Until the 1950s, this was a popular pig being hardy, cheap to feed and easy to keep. Big pluses to smallholders in particular. It was ‘improved’ during the 19c by deliberately crossing it with foreign imports and was popular in the UK till the mid 1950s. They were by no means confined to Essex though I remember scratching their backs with a stick when I was quite small.
In 1954, 488 British boars were licensed and 3,716 sows registered but the next year the drive for efficiency, as perceived by the experts, led to a report by the grandly titled ‘Advisory Committee on the Development of Pig Production in the United Kingdom’.
In my view, any organisation with 12 words in its title is likely to be bureaucratic and so it was. The members decided that pig farmers should concentrate on three breeds.
The Welsh
The large white
This originated in Yorkshire which was exported to Ohio in 1830 and is now known as the American Yorkshire – the most common pig breed in the USA.
The Landrace
To be fair, protection of rare wildlife, let alone farm animals was a new concept and the collection of wild birds’ eggs had only been made illegal a year earlier. Commercial interests were paramount and the idea that we should preserve diversity was not central to planning.
In 1967, the stud books of the Essex Pig were amalgamated with that of the Wessex and the breed became known as the British Saddleback.
It was considered that the Essex Pig was extinct. You can guess that I wouldn’t be writing this if that was true. John Croshaw, had refused to amalgamate his herd of Essex pigs (the "Glascote Herd"), which retained a pure Essex bloodline despite being officially registered as British Saddlebacks: Croshaw had carefully managed his stock to avoid inbreeding. The Essex Pig Society was formed in 1997 and Jimmy Doherty became involved in 2003. Alan has written quite a bit on the setting up of Jimmy’s Farm so you can read that on his site.
Jimmy Doherty is passionate about the Essex Pig and gave up a job in London to train as a pig farmer in Cumbria, where he met his future wife when she was working on the crew of Jamie' s Kitchen.
Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty were childhood friends and share similar values. Jimmy is passionate about rare breeds and also about returning farming to a time when animals were cared for humanely and led more natural lives. The visitors, the TV shows and books come second to that and are ways to fund his passion.
The farm shop is expensive and my eyes watered at the price of some things but the meat is superb, local, free range and the animals have not been subject to long journeys in cramped conditions on the way to slaughter. I like that!
We had a lovely lunch in the restaurant – obviously with Pork from the farm. The staff were very helpful and pleasant and didn’t turn a hair at large parties of small children. I highly recommend it.
I wandered round a small garden while Alan set off to see ‘Darwin’s Garden’ which he found a disappointment and then went on the ‘Nature Trail’ which is the only part of the farm with an entry charge – but it is the only way to see the rare breeds.
Alan was a little critical of the ‘hidden charge’ to see what amounts to the core of the farm, the rare breeds. Basically there is free access with no parking charge to persuade customers to visit the shop and the restaurant, which is where Jimmy’s focus lies – promoting good meat. As you can see in the pictures above, there is a pleasant garden and plenty of seating for eating picnics.
As we were in the caravan with a very small fridge, we just bought some sausages made from Essex pork. They weren’t cheap but were certainly delicious and contained 93% meat.
It was a good day out and it was encouraging to see a positive outcome for one our old pig breeds. I’m always encouraged to see someone follow their passion and make a success of it.
Of course the fact that he is an Essex lad and I’m an Essex girl doesn’t sway my views!
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