The Yorkshire Pig – a well-known and reputable hog roast caterer operating across Yorkshire and surrounding areas, recently shared their views on local farmer Stephen Till’s decision to use boars of a higher quality to increase the slaughter weight in his finishing pigs.
The news comes as the use of genetic engineering, scientific development and laboratory research by porcine geneticists ACMC to produce Ultra Boars that help to create an increase of more than 17% in the final slaughter weight of finishing pigs without losing any grading or quality within the meat. What this innovative measure has allowed Mr. Till and several other pig farmers to do is increase their yield without having to suffer the costs of expanding, feeding and sheltering more animals, instead gaining a rise in the deadweight of pigs from around 68 kg to an impressive 80 kg, with view to increase that figure even further, possible through alterations to the pigs diet formulation towards the latter stages within the finishing process.
Stephen Till operates his 100-sow breeding and finishing unit out of Welburn in York and began using the Ultra boars from ACMC just over a year ago, allowing for them to mate naturally with sows or by methods of artificial insemination. The resulting pigs have a substantial increased weight which is yet to increase further with dietary changes within Mr. Till’s pigs over the next year or two.
A spokesperson for The Yorkshire Pig was eager to give the views of the entire team and in a recent discussion stated the following:
“Our reputation and our success are built on sourcing the finest meats and creating the perfect accompaniments for our customers and their guests, whatever the occasion or event. For us to be able to source the same high quality within our ingredients is imperative and the fact that if required we can now purchase larger hogs to accommodate larger events and parties opens our opportunities up even further.”
Great news then for hog roast caterers across the UK, where events with hogs weighing over 200lbs are becoming more popular in England as demand for such delicacies is increasing year after year. With an average cooking time of 6 hours, varying sizes of pigs can take from three and a half hours to an incredible 8 hours for the larger varieties that Mr. Till hopes to breed from his Yorkshire breeding unit.
The team at The Yorkshire Pig, in their view, are confident that the specialist involvement of genetic development from scientists at ACMC is beneficial to increasing the yield for UK Pig farmers and not detrimental to the quality of the finished product. The Yorkshire Pig can be contacted via their website at www.hogroastsyorkshire.co.uk today.