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All about Gloucestershire Old Spot Pigs
 One of the more numerous of the rare breeds, the Gloucestershire Old Spot provides
tender, succulent, fine-grained meat suitable for pork or bacon, and the production
of hams, sausages and pies.
The breed was developed in Gloucestershire when most cottages had a pig in a sty at
the bottom of the garden. It was evolved from crossing a Berkshire with the original
Gloucestershire, which was fast losing popularity by the middle of the 19th century.
The Gloucestershire Old Spot thrived on waste from the county's two main industries — apple growing and cheese production. Windfall fruit and whey formed the basis of its diet.
Local folklore attributes the spots to bruises from falling apples!
 The Gloucestershire Old Spot is the ideal pig for Orchard Farm Products. Its docile
temperament makes it ideal for less intensive methods of rearing, where animals mix and
run in groups, and they thrive on grazing, with their diets supplemented by potatoes,
roots, apples and whey. There is no need for them to be exclusively fed on expensive
concentrates. The sows make ideal mothers, and continue to rear good litters long after
those of other breeds reach the end of their reproductive life. And lastly, they are
hardy, and can live outside in a pig ark all year round.
Glen and Diane Viall's choice of Gloucestershire Old Spots reflects their commitment to
quality food, humane rearing and customer satisfaction.
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