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Farming Today: Meadows, Potatoes, 'Home-kill' pigs

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04/06/2018

Meadows, Potatoes, 'Home-kill' pigs

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, Meadows, Potatoes, 'Home-kill' pigs

Steffan Messenger asks whether Britain's grasslands hold the key to a 'green' Brexit.

Steffan Messenger asks whether Britain's grasslands hold the key to a 'green' Brexit. Plus weather worries and small-scale pig rearing.

Meadows, pasture and grasslands are a vitally important part of the landscape and make up around 66% of all agricultural land in the UK. This week a cross-party group of MPs is discussing the future role of British grassland and how they fit with Government ambitions for a 'Green' Brexit.

Recent storms and humid conditions are causing concern that this year's potato crop will be poor and lead to increased prices in the shops. In the West Midlands the wet spring and downpours in the last week have left many fields water-logged. 

It's several generations since householders routinely kept a pig in the yard for slaughter in the autumn. But one family in Morayshire have revived the tradition, keeping two or three so-called 'home-kill' pigs which they rear until the animals are eight months old. Helen Gilroy and Abe Humphreys from Dallas have the skills to slaughter and butcher their animals to turn into bacon and sausages for the family table.

Presented by Steffan Messenger.
Produced by Vernon Harwood.

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