets are about making money, not making us a more civilised nation in terms of food. The majority of food producers employ processes that are simply cruel and should be outlawed, yet the supermarkets seemingly turn a blind eye as long as they make handsome profits. And they are now doing what supermarkets do best, jumping on a particular bandwagon to make themselves appear caring. They can spot a trend millions of miles away and then invent some marketing spiel which kids us all that they've taken notice, and then, increase the prices, while in reality, nothing really changes.

Fair play to Mr Oliver, but lets hope he's going to use some of his money to help nail the supermarkets, and not just sustain his media profile, so he can charge increased fees for his services.

54 The Plight of Animals (3.01.08)

A New Year and the TV celebrity chefs are queuing up to bring the plight of farm animals to our attention and who can blame them for starting at the innocent chicken.

But overall, the plight of the British livestock animal is not a happy one. Read this contribution from one of the smallholder websites and get an idea of what is going on at the moment:

My husband had to take some dead piglets to the knackerman for disposal today and he told him of all the dead pigs that are being taken in. They had all been killed by the farmer who can no longer warrant or afford to feed them. Also, he had to pick up dead calves that had been shot by a farmer as he can no longer sell bull calves. Its a great pity the public can not hear what is happening and then they would perhaps be prepared to pay more for their meat and stop buying in supermarkets. Even our slaughterhouse/butcher is struggling to make ends meet now and the business has been in the family for generations. Wake up everyone - soon meat will not be on the table as numerous other countries are in the same position. Another local pig farmer has told me of one country who has dug a huge hole to bury the 60,000 pigs that have just been slaughtered because, due to over stocking they are worthless. This is not what farming is all about - we raise animals for food not to be slaughtered and buried! I think I have got past being depressed about it all - I am now so very angry.

Not a happy situation, but it might get even worse in 2008.

53 Thank Goodness (27.12.07)

Right, that's another Christmas over! Roll on the New Year and when that's over, we can breathe a sign of relief. The season of festivity is now a trial of endurance. We have a Christmas based on a Charles Dickens fictional fantasy and one geared towards getting your hard-earned dosh from your pocket, into the shop's tills.

52 Flight of Fancy (14.11.07)

We've had Foot and Mouth disease, Blue Tongue and now Bird Flu; and each time, we get these valiant scenes of government officials and the poor farmers trying to stop the spreading of the contagious virus.

Now, what is the answer to most of these diseases, according to DEFRA? Killing. And that's their answer to most of today's livestock problems, the widespread slaughter of every animal within a certain radius. And, horribly, it works, or at least it works for a time, because maybe, just maybe in this global market place of ours, where humans, animals and goods move freely, the diseases are not only inevitable, but are here to stay.

Perhaps, like good old King Canute, we have to stop thinking we can hold back the sea and prevent the spread of such horrible viruses. Of course, as I've said below, vaccination is not as clear cut as it sounds, but, how long can we hear of the horrible slaughter of perfectly good animals, without wondering just who is running the asylum, the patients?

And when will we confront the really serious issue about modern day farming, that today's intensive methods of stock rearing just does not work; it is fundamentally flawed. Keep thousands of animals together - whether indoors, or outdoors, and if one gets a virus, then the rest will get it as well.

Intensive systems are bad news for the animal and bad news for us. Six thousands birds on one farm - just one farm mind you - have had to be killed. Now, that's a lot of flapping wings, and if you look at the scenes on the TV, the birds are outdoors, but hardly what appear to be salubrious conditions. Now, again from what I hear on the news, it's quite a well-known producer who's going through the purge at the moment, yet I can't be alone in thinking that the over-stocked fields on television do not quite marry with the well-shot pictures of the smiling farmer and happy few ducks on the supermarket packaging.

Still, lets not go there shall we?

51 British Pig Meat - A Thing of the Past (12.11.07)

Read a letter in the Farmers Guardian from a chap who'd also been on Radio Four's Today programme I think, who farms British pigs and sent two largish boars to slaughter, and got around £6 each for them.

Now, market forces can be a terrible thing and we're all prone to them, but for the pig farmers, the market has become so swamped with cheap pork as strapped growers can no longer afford to feed their stock because of the exorbitant feed prices, that the buyers are forgetting their contracted deals and buying cheaper pigs in the spot market (off the shelf so to speak).

Now okay, who can blame the pork buyers overlooking a price which they had half promised to pay, for such low prices in the market place? That's the market.

But such short termism will have one terrible effect. British pig farmers, like diary farmers before them, are simply giving up. The supermarket buyers won't stand by them, they can't afford the feed, they can't compete with cheap imports and so, British reared pork might just become a thing of the past.

So what you might argue, that's the law of the jungle, but as we wave goodbye to yet another industry that was once the backbone of this country, we will be at the mercy of many overseas pig producers who don't give a damn about the welfare of their animals, keeping them in awful conditions and feeding them rubbish. And if the great British consumer happily buys the result of that at the supermarket, and they will, then maybe they deserve the swill there're about to be dished up.

50 South Africa Wins

Oh well, we didn't actually lift the trophy and okay, there was no ticket-tape parade to greet the guys coming back, and we, like the players, shouldn't sulk, but be proud they did so well.

So, no sniping, no myopic Aussie jokes and no Irish jokes either. But if you had to choose two nationalities to referee the game, then could you have found any more challenging? Stop it - no griping and to be fair, the Irish referee actually said to the video ref, "...can you give me any reason not to award the try..." which maybe was a bit unfortunate, given there might be about a million reasons why an Aussie wouldn't give England a try. Stop it, stop it..............

49 Northern Hemisphere Rules, Okay (6.10.07)

Can't let this one pass. England and France send the strangers from the other side of the world packing, in what was one of the most exciting World Cup Rugby days ever. Needed a lie down after that and just think, there's two more weekends of tension to come!

48 Foot and Mouth/Blue Tongue (1.10.07)

Foot and Mouth Disease is quite an innocuous label for a problem which is crippling British agriculture and the irony this time, it's an own goal. The government's own centre for FMD research was, allegedly, the cause of the two latest outbreaks.

The cost will be in the hundreds of millions and what people don't realize – especially seemingly the Government – its not only the farmers who get hit; auctioneers, caterers, livestock hauliers, agricultural suppliers and butchers are amongst those that have to put their earnings on hold.

And just imagine any other industry being told to shut-down for a few weeks. Frankly it wouldn't happen.

The nub of the matter of course is keeping British stock disease free. This is not only good housekeeping, but the export of livestock and meat products depend on our disease-free status. So, if we vaccinated and accepted FMD, we would lose millions.

But how many more millions do we lose by not vaccinating? And watching the wholesale slaughter of perfectly healthy animals, which could be saved by an inexpensive injection, is profoundly upsetting. Maybe it's time to accept that we will get FMD and start vaccinating.

And the superb irony of course, is that British supermarkets have been importing meat for years from countries that have frequent FMD outbreaks. So, once again we have a situation in which the Brit authorities play by the rules, but others around us are not so scrupulous.

For us we can only pray that it's confined to the outbreak area. The biggest problem we face is that effectively we lose weeks out of our schedule. A stand-still order means just that; pigs cannot be moved, anywhere. As we write this, pigs are being allowed to slaughter, but suddenly the abattoirs and butchers have too much demand and everyone has to wait their turn.

So, every one of our pigs is happily oblivious to their extended stays here and we thank our customers for the patience they are showing in allowing us to be a little late in our planning.

47 Rick Stein

A televisual feast. I can't be the only one who enjoys Rick Stein's programmes. I must have seen that French barge hundreds of times and now he's in the Mediterranean. And that first programme on the Corsicans and their love of charcuterie. Does it get any better than that?

Of course, not everyone shares my enthusiasm. One Sunday newspaper pen pushing critic with a fat chip on his shoulder likened it to culinary soft porn. He might have been right of course, but only in that for many people it hits all the right buttons: a mature, experienced gourmand who hasn't got a gor blimey Essex accent and accompanying attitude, traveling around some of the world's most fascinating scenery and people.

Makes you wonder what some of these critics watch themselves of course. Maybe previously shown episodes of Tractor Building in the Soviet Union prove edifying - who knows?

46 FMD

A collective sign of relief from all those rearing livestock. We may be seeing the early end to a major Foot and Mouth scare.

But, think about it for a moment. A confirmed outbreak and subsequent suspected outbreaks, and the whole industry literally shuts down within hours. What other industry collectively shares such pain? And what other industry would stand for such a thing?

The amount of money lost and hardship inflicted is intense, and maybe the case for vaccinating against what is, compared to many others, not always such a vicious disease, has been made. But like many other things in life it's not so easy as that. We have a disease-free status herd. The U.K is officially disease free (or will be again within three months of the latest outbreak, if no other cases appear), and will therefore be able to benefit again soon from profitable exports, but is that worth it? Many countries have Foot and Mouth diseased stock, and unfortunately, allegedly, meat from such animals is routinely finding its way onto the shelves of British supermarkets. Can we, in this ever busier and contracting world, keep ourselves pure? Is the disease inevitable every few years and as King Kanute learnt, maybe you cannot just hold back the sea?

45 Spare a Thought

Farmers always seem to moan about the weather, but listening to the tales of woe at the moment is not only depressing, but is set to affect everyone in the country.

Crops rotting in the fields and drowned livestock is a tragedy in itself (think for a minute about pulling dead lambs out of stagnant water), but there is currently a European wide shortage of food-stuffs which will hit us all at the shops with higher prices and limited availability, effects which could carry on well into next year.

Britain is not used to such things and lets hope we can cope with it!

44 Here We Go Again

A repeat for Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's foodie treatment programme on Channel 4. Now that we've reached the delights of the summer schedules - when most TV executives think the rest of the country are doing as they do this time of year, moving to Tuscany, or Umbria - and watching the box becomes a sadomasochistic exercise, it was refreshingly to see the re-run food campaigner once again laying into some chicken luddites.

But, I'm not sure that watching a few chicken video nasties will make Joe Public pay £12 a chicken, rather than the normal £4 in the supermarket. It might have a short-term effect and we can all hope it does, but I would be very surprised if it stopped the high-street shops stocking cheap chickens, especially when the producer has been beaten down to a profit margin of just 2p per bird. The glib answer might be to stop selling the poultry cheapies in the first place, but perhaps it might be more pertinent to ask who really is making the money and, as a first step, ask them if they can spare a bit more for animal welfare.

43 Straw Ark

Now that we're in sunnier climes (although, at the moment, I'm sure some guy is building a real ark over the hill and inviting two specimens per species along to a party), we can afford to accommodate the pigs in straw ‘arks'. They are made from the huge quad bales which are now more popular than the small, traditional bales, and keep the pigs snug and dry. And once they've left home, the ark can be turned into compost.

42 Lambs, Adios

We recently adopted some pet lambs which our daughters insisted we volunteer to ‘save.' Well, as is the time honoured way with all family pets, the kids interest lasted about a month – not bad, hamsters are usually forgotten in a week. So, after weaning them, we decided that maybe they might prefer the company of their mates back in the field. So we waved them goodbye and counted up the days before the kids realized they'd gone: three, which is not bad really. We did it this way to save the kids the distress of them doing the waving goodbye; but actually we didn't find it easy saying goodbye either. They'd only been here a short time, but they had made an impression. To be honest, I was a little upset, the thought of that superb tasting lamb with mint sauce not materialising on my plate was a little distressing, but I bet I'll get over it.

41 Chicks

Okay, so there's nothing new in the reproductive process; okay, chicks being born is nothing special; and, okay, thousands of the blighters are born everyday. But, when your own chicken sits on some eggs for 21 days, and then patiently hatches five fluffy chicks, then, well, things don't get much better, do they? Out of 12 - no 11, or is it 10 now – chickens, only one ever seems broody, which is a bit disappointing, considering that only one is a cockerel and he could star in a Viagra commercial. Seems a bit ungracious of the girls really; he's at work 365 days of the year and at the one time of the year when they should spare about a month to rear the produce of his loins, they look the other way. Typical!

40 Saddleback, or is it Essex

This part of the country is keen on Saddlebacks, so we've taken the plunge and bought a load for rearing. The Saddleback is, apparently, the pig of the moment, thanks mainly to the sterling efforts of TV pig celebrity Jimmy Doherty, made famous by BBC2's Jimmy's Farm. He is a devotee of the Essex breed, which some naughty cynics in the pig world say is nothing more than a branch of the Saddleback family, which came about as a cross between the Essex and Wessex. But, whatever the origins of the modern-day Essex, the fact that someone is doing his best to expand their numbers, can't be bad.

39 Regulations

Just read in the farming press that despite the Government's assurances to cut down on red tape, DEFRA has introduced a wheel-barrow load of more regulations for the harassed farmer.

One of the biggest problems is that although most of these are the tiresome wet-dreams of bored European bureaucrats, it's difficult to argue with their logic. Take the point about animal transportation. In the good old days, you could push and pull your old pig into the family saloon.

Now, most people wouldn't dream of ill-treating their livestock and the family car would do the job just as well as the most palatial livestock lorry. But, unfortunately, there were quite a few commercial livestock operations who didn't give a fig about the humane transport of livestock, with notorious examples of animals going for hours without feed or water in terribly cramped conditions. So, there now exist a whole raft of rules that determine how animals are moved about.

And who can argue with their ambition, or merit, apart from the fact that it adds hours and pounds to the farmer's life. Of course, the biggest problem is that the guy with a single pig is covered by the same regulations as the guy with 150 pigs on a three-deck articulated lorry. That's the real gripe; there exists no understanding of how vastly different the smallholder is from the large commercial farmer, yet they are governed by the same rules. Bang goes all the romance of being a smallholder and being allowed to legislate your own activities (like so many industries still are).

And one final thought - the regulations are quite clear, you cannot transport animals in crowded, or dirty conditions; yet board the average commuter train in London, and you'll experience what they simply wouldn't tolerate for animals. Ironic really!

38 - Mushrooms

Did the horse manure reach the right temperature? It's quite a faff really. You get horse manure that is no more than 30 days old, keep it in a wet heap for about a week; add around 20% of fresh straw, and keep turning it, generating heat, until the temperature stops increasing; maybe four weeks. Then add mushroom sporn impregnated corn and press it into the manure for about two weeks, watching for growth around two weeks later.

Still with me? You then cover with a mixture of lime, compost and something else I've forgotten. In about 20 days, you should have a great bloom of mushrooms.

Alternatively, pop down the shop and get yourself a tub of mushrooms for a couple of quid.

Only joking - the best bit is the effort and the wait. The only question is, did the horse manure reach the correct temperature and thereby kill all the germs? I suppose I'll have to wait until I eat my first and see if I have to race to the toilet.

37- Great British Menu

Some great pork dishes during this fine BBC foodie fest, but I can't help being disappointed that only one chef seemed to be using rare breed pork. In a bizarre film clip, one chef proudly popped down to his neighbouring pig farm (from the look on his face, he'd never been there before, but tried to blag it as a regular customer) and waxed lyrical about some out outdoor pigs, which were all of course ‘commercial' breeds; those low fat, fast growth pigs that look like disgruntled hairless body-builders.

Come on – who's kidding who here? The very best to take to Paris and some laddo chooses a pig which most probably was a hybrid with a breed label like HX345. Where was the charming Gloucester Old Spot, the characterful Tamworth, or the doyen of the rare breed world, the British Lop?

And the one producer that some other chef used for his meat, boasted about keeping his rare breed pigs inside.

Well done chefs – maybe the much vaunted ability of these guys to source the very best product is a little over-done!

36 - Compost Bin

Finished the garden compost bin. Made from four wooden pallets, it looks the business, with plenty of space and gaps for the air to circulate.

Never quite got the hang of this everso eco-friendly activity. Can make pig compost of course, but you have to be careful with such a potent mixture.

So the garden heap is mainly designed for the kitchen waste, balanced with some of the poultry manure and also some thick cow pats mixed with straw. Also, as recommended by the books, we're also going to be mixing in the waste from the vacuum cleaner.

Now comes the turning - once every few days. Fingers crossed.

Another day and another television programme about cruelty to farm animals. Great feeling of deja vu watching this one - highlighting abused ducks and pigs - but this time it's on one of the main ITV terrestrial channels, ITV1, at prime-time, so that can't be a bad thing. Of course, cruelty to animals could be stopped within months if consumers could be bothered, but as with most things, it's just easier to look the other way.

Reading the smallholding/farming online forums as we do, we often across the issues that effect the countryside at the moment. A particularly nasty case is currently being told by a smallholder who keeps a few pigs in a paddock and in some barns. About 100 yards away is a property for sale which the owners claim has been devalued because of the pigs and they are threatening - via some harsh language - to take the pig keepers to court for £100,000 compensation. Of course, you don't hear the other side so cannot be sure what is actually going on, but is does remind us of the creeping gentrification of the countryside. How many times do you hear of people moving into the greenbelt to experience the way of life, only to end up complaining about the neighbouring farmer who can't keep his yard clean (a preoccupation of born-again townies), or doesn't like the smell of his livestock! If we're not careful, the countryside is going to end up as some sterile theme park of 'yee oldie England - what a thought.

Not much chance for pig work, as its the second day of the rugby fest, and as the final whistle blows on an extraordinary match which sees England snatch an unbelievable victory over France, it's all to play for in the final weekend. Can't wait!

More programmes on the way about the food industry - the 50 top worst foods from Channel Four and genetically altered animals from the BBC. Let's hope this sudden interest in where our food comes from is the start of the something big, although somehow, I doubt it, as the people watching, will be the people who are already doing something about their food provenance.

The video did work, so we managed to watch the final episode of Kill It, Cook It, Eat It. You have to applaud the BBC for making this series, but the way they've handled the programme is quite strange. The final episode was billed as an omnibus .i.e. a round-up of the previous three episodes and therefore maybe the justification for its early hours screening, yet it contained a whole new section on chickens. The audience was transported to a chicken processing plant in Huddersfield and the process was a real education. It also proved one point - that you really should insist on dry-plucked birds, and not wet plucked.

So well done the BBC, but I'd still like to now why they kept this brilliant programme hidden away on BBC3 and why they created the confusion as to the episodes? I hope it turns out this was a dress-rehearsal for perhaps a later, braver viewing on BBC1, or BBC2.

Actually, the last episode of Kill It, Cook It, Eat It was screened tonight - well almost. It was scheduled for 12:55am, so technically Friday. Although an omnibus of the last three episodes, it does, apparently, include a discussion of modern day meat production techniques, including some clips on chickens. So, the best series of programmes we've seen so far on meat production, and the last episode gets screened when few of us are awake. Good thinking that. Lets hope the video worked!

Last episode of Kill It, Cook It, Eat It and it ran along the same lines as the previous two episodes. Great programme and just what the food industry needs to open up the debate. We understand the pig killing process very well, so less to learn for us, but agreed with the sentiments in the studio audience as to how skilled Mettricks were and good to think we've used them in the past.

Of course, quite a few of the audience, those in the know, questioned whether the family-run abattoir was a true reflection of the slaughtering industry in this country. This was pounced upon by the state vet of course, who vehemently denied there was any difference, but I thought she was being a little over-zealous there, given the anecdotes from farmers we know.

We've heard stories of state vets being attached to certain abattoirs that spend all day somewhere else, asleep, or who look the other way on occasions. I've not experienced it myself, but there has to be a temptation, like in everything, for abuse.

What we have experienced is hundreds of pigs being unloaded and herded around squealing (some dying from the shock of the transport process, or the cold), frightened cattle fighting to get out of the races and sheep being pushed and pulled all over the place.

And what no-one mentioned of course, is the fact that there are fewer and fewer abattoirs like Mettricks around, with plenty closing as they struggle to keep up with the new rules and costs. In years to come, there will only be a small number of super abattoirs around, causing animals to be transported hundreds of miles and more problems with incorrect slaughtering practices. Not a very nice thought at all.

Second part of Kill It, Cook It, Eat It and this time is was the turn of lambs to get the treatment. I'm sure that for those who watched the first episode, they found it harder to watch a huge bullock get it, rather than the smaller sheep get strung up and bled.

It's also interesting that the BBC chose a small, family run abattoir like Mettricks which sits amongst rows of stone houses in the Peak village of Glossop.

I imagine it was easier to convert such a place as Mettricks, as the last time that Number One Pig used it to get some of our pigs processed, it had already gone through some major building work. But I also guess that it was more 'user-friendly' than the large abattoirs which are more like factories.

I've been to some where hundreds of animals have been waiting for the chop and the noise and stench has been terrible. Maybe that was just one step too far for the BBC audience.

Today it's pigs.

Watched the new BBC programme Kill It, Cook It, Eat It, which goes head-to-head with our guilt regarding killing animals for food. Great programme and about time these issues were aired. Only problem is, why broadcast it at 10:30pm on BBC3?

Okay, the BBC should be applauded for making such a challenging programme, but then to give it a channel and time which gives it the same stigma as a programme featuring weird deviant practices, is a great shame.

It should be broadcast on BBC1 just after dinner -time and be used to shock everyone out of our collective denial about where actually meat comes from.

So well done the BBC, but shame they didn't have the 'guts' to give it prime-time viewing.

Oh dear - just read some smallholders' blog which spouts the benefits of electric fencing; so its head back in the manufacturers' brochures to get the facts right and see just what we need to keep the darlings on the field.

You almost get the feeling that pigs have all watched the film The Great Escape; either that, or they are all related to Harry Houdini.

So, before the next bunch of weaners arrive, the great fencing saga has to begin again. When fencing afresh, we're always tempted to rely on electric fencing, which is less hassle than stock fencing.

But, no matter how we try and convince ourselves, a couple of strands of thin wire and a puny looking battery does not look enough to hold a litter of determined Steve McQueens.

So, we've got the fence posts and stock-fencing ready - and maybe one day, one day, we'll give that electric fencing a go.