What can we say? GOS are our favorite breed. Very docile, very productive, great mothers and milk producers, the most efficient pasture breed we've had and great personalities that make them fun to be around. We call them the "clowns of the farm". Not to mention those incredibly cute piglets...

Although if old paintings are to be trusted, there have been spotted pigs around for two or three centuries, the Gloucestershire Old Spots have only had pedigree status since the early 20th century.

They were very popular in the Berkeley Vale of Gloucestershire, England, where they were known as the Orchard Pig. They grazed in the apple orchards, clearing up fallen fruit. They lived outside throughout the year being tough and hardy although also quiet and easily handled. These qualities are prominent today.

By the way, for those of us who aren't British, it's pronounced "glostersheer"...

Pork and Management Characteristics

The Gloucestershire Old Spot is a meaty animal with a broad and deep body and large hams. It's bacon is half meat making it incredibly tasty. And the marbling; oh, the marbling! A GOS pork chop looks more like a beef ribeye! GOS pork is red colored just like beef and marbled; the marbling keeps the meat from drying out during cooking and adds taste as the fat renders. Like our Large Blacks, and unlike the pork you buy in your food store, Old Spot pork just never dries out! The skin also makes incredible crackling! Older folks describe GOS pork as tasting like it did when they were kids; like it did in the "old country".

GOS are ideally suited to an outdoor, pasture based system. Provided they have a warm and comfortable hut they will thrive outside all the year around. Except on the coldest of days, our pigs sleep together in hay or in the forest. We provide huts which they use when they do need to get out of the cold. They can also endure the hottest of days as long as they have a wallow or sprinkler in which to cool off. They do have white skin and do sunburn so it is important to provide some type of shelter from the sun.

For most of the year our Old Spots get little supplemental feed. They effectively use the grass, forbs and browse available on the pasture and forest and require less supplemental feed than any other breed we've had. This ability to live naturally on vegetation makes them very inexpensive to keep and gives their pork a delicious, natural taste.

GOS Breeding Structure

The Gloucestershire Old Spot is a very rare pig and in the past has been subject to inbreeding that has caused problems. With a rare breed, it is critically important that we save as much of the diverse genetic material as we can. The way that we try and do that is to avoid inbreeding and linebreeding.

Many breeders use a system that categorizes each pig by bloodline and "color" group. To minimize inbreeding, they breed a sow from one "color" with a boar from another particular "color" group. This can get confusing, so here is a link to a guide on how this works.

At Homegrown Acres we do things differently. We do not breed by the "color" groups. Frankly, that is an old system (50 years old) that simply does not work well in the U.S. where there are insufficient hogs from each group and fails to take advantage of modern breeding science and techniques. We actually calculate the inbreeding that would result from certain breeding pairs and only breed those that would produce low inbred piglets. Breeding by the "color" system is like alchemy; calculating inbreeding is science.

We are also selectively breeding GOS with more spots (better sunburn resistance), better marbled pork and even better pasturability. Except in the coldest months of winter all of our GOS piglets are born and weaned on pasture which makes the transition to your pasture much easier.

In this way we know exactly which piglets make the best breeding pairs that will improve the U.S. herd.

You can be assured that GOS you get from us are the best available. We can provide singles, multiples and breeding pairs from our numerous bloodlines. If you would like to start raising your own Gloucestershire Old Spots, click here to purchase yours!

Our GOS pigs are registered through the Heritage Hog Breeders Club. This ensures you will receive your registration papers with your piglets.