TRADITIONAL breed pigs appear to making a comeback in South Lakeland thanks to increased interest in speciality food, writes Farming Reporter Justin Hawkins.

"We cannot produce enough to keep the butchers happy," said Furness farmer John Sutcliffe, who runs the Rare Breed Survival Trust pig finishing unit for Cumbria and North Lancashire.

John, from Bridgefield Farm, Lowick, works with Aireys butchers at Ayside to provide meat from his traditional Saddleback and Gloucester Old Spots pigs as part of a meat marketing scheme run by the RBST.

According to John, the resurgence of interest in the traditional breed pigs is being fuelled by the ongoing increase in demand for locally-produced speciality foods.

He explained that traditional breeds of pig were more succulent and tastier than pork generally available in supermarkets which comes from animals matured faster on large-scale commercial units. He claimed that the well-known improvement in flavour from the slower maturing traditional breeds of livestock were even more pronounced in pigs than in sheep and beef animals.

As well as rearing pigs for the food chain, John's RBST unit produces litters of piglets to go to other farmers, many setting up with pigs for the first time.

He explained that, although large-scale commercial pig-farming was a notoriously volatile business with more than its share of problems in recent years, more and more small farmers and hobby farmers in Cumbria and elsewhere were showing an interest in taking on a handful of Gloucestershire Old Spots and Saddlebacks.

That growing interest is in keeping with the aims of the RBST, which was set up in 1973 to protect Britain's livestock heritage after more than 20 British breeds of pigs, sheep and cattle became extinct between 1900 and 1973.

The resurgence of the pig in and around South Lakeland will get a major boost later this year when the Westmorland Agricultural Show this summer introduces the first competitive pig classes in years.

Show secretary Rodger Read confirmed that, thanks to popular demand, six classes will be judged on show day in September.

John said: "I think its important for the county show to reflect the full range of farming in South Lakeland and it's becoming more like a duty for the show to demonstrate to the public what is available in terms of locally-sourced food.

"They have done an admirable job so far with the food hall. That is what it is becoming more and more about - speciality and locally-sourced foods."

The Rare Breed Survival Trust can be contacted at the National Agriculture Centre at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, CV8 2LG, on 0247-699-6551 or by visiting http://www.rare-breeds.com

May 22, 2003 13:00