The pig farmer

With no background in farming but a dream of owning pigs, Great Sankey couple Rebecca Scott and Liam Tickle set up Snoutwood Trotters, now a freerange pedigree pig farm, farm shop and butchery. Rebecca gives us a glimpse into their everyday life

- Bethan Andrews

07:00 ON THE FARM

We live on the farm and everything, including the butchery and shop, is onsite, so after a coffee, we’re out early. We have different age sections of pigs, so breeders are together, growers together and piglets, weaners and sows together. We’ll feed them and once that’s done, we’ll check their general health. Pigs don’t do well in the heat so in the summer, with ours being free range, we need to be vigilant. Oddly, pigs catch pneumonia quicker in the heat so we’re always making sure there are shaded areas and wallowing pits. People think pigs are dirty, but they’re actually really clean. When they wallow, they’re using the wet mud as a rhino would in Africa to keep cool.

08:00 BEING FLEXIBLE