A Norfolk herd of a rare and threatened pig breed is growing - thanks to a surge in demand for the animals' meat during the pandemic.
Vic Jenkins and her husband Richard Bloss run the Broadland Herd of British Lop pigs, based at Thatched House Farm in Norton Subcourse, near Reedham.
It is a very rare farm animal, with only 100-200 breeding females left in the world.
But the Broadland Herd now has nine breeding sows and more than 100 animals in total, making it one of the largest collections of British Lops in the country, and the biggest in East Anglia.
Their owners both previously worked in the insurance industry, and Mr Bloss recently gave up his job to join his wife working full-time on the farm - giving them scope to expand further.
Mrs Jenkins said the catalyst for the growth from a "glorified hobby to a proper business" has been the Covid pandemic, prompting consumers to seek out meat with low food miles, and high animal welfare and environmental credentials.
And she said finding profitable new markets for the meat was the best way to secure the future of this threatened breed.
"I love pigs - I am completely obsessed," she said. "You raise them and it can be difficult to take them to the abattoir, but the fact is no-one will keep these animals as pets, so if we don't farm them they will die out. It is a case of 'eat them to keep them'.
"Lockdown was the making of it as a business. Previously we used to supply pubs and restaurants in small quantities when we had stock available, but obviously during lockdown they all shut.
"But then we had a real resurgence in the local customer base, people turning up at the farm gate - so that is why we decided to expand the herd.
"Nowadays, if people are going to eat meat they want to know where it has come from, that the animal has had a nice life and a good environment to live in. We have benefited from that desire from the consumer."
Sustainability is a key focus for the farm, and many of the pigs are reared on woodland provided by the Raveningham Estate.
"They get to root around among the trees and eat the fallen nuts, which adds to their quality of life, but it is beneficial to the environment as well," said Mrs Jenkins.
"They are brilliant at clearing areas that were overgrown with nettles and brambles, which has allowed the natural woodland habitats to return. So it is beneficial on both sides."
The pigs are also fed windfall apples and crates of donated surplus vegetables to improve the diversity of their diet - and reduce food waste.
Meanwhile, the short food chain and the quality of the meat are equally important selling points.
The pigs are butchered at Seppings in Beccles and Sunday Charcuterie in Oulton Broad, with the meat sold at Hillfield Nursery and Farm Shop and Thurlton Community Shop, as well as at the farm.
"The meat is tremendous," said Mrs Jenkins. "These pigs are not factory farmed, they are slow-growing animals that are allowed to exhibit their natural behaviour.
"I get a lot of customers who say they won't eat pork unless it comes from here.
"We get a lot of enquiries where people Google 'high welfare pork', but it is not just about that.
"Once they try the meat they realise how good it is, so it is not just conscience-led - it is about the quality too."
Mrs Jenkins grew up in Belton, near Great Yarmouth, and previously worked for Norwich Union (now Aviva) before moving to London, where she met her husband.
"I got really homesick for Norfolk," she said. "We used to dream of a place like this.
"We decided if we were going to do something there needed to be some meaning behind it. We wanted to make a difference to a rare breed.
"We started keeping British Lop pigs about six years ago, and we have a small flock of rare Norfolk Horn sheep which we want to expand too."
The couple have worked with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and are members of the British Lop Society, a network which helps them find breeding stock to ensure genetic diversity in the herd.
About British lop pigs
British Lop pigs are listed as a priority breed on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) 2021-22 Watchlist.
They are large animals, white coloured and similar in appearance to more popular commercial breeds - except for their characteristic large lop ears.
They descended from the lop-eared, white pigs that lived in West Country farmyards for centuries.
It is a hardy breed, well-suited to foraging and producing high-quality lean meat from otherwise unproductive land.
As with many rare breeds, the decision in the 1950s to concentrate pig production on just three breeds (Landrace, Large White and the Welsh) was disastrous for the British Lop, says the RBST.
Numbers dropped and, coupled with the breed’s relative confinement to the south west, the Lop became very rare.
Although still very rare, there are now herds throughout the country.
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