KEYTHORPE RARE BREEDS
Pedigree Pigs and Traditional Pork - last updated April 2009
(& Lamb, & Hogget, & Free Range Chicken)

                    - - - INTERACTIVE ONLINE SHOP NOW OPEN ! ! !  - - -

Hello and welcome!  Let us introduce ourselves, we are Keythorpe Rare Breeds and we are primarily breeders and rearers of traditional rare breed pigs producing quality weaners for fattening, quality breeding stock, and the best pork and bacon about.

We also produce our own lamb and free range chicken which is available, along with our pork, drycure bacon, gammon and sausage, to buy from our farm or through our online farm shop.

We are located on the Leicestershire /Rutland border.

For those of you purely interested in top quality, outdoor free range pork, sausage, drycure bacon and gammon, and of course lamb, and who would prefer to see their meat packaged and ready to cook please select the FARM SHOP link.

For those who want to know more about what we do and the animals we keep, scroll on down and also use the links to the left - PIGS and SHEEP.

Our pig breeds:
Gloucester Old Spot
British Saddleback
Large Black
Oxford, Sandy & Black
British Lop
and
Kune-Kune

Our sheep breeds:
Wiltshire Horn, Hampshire, Texel

PIGS - Weaners for fattening; breeding stock available; boars at stud

SHEEP - Lambs and ewes available for breeding; rams at stud

MEAT - Juicy, Succulent Pork, handmade Sausage, Gammon and Drycure Bacon
           - Freezer ready lamb

Our contact info:

tel                    01858 55 55 77
email           pigs@keythorpe.co.uk

snail mail     Valley Buildings
                    Rose Cottage Farm
                     Crackbottle Road
                      Keythorpe                                      
                       Leicestershire
                        LE7 9XG

If you are not familiar with our smallholding and your first contact with us is online, we would be pleased to hear from you!  Please let us know what your needs and questions are, we will be more than happy to help.

Useful Website Links:

British Pig Association (BPA)

BLOG - What's happening at Keythorpe?

June 2007

June saw us hosting our first ever hog roast at our farm!  This was a first for us and so we not only had to select a hog, but also had to build a roasting grill!




Of course we went about things the right way.  We firstly measured our hog...

...to ensure our mean grilling machine would be large enough

The turnout was fantastic and we soon ran out of parking

July 2007

It's been a busy period around the farm.  We had our sheep sheared in June just in time as just a few had early flystrike.  Had the shearers not managed to fit us in we could have been in trouble.

Last week we had most of our flock showered baring a few which have been pulled aside.  With the humid heat we seem to be getting it's the only sure way to put a stop to flystrike.  We lost a number of ewes last year with no prior sign.  On their feet one day looking healthy and not with us the next.

We've selected our cull ewes for this year which will be sent off to market this week - fingers crossed for a good price.  Certainly we've had plenty of grass and even the old girls are looking good.

At last our first lambs are now up to weight and so we'll begin sending them off this week.  Makes my mouth water just thinking about the fresh lamb due to come back...

Piggywise after having had three litters born in May and a further three in June, it seems a bit of a slow month with just the one litter so far.

Our new two year old Saddleback had her first litter with us, being her second litter in total (she's now officially a sow) of 11 little piglets on 10th July.  Unfortunately the runt didn't last 48 hours but the remaining 10, 4 boys and 6 girls are doing well.

We're expecting a number of litters over the coming months - check out our PIG Section for approximate dates and as always BOOK EARLY to avoid dissappointment!!!

August 2007

Well the Foot & Mouth Outbreak and the resulting ban on the movement of livestock put pay to the lamb dinners we were looking forward to.  The movement restrictions came in just days before our first lambs were booked in.  It also meant that our weaners which became ready to go to their new homes had to stay put and we thank people for their patience.

For up to date information on Foot & Mouth visit Defra FMD

August has been a slow month with only one farrowing though we have bought some new lines to add to the ranks of our British Lops being a Supreme Boar and two Gracious Gilts.  This takes our British Lop numbers up to seven in total.

The farrowing was our Kune-Kune sow "Ellie" whom produced 6 healthy piglets.

September 2007

A good start to the month with one of our Harmony line British Lops producing 8 healthy piglets on Sunday morning, 2nd September to our Prince boar.

We're also expecting "Patch" our Gloucestershire Old Spot sow to farrow soon.

October 2007 - WE HAVE PLANNING PERMISSION!!!!!!!!

Earlier in the year we put in for planning for a new livestock building and yard area and this month we've received our permission to go ahead with this new development!  This is fantastic news and will enable us to take Keythorpe to the next level.  World domination here we come.....

November 2007 - The Blacks Have Returned!!!

Having let two of our Large Black's head off to France to start a foundation herd back in April, and our remaining Large Black Sow had gone to another holding to visit the boar, movement restrictions were then placed on us with FMD, and so we've been Blackless for a number a months, what has seemed an age.

But earlier this month, with restrictions relaxed, we were able to collect our Large Black girl whom is due in early December, along with a new gilt in-pig who was due to farrow on 17th November.

As soon as the two girls were back and settled in we'd realised how much we'd missed having this breed on the farm.  There's something about Large Blacks, with their lop ears which cover their eyes, their docile friendly nature, and their love of affection.  They always load and unload quite happily with no drama and follow a feed bucket anywhere.  We'd always recommend them to beginners as the easiest of all the breeds to handle and have received much positive feedback about them over the years.

December 2007 - The Blacks are multiplying!!!

Well "Wiggy", as we decided to name our new Large Black Gilt who arrived in November, became the proud mum of 6 healthy piglets on Saturday 17th November as expected.  A good number for a first litter and she proving herself to be a good mum.

Unfortunately we were not able to set our new webcam up in time to catch the action due to some technical problems (see below).

Meanwhile "Snowy" our existing Large Black sow farrowed 11 piglets on Monday 17th December.  Three unfortunately did not make it but the remaining 8 are doing well.  Snowy too is proving herself to be a good mum.  She starting nesting 12 hours before farrowing attempting to build a nest large enough to house a rugby team!

Elsewhere on the farm we have been leading in straw ready for wintertime, just in time as it happens before the rains came and the land got too wet and we couldn't get on the fields.  So our piggies, and our other livestock too for that matter, should be nice and snug throughout the cold months...

January 2008

Lambing is now well underway for 2008 with half our flock having produced either singles, twins and even triplets.  Butchered lamb packs ready for your freezer will be available later in the year for delivery but please do book early to avoid disappointment - available numbers are limited.

We also have a number of Hoggets we've kept on from last year to allow their taste and texture to develop.  These are available for delivery in May.  If you'd like to put your name down for one, drop us an email.

Our groundworks, which were unfortunately delayed from their original pre-Christmas date, got underway this month.  Due to the sloped site a large amount of earth had to be excavated from one end and built up at the other.  We hope that the foundations for the new building will be put in at the beginning of February and then the barn will follow.

So much to do and plan - new animal pens, loose boxes, farrowing pens, boars pens and so on.

February 2008

The ground works have now been completed, and the footings for the new barn are in!  High winds and torrential rain have slowed down the erection process but slow and steady progress is being made.

On the piggy front our maiden saddle back gilt gave birth to 5 healthy blue and white Lop crosses on the 1st Feb, and one of our Gloucester sows 'bacon' gave birth to a litter of 16 Oxford and Sandy Crosses on the 16th Feb, mums and babies are all doing well.

March 2008

The steel frame work for the barn is up, and the roof timbers are on, next stage will be fitting the roof sheets and laying the concrete for the floors.  The Ewe lambs from last year are slowing producing fine single lambs to our Dorset x Ram, and we will soon be taking orders for summer lamb and Hoggets.  On the 15th our maiden Kune Kune 'Rosie' became a very proud mum of 6 fine babies all of which are growing well.

April 2008

Look out for Keythorpe Rare Breeds being featured in the Leicester Mercury on sat 5th April!!! 

So far no piglets have been born this month, but our Maiden Lop gilt is expected to produce her first litter in the next coming week.

April 2009 - DEAR oh DEAR - has it really been that long???

Wow!  A whole year has passed and not a single blog entry.  We did update our website back in September 2008 but we've been so busy that our online presence has been neglicated.  For those of you who follow our blogs we apologise.  We are still here!  We're still going strong!  And much has happened.  It's a Sunday evening as we write this.  The sun is shining.  The barbeque has been lit.  A glass of beer by my side and a reliable mutt on the other.  Sorry, dog.  I love them really.

Well, where to start.  Summer of 2008 was very busy with erecting the new barn.  Putting the new roof on was a very slow process until 80% of the way through some knowledgeable fella pointed out that the roofing sheets were considered mansafe until they were a number of years old - I.e. we could walk on them safely.  Until this point, and with the picture of the FRAGILE ROOF warning sign showing a warning triangle with a man falling through the roof in mind, we had been taking one sheet up at a time in the mancage and securing it from the cage - a very slow process.  The last 20% of the roof went on in a day.

Much concrete was laid and we were able to make temporary deep strawed pens in time for winter for the pigs, cows and sheep.  This year we need to get the permanent walling around the barn and create our farrowing and stud suite.

WE HAVE COWS!!!!  2008 saw the arrival of the first cows in many years at the farm.  We bought in two twelve month old short legged dexters.  Spice & Pickle.  Bred locally and the first step on our way to producing our own beef.  The first lesson was learnt on day one.  Cows move fast and can jump.  On collecting them and the current owners seeing them off, the livestock trailers grooms top door was opened for a better view whilst the rear of one cow was facing the door.  In a flash is had done a 180 and was coming through the door.  Five fields later and clearing several hedges and 5 bar gates Pickle came to a stop just before the last hedge on the other side of which was a road.  Well, we live and learn.

Since then we have tamed the beasts.  They will now be handled, have a headcollar put on and be led.  Pancake bribery works wonders.

Locally sourced environmentally friendly feed...  Talking of pancakes - that's what much of our pigs now eat!  A local pancake factory was having to send rejected/seconds pancakes to landfill because they had been unable to find someone to take them.  We promptly stepped in and now take all their waste mixing it to our our special farm mix which was developed with the help of BPEX (British Pig Executive) to ensure the piggies get all they need nutritionwise.  Piggycake, as we call it, is about 90% pancakes, rapeseed cake is added for additional protein (this too we source locally from a farm whom cold press their own rapeseed to produce rapeseed oil for cooking - the rapeseed cake is what's left after the pressing - the rapeseed oil is available in our online shop and can be delivered to your door when added to a meatbox order).  We also add a little soya and some essential vitamins and minerals and our piggies love their piggycake.

The meat is now cooking on that barbeque we lit earlier... it smells beautiful.  We have some chickens on at the moment and also some locally sourced venison steaks and burgers.  Speaking of chicken, we are now in our second cycle of rearing our own free range chickens available from both our farm and our online shop.  Add them to a meatbox order and delivery is free.  Being free range they wander all over the farm, and it is slightly amusing that as they wonder around the barbeque, their relatives are nicely cooking on said barbeque... :-) ;-)

Baling straw for winter was a problem this year and so we brought our small square baler out of retirement.  A little fiddling and the old girl was up and running again so we had a barn full of small square bales and then the contractor caught up and finished off making large round bales.  For the first year this year we were able to sell straw in both small square and round bales.  We still have plenty left and are able to offer bulk discounts since we need to clear our barn to get our new walling installed.

Well the meat is now cooked and so we will leave it at that for this evening, but promise to keep this blog more regularly updated.

Keythorpe to launch LIVE WEBCAM!!!!!

hmmm... this isn't going very well.  Our plan was to live broadcast from our farm so viewers could tune in and see realtime farrowings and watch the pigs and their antics...  unfortunately we got stuck making the camera link to the web and a local IT firm we asked to do this for us seemed to be lacking the experience.  Perhaps you know how to do this?  Please get in touch - all advice greatly appreciated.  We have an IP webcam and just need some advice to get it online...