What began with a Christmas present of two piglets has grown into one of the UK’s largest pedigree British Saddleback herds. Based near Sturminster Newton in North Dorset, Lissy Carr and her family now keep several boars and up to ten breeding sows – and seven years after their first pigs arrived, the Carrs went on to produce the champion pig at Dorset County Show.
When Lissy Carr’s eight-year-old son asked for two pigs for Christmas, nobody imagined it would be the start of one of the UK’s biggest pedigree British Saddleback herds.
‘We went to buy him two pigs, and we came back with four …’ says Lissy, from just outside Sturminster Newton. ‘We didn’t choose the breed specifically, they were just the closest pedigree piglets available, just happened to be British Saddlebacks. Then they weren’t intended to be kept … but we soon found ourselves in South Wales buying a boar to go with them, and the rest is history.’
Seven years later, they had the 2025 champion pig at Dorset County Show – the Carrs herd has grown to several boars and up to 10 sows at any one time, plus growing youngsters: it’s now one of the largest pedigree British Saddleback herds in the country.
It’s also very much a family affair. Lissy’s son Seb, now 16, has won numerous awards for his showing and the Saddlebacks have recently been joined by pedigree British Landrace pigs (the classic farmyard ‘pink pig’) and the smaller Kunekunes for her younger son to join the family ‘hobby’.
‘My horse went a long time ago,’ says Lissy. ‘We needed to make the space! It’s just crazy – pigs have taken over!’
The Carrs have become familiar faces on the agricultural show circuit, where their pigs are rather more polished than those back home in the field might suggest. Like all show livestock, hours of grooming happens before they enter the ring, the Saddlebacks are washed – whitening shampoo for that distinctive white band – before oil is applied to make the black coat shine.
And everyone arrives with a name badge: ‘Some breeders just rock up, put the pigs in a pen and that’s it,’ says Lissy. ‘My husband always laughs at me because every pig has a name tag on their pen with its birthday. Maybe it’s because I was a teacher! But the public love it.
‘We always give them human names, too. Last year we had Miranda and Amanda, Gary and Larry. At one point we had Gary and Amanda in the ring and people were saying, “Oh my God, that’s me and my husband!”’
For Lissy, that connection with visitors is an important part of showing.
‘People tend to love pigs. But they are used to seeing cattle, sheep and horses in fields, but they don’t often see pigs. They’ll look at one of ours and say, “Oh my God, it’s massive!” and I’m thinking, that is not massive! She’s only seven months old! They just don’t get the chance to see adult pigs.’
This year the Carrs will be back at Dorset County Show – and they’ll be competing against exhibitors from across the country in what has become one of the show’s strongest pig sections. They’ll have plenty of company, too, with exhibitors travelling from Cornwall, Lancashire, Staffordshire, Sussex, Wales, the Isle of Wight and elsewhere.
‘It’s a huge social thing for us,’ says Lissy. ‘All those people – they’re our pig showing family!’.
Dorset Life is proud to be sponsoring the Pig Section at this year’s Dorset County Show, so do make sure you wander down to the pig lines. Find Lissy, read the name tags and say hello. Just don’t tell her one of the pigs looks enormous…
And if you haven’t got your tickets to the show yet, what are you waiting for? – https://dorsetcountyshow.co.uk/
