1 | | It is generally difficult to prise | | | | |
| | teenage boys away from playing | | | | |
| | computer games and listening to | | | | |
| | music, but 18-year-old Duncan | | | | |
| | Turnbull is not your average | | | | |
| | adolescent. He was only 15 when | | | | |
| | he launched Adopt-a-Pig, a | | | | |
| | scheme whereby customers pay a | | | | |
| | £50 deposit to choose and name a | | | | |
| | newborn piglet, visit it as often as | | | | |
| | they like and keep abreast of its | | | | postcards and notepaper |
| | progress via a website photo | | | | personalised with a picture of their |
| | gallery. | | | | chosen pig. |
2 | | When the time comes, seven | | | | Pied beauty: Duncan Turnbull, 18, and his |
| | months later, for the animal to be | | | | original brood sow, Hilda |
| | slaughtered there’s a tough choice | | 5 | | Duncan is outside by 6.30am |
| | to make: are you after a hog roast, | | | | to give them their food (as natural |
| | pork for roasting – complete with a | | | | as possible) before heading off to |
| | layer of crispy crackling –, or would | | | | study for his A-levels. Once he |
| | you be more interested in | | | | gets home, there is an hour’s worth |
| | Duncan’s 98 per cent meat | | | | of emails and paperwork to deal |
| | sausages and bacon rashers? | | | | with before the evening feed. On |
| | Friends and family often join forces | | | | Friday evenings he goes to the |
| | to adopt a pig and share out the | | | | local brewery to collect waste |
| | meat between them. The final bill | | | | malting barley which, he says, |
| | is usually between £200 and £300 | | | | adds to the taste of the meat. He |
| | for the whole pig, depending on the | | | | has school on Saturday, so |
| | cuts chosen. Given the quality and | | | | Sunday is a busy day spent |
| | provenance of Duncan’s meat, it’s | | | | mucking out and doing other |
| | surprisingly good value. A pig’s | | | | chores. |
| | worth of anonymous pork products | | 6 | | With an annual turnover of |
| | at a supermarket would cost | | | | around £10,000 and projections of |
| | somewhere between £150 and | | | | over £25,000 next year, Duncan’s |
| | £200. | | | | enterprise is no longer a laughing |
3 | | Meeting Hilda – Duncan’s first | | | | matter among his school friends. In |
| | pig and the one that got him | | | | fact, three of them went with him to |
| | interested in the endangered | | | | last month’s Salone del Gusto food |
| | Oxford Sandy & Black breed – and | | | | fair in Turin to try to break into the |
| | her litter of eight adorable piglets | | | | international market. His plans to |
| | made me wonder whether | | | | promote British meat impressed |
| | anybody’s resolve has weakened | | | | the Department of Trade and |
| | once the end has come. “Not after | | | | Industry sufficiently for an £1,800 |
| | I’ve explained that this isn’t an | | | | grant towards the trip. “We had |
| | animal sanctuary or a charity,” | | | | quite a few languages between us |
| | says Duncan. “It’s a meat | | | | and soon got into our sales patter,” |
| | business. It’s not as if the person | | | | explains Duncan. “Mind you, the |
| | who adopts the animal is signing | | | | food did most of the talking, |
| | its death warrant – the pigs are | | | | especially when we started offering |
| | going to be slaughtered anyway. | | | | freshly-cooked bacon and |
| | The choice is the customers’. They | | | | sausages.” |
| | can keep going to the supermarket, | | 7 | | With university on the horizon, |
| | picking up pieces of meat that they | | | | there’s every possibility that |
| | know nothing about, and have no | | | | Duncan, who started in business at |
| | idea of the pig’s living conditions or | | | | the age of 12 breeding ducks, will |
| | diet, or adopt one and follow its | | | | spend a gap year [id:77671] rather |
| | progress every step of the way.” | | | | than backpacking around the |
4 | | The majority of Duncan’s | | | | world. “I’m happy to continue with |
| | clients are parents keen for their | | | | the management side,” he says. |
| | children to understand the link | | | | “But, of course, there will have to |
| | between animals and the food on | | | | be staffing in place to look after the |
| | their table. Some drive as far as | | | | pigs.” |
| | 200 miles to see their pig at his | | | | |
| | parents’ 20-acre smallholding near | | | | |
| | York. Others indulge in the | | | | The Daily Telegraph |
| | scheme’s ‘optional extras’, such as | | |