Grow Your Own Magazine

Just opened my new Grow your own magazine to find a three page feature on rearing pigs! What would the allotment committee say to that one!
I'm fine with the odd chook - but this is stretching it!

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Haven't got my mag yet. I'd love some chooks and a pig (and a goat) but I don't think my landlord would be too happy.

I have got the hens but haven't yet got the land for the pigs. I would love them though and reading about them just drives me to fight for some land.

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I'm afraid if I kept a pig it would end up being a pet!!

the old lady who lived in this house before us (we bought it in 1991) kept pigs...one of the cellars had a pen in it for a pig and we have called it the pig pen ever since altho its now a general large equipment/bits of wood for making things store....trouble is it opens out onto the garden and the land where we would want to keep the pig is a walk away, throught the tunnel under the embankment and down the river for a few metres so i dont think its practicable...very tempting although i expect like glallotments it would become a pet .....still its goats first ...............

Our first lottie was on a council owned site - and it was fine to keep pigs apparently- so one of the guys kept 2 every year!

Would A: Love to have an allotment big enough to keep pigs and B: Keep a couple of pigs for fattening each year, ho hum, can still dream of having my own smallholding somewhere I suppose.

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It was dark. And cold. And very, very empty.

And in the middle of all of the dark, cold, emptiness lay something darker, and colder, but very, very full.

Snag is, when GYO has a pigs column it misses out the hen one. I'm sure there are so many more people keeping small scale 'chicken ranches' in gardens and allotments than ever will keep pigs.

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I have 3 pigs and they are great they dont take up much room and can clear the ground no problem they also fertilise as they go was supposed to be for xmas but i dont think they will be ready till january defo not pets they will go in the freezer!!

I too would love pigs and chucks... have given some thought to the chucks this year but to be kept in my garden and still not taken the plunge. Trouble is I don't feel my allotment is secure enough from the local mini-mafia to put livestock on there. I don't mind a few veggies getting trashed (well I would be livid) but if animals got harassed or worse then I would be gutted.

I'd love to add a few Piggy weaners to my 'tinyholding' and a few Lambs too. Unfortunately I don't think my Mum would agree to it, and as it is not my land I hadn't better push it Still not sure how I managed to get away with all the Chooks and 4 Geese. Will have to work on my Dad, he's all for it! Ho hum!

Sorry, I'm waffling, and daydreaming! I think it's good they include 'outside' features, like different livestock and beekeeping etc in the GYO mag. A lot of people do so much more with their land than just grow veg, and I think it give some of us the incentive to look into doing more.

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we do pigs too - absolutely ace. Lovely to know that they have had a great life. The taste is something else. There's a village my way that allows pigs on the lottie. My village lottie allowed goats although that is possibly about to be written out of the rules. I had thought about getting a piece and renting it just for goats but I couldn't handle the thought of them getting loose and demolishing everyones hard work.

Goats can be a total pain. Don't get me wrong, I like them, and they're a joy to watch, but they are unbelivebly stubborn and once they decide they want out, it's over. Our neighbor had this adorable pygmy goat as company for his retired pony. He re-fenced the paddock and raised the height to about 5 feet to make sure she stayed put. About three months after getting her, he started to notice his back garden was being severly nibbled. he put up a big deer fence but the nibbling continued at a remarkable pace and he lost about half his prized somethingorother shrubs. Any hoo, one day his wife stayed home from work and while she was washing the dishes she saw how the goat was getting out. When the pony went to the fence to take a drink the little goat would get a running start and jump onto the back of the pony and over the fence. When the wife started laughing, the nanny heard her, looked right through the kitchen window, then nonchalantly strolled over to the woodpile stacked against the fence and climbed back up and over.

Pigs do not climb.

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Havent opened my magazine yet as was saving it to start at bed-time tonight but think i might go earlier tonight now!

we plan to get 2 pigs in the spring so i am DELIGHTED that this is in the magazine. I think GYO really caters for all sorts of growers and not just those with gardens and/or allotments.

We are lucky enough to have a small holding (kind of!), so it's fairly easy for us to keep a variety of livestock and buying lots of different magazines isnt really an option for us - GYO is my favourite and love the diversity of articles.

Planning to start a beekeeping course in January with plans to have my hive by the summer so hopefully GYO will run an article on THAT soon too!

keep up the good work GYO!

Haven't got my copy yet, so will have to wait and see!

I do have one gripe about the mag though. They tell you something in one article; making a leaf mould bin, for example. Then another writer repeats it in another article a few pages later, sometimes it happens again in a third article. I call this 'padding' and I don't like it!

Sorry, moan over

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they don't like clay.... and .... and ...shoot I'm a veggie so no use to me ...lol

There's a teaster about next months issue with the old and rare chook breeds though...... a month is a long time to wait!!!

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