Meet the pig-mad Yorkshire family of five siblings and three grandsons who love showing and butchery

Millie says her only real concern for her boys at a show was when, for a second, she couldn’t find Joshua at Harrogate last year.

“Joshua is pig mad. He just loves going into the showing ring. He’s the first one there. At last year’s Great Yorkshire, JB Gill from the boyband JLS came, as he has a farm now, and wanted to take one of our Tamworths in the ring.

“When he took it I happened to turn around for a second and I’d lost Josh. I had a quick, mild panic but the next second I saw him in the ring talking to JB. Showing the pigs is now very much about the next generation. Alfie and Harry now do the majority of the showing because they just love it and we keep giving them the experience.

While the Great Yorkshire Show’s pig numbers provide the Horsleys with much more competition than the local shows they attend every year at Tockwith, Ryedale, Thornton-le-Dale, Pateley Bridge, Honley, Egton and sometimes others, their presence and the involvement of all of their friends they have made in showing, is very important at all of them.

Millie says that her mum and all of the family are always totally committed to pig showing.

“The family farm is at Acaster Selby and Tockwith is our local show. My sister Georgina (Watson) is the show chair. There are five siblings altogether - Charlotte, Georgina, myself, Alyssia and Matthew – and we were all here last week putting up the pens in the pouring rain. We’ve got 11 of our pigs down one side and there’s room for 11 from others at the other side. I try to get a few more to come. I do pester people a bit in the nicest possible way because we want the pig classes to be as well represented as they can be.

“It is very hard to commit to showing because of the time and the cost and a few have gone out of pigs just because of how much it is costing to keep them, let alone show them, but we do have the regulars that support Tockwith and the other shows and I am trying to get different judges from out of the area to come in, so that they can see what the show is about. Hopefully once they have been, they may enter in future.

“I’ve been going to Tockwith Show since I was little. It’s one of our favourite shows and has grown massively over the years. I live with my husband Andrew at Sutton on the Forest and I would like to get the pig classes back at Huby & Sutton on the Forest Show if we could. That’s one of my little projects to try and do.

Avenue Farm, where Millie’s parents Trish and Richard and two of her sisters Charlotte and Alyssia live, is home to a number of rare breed pigs, a herd of Beef Shorthorn and Hereford cattle, sheep, goats and a couple alpacas but it is the pigs that are how the farm is best known.

“We have four Berkshire sows and a boar. The sows are all just coming off litters. We have a couple of Tamworth sows. We’ve just downsized on those, because they were my sister Charlotte’s but her son, Alfie, now prefers British Lops, so we have a few of them. Then we also have quite a few Middle Whites, some Large Whites, Hampshires and Gloucester Old Spots.

“We all have our own different breeds of pigs. Alyssia and I share the Berkshires. Charlotte has Tamworths and Large Whites, and her Alfie now has British Lops and Gloucester Old Spots.

“Our brother Matthew has his own farm in the next village of Appleton Roebuck where he keeps sheep and cattle.

While many who go to Tockwith Show or any of the other local shows the family attends might just think that for the Horsleys it is all about the showing, and they definitely enjoy it, it is also a business and one that they continue to grow.

“We try and keep ourselves to ourselves and farrow as many pigs as we can to produce the meat, which we trade as Acaster Meats. Charlotte handles all the butchery and we either hand deliver to locals or Charlotte and Alyssia get around the shows, such as Aldborough & Boroughbridges Show just last week, with a tradestand. It gets our name out there and shows that we’re not just about showing but making this work as a business.

“Charlotte & Alyssia do a lot of that, because they’re still at the farm, but if I can help I will. I’m often there packing and making sausages. Matthew has also done a lot of hog roasts. We do them when people ask, we don’t advertise as such. We did one for Appleton Roebuck Scarecrow Festival.

Education of the general public, about pigs and particularly rare breed pigs, at shows is another focus for the Horsleys. Millie says the hope is that some of this education could lead to more keeping and showing rare breed pigs in the future.

“People like to see pigs. We do the educational thing at the shows, not all for the children but for the adults as well. We have people asking us how to show, how we do it and we are always open to help them because we would love to see new people getting involved.

“It would be really good, in years to come, if we saw a few more people coming through and showing alongside us and the others that are keeping the pig classes going.

Millie has been going to agricultural shows since just before she was born.

“When mum was pregnant with me, she gave birth a couple of days after showing at the Great Yorkshire Show. I was actually due to be born while the show was taking place. I’ve always loved it and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s Tockwith Show.

“All I can say is if anyone wants to bring their pigs to Tockwith Show in future, please let me know.