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Blythburgh Free Range pigs are born on the sandy soils of Blythburgh along the Suffolk Heritage Coast. The piglets remain with their Mothers in insulated arcs for nearly four weeks until they reach a healthy size and strength to be weaned off milk onto solid food. This system is quite common in the UK, outdoor breeding herds are most commonly found in parts of East Anglia and Yorkshire where the soil is light and will drain easily during periods of wet weather. In fact around 30% of British breeding farms are outdoor systems like ours, however, it is when the piglets are weaned that our unique free range system comes into play.

 

When weaned off their Mother's milk nearly all pigs in the UK and World-wide are moved into intensive, predominately in-door housing systems. These systems minimise the pigs' movements and optimise their food intake ensuring the pigs will grow at a much faster rate. This results in the system being more efficient and helps to keep costs of production lower. British pig farmers have been driven into using these systems by our supermarkets in order to supply them with a cheaper meat source on which they can collect a higher margin.

 

At Blythburgh Free Range Pork our piglets are weaned off milk and moved into large straw filled tents and huts that are located in acre sized paddocks. This gives them the space and freedom to display natural behaviours like rooting in the soil and playing with their peers. This extra space and activity not only ensures a vastly improved standard of living and welfare, but it also results in the pigs growing at a slower rate. This is for the simple reason they are burning off more calories than a pig that is sat in a concrete pen all of its life. By growing at a much slower more natural rate, Blythburgh Free Range Pork aquires a flavour and succulence that pork used to have when your Grandma used to make it.

 

In summary a Blythburgh Pig lives a truly free range lifestyle and this results in Blythburgh Free Range Pork having a flavour and succulence that is unrivalled but any conventional pork today.