We work with a large pork producer and offer bed and breakfast facilities to their pigs here at Murton Moor Farm. We are now in our third year, and it is lovely having pigs on the farm again, having not kept pigs since the 1990s.
We currently produce 5 batches of pigs a year. They arrive with us as 9 week old piglets, and we rear them up to 18 weeks, when they move to a finishing farm.
Pigs love to forage and to play, and we give them lots of things for enrichment – straw bales, barrels, branches and sticks, even Christmas trees! They also love cardboard and paper, and have a particular love for Farmers Weekly magazines!
Our pigs are looked after on a daily basis by Richard and Tanza, and we have weekly visits from pig specialists. We also have 12 weekly vet inspections from multiple agencies including the RSPCA and Freedom Foods ensuring our pigs are kept to the highest of welfare standards.
We are often asked why we keep pigs, and the answer is simple – it helps us grow good crops! The pigs produce manure which is rich in potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus. This gets put back on to the fields after harvest, giving us a cost effect and sustainable form of nutrition for our soil and growing crops.
We work with experienced fieldsmen and vets and have 12 weekly vet inspections, to ensure we meet the high welfare standards set by RSPCA Assured and other compliance schemes.
Murton Moor farm is also accredited by Red Tractor Assurance. Red Tractor Assurance have some of the most comprehensive farm and food standards in the world, and any produce with the red tractor logo on it has been safely produced for you and your family to eat. We work closely with farming experts, vets, animal welfare experts, and agronomists to ensure our produce is farmed to the highest of standards, is traceable and safe, and are proud to be members of Red Tractor Assurance.