The Animals
 

Straight from birth our piglets are very mobile and curious of their surroundings. These piglets are about a week old and are already rooting up soil and making themselves aware of their surroundings. We allow our piglets to stay on the teat for 6-8 weeks before we begin weaning. Factory farming often beging the weaning process in less than 5 weeks. 



These Large Blacks are in the weaning process. Segregated from their mother and the heard, we begin to feed them grains so they no longer desire milk from their mother. Once they are fully weaned, they are moved out of the farrowing house to the rest of the heard. 

 

This is one of Boot Strap Farms' sows. Although she is not a Large Black, our bore is, and together they make a hybrid that we call F1's or F2's. Because the Large Black generally has a higher natural fat content, Boot Strap Farms mates the Large Black with other leaner breeds to have animals that have a lesser natural fat content for costomers who want leaner meat but still has the great unique taste of the Large Black.



Right from birth we like to interact with our piglets. Thomas is holding two Large Black piglets. The Large Black pig is a very docile breed which allows us to walk into her pen with her babies, and take them out and hold them. Customers are engouraged to come and visit Boot Strap Farms, so they too can have the opportunity to have such interaction with the animals.



A sow can have a litter of up to 15 piglets. On average Boot Strap Farms sees an average of 10 piglets per litter. However this is one of our smaller littlers.



This photo shows the different breeds of Boot Strap Farms. The Large Black, Yorkshires, and the F1's and F2's all interacting at Boot Strap Farms Upper Canada Heritage Meat Inc.