Our pigs are Oxford Sandy & Blacks, one of Britain's traditional native pig breeds.

They're sometimes known as the Plum Pudding Pig, thanks to their sandy colouring and distinctive black patches.

They're hardy, intelligent pigs, well suited to outdoor life and foraging – which makes them particularly useful for the way we farm.

They're also valued for producing flavoursome pork with good fat cover.

They grow differently from the highly selected commercial pigs used in intensive production, but we're not trying to run an intensive pig unit.

We want pigs that suit our farm, can express their natural rooting behaviour and produce really good pork.

And there's another significant advantage.

They look magnificent.

Not technically an important production characteristic, but we're keeping it on the list.

Our pigs aren't simply kept here waiting to become sausages.

They're part of the farm.

Pigs are extraordinary natural cultivators.

Give them an area to investigate and they'll root, rummage, eat vegetation and disturb the ground with an enthusiasm that would make a rotavator feel inadequate.

We use ours particularly on banks, rough ground and awkward areas of the farm that aren't suitable for our arable crops and can become dominated by vegetation and brambles.

Their natural behaviour can help us open up and manage selected areas.

That doesn't mean putting pigs everywhere is somehow magically regenerative.

Leave too many pigs in the wrong place for too long and they'll make an almighty mess.

Like most things in regenerative farming:

It's not simply what you've got. It's how you manage it.

In the right place, at the right time, pigs can be extremely useful.

Fortunately nobody has yet had to explain their job description to them.

It starts with good pork.

Oxford Sandy & Blacks are a traditional breed valued for the quality and flavour of their meat.

And there's something else that matters in a proper sausage.

Fat.

Fat carries flavour and helps give a sausage its juiciness and texture. A sausage made from extremely lean meat may sound terribly virtuous but can be rather disappointing on the plate.

Then there's the other important bit.

Griffiths know how to make sausages.

We don't.

Which is why they do that bit and we stick to farming.

Good pork + a proper local butcher = a very good sausage.

Sometimes food doesn't need to be more complicated than that.

“Love Love Love the Bangers!”
— Jenny L

We're very conscious that if we're going to raise animals for food, we have a responsibility to do it properly.

These are animals we know.

We've seen where they've lived and watched them rooting around the farm.

When the time comes, they enter the licensed abattoir system, where animal welfare, stunning, slaughter and food-hygiene requirements apply.

The pork then goes to Griffiths of Leintwardine for the specialist
job of turning it into sausages.

We don't pretend the final part of producing meat doesn't exist.

It does.

For us, the important thing is that the pigs have a good life while they're here and that the final process is carried out professionally and appropriately.

That's part of producing meat responsibly.