They are ideally suited to an outdoor system. Provided they have a warm and comfortable hut they will thrive outside all the year around, better on land that is reasonably dry so that it does not become a quagmire. This the pigs wouldn’t mind, but it would become difficult to get round to look after them.

Leading breeder George Styles recalls the occasion one winter when he had Gloucestershire Old Spots sows in outdoor farrowing huts that were well insulated. “The snow drifted around them and was about a foot deep between January 1st and March 1st. Seventeen sows farrowed and we weaned 173 pigs. It was a wonderful sight to see the little pigs playing in the snow and suckling the sows that were lying in it. Tough as old boots.”

“Over some 30 years we carried out a concentrated programme of recording and testing. All gilts were ultrasonically tested and boars were tested by PIDA and then MLC at their testing stations. It is interesting to note that several boars had very high testing results and at one stage were the highest of all breeds.”

Return to Gloucester Old Spots - breed history

Email us about Gloucester Old Spot Pigs