All cleaned up after the fire at Kenniford Farm

Post-fire, we are now all cleaned up and tidy again; to compensate for the lost farrowing accommodation we are multi-suckling the sows and piglets in two spare pens in our grower house, so we are not weaning the piglets early. The replacement buildings have been ordered and are due in two weeks’ time.

Farrowing in the free-access pens has been quite stressful, with more piglets being crushed to death by their mum than in our farrowing crates – how we managed with the old pens for 14 years I do not know. What’s good for the sow is definitely not for the piglet, and until you have to constantly remove otherwise healthy, but dead, one-day-old crushed piglets from free-access pens, in my view you are not qualified to say that farrowing crates are bad.

Earlier in the month, I went to my first NPA Producer Group meeting at the Farmers Club – the main topic of debate was the prevention of animal rights activists gaining work on pig farms, and then making a video nasty of what goes on, which on any farm can be achieved with a little bit of deviousness. As an industry we are going to have to be a lot more careful who we employ.

As a thank you for their help with the aftermath of the fire, I took the farm staff go carting. Jon Newby won, but in his excitement did an extra lap, which meant he was disqualified, allowing Noel Pond, our butcher, to win by default.

Andrew Freemantle is