Last week, in our email to members, I promised a fun surprise would crop up on the blog after we returned from our trip to Kansas for the ALBC Conference. Here she is:
Amelia is a seven-week-old Gloucestershire Old Spot gilt who has joined our herd by way of Southern Illinois. We picked her up on our journey back from the ALBC Conference and she’s settling in nicely.
We’ve started with just one Old Spot because there isn’t a lot of data currently available for how well Old Spots fare in outdoor setups in cold climates like ours. Her large, floppy ears — a trademark of the breed — could make it difficult for her to retain body heat in the cold and predispose her to frostbite. If she does well — and we hope she does — we’ll breed her next year and begin looking for more Old Spots to establish the breed within our herd.
