Results of the 2003/04 Berkshire Survey
Surveyor: Jo Wykes-Sneyd

The results of the survey show that interestingly, the Royal Lustre sow line (for many years very popular) at 66 (down 1 from 2002) is steadily being caught up by the Stonebow line (55 up from 4 last year). These things go in cycles, the Suzanne which has enjoyed some success in recent years, stands now at 15, one more than 2002, but there are no gilts recorded. The remaining lines are holding firm, particularly the Louise and Farewell, both of which have improved over the year.

The Peter Lad boar line continues to enjoy his run at the top, with 22 registered, plus 7 young boars being kept on for breeding, but the Nama Abel has, for some reason, dropped by 5 from 2002, again with no young boars recorded, whilst the newest Lassiter line, (an import from Australia from original exported English stock) has 3 boars listed, and hopefully will go on to be as big an asset to the Berkshire herd generally, as the Orlando is proving to be. Total sows recorded now stands at 287, which is an improvement on the 254 from 2002, but still lower than the 317 recorded in 2001. Total females number 359. Boars are up by 18 since last year, total boars being kept number 89, so although things continue to improve after F& M, we still need to be vigilant in safe-guarding the future of our chosen breed.

A total of 155 survey forms were sent out by the BPA, 22 breeders no longer keep Berkshires, there are 18 new breeders, and 28 did not reply. The number of breeders keeping Berkshires for 2003/04 stands at 105.


Jo Wykes-Sneyd