Looks like keeping chickens is getting a bit passe. Now B&Q is going one step further by stocking pigsties to cash in on the trend for home-based self-sufficiency.

Pigs will probably be the next big thing in terms of home farming. The Telegraph ran a supplement on backyard self-sufficiency last weekend, and included pigs. Dad, who grew up on a farm, has been intimating that we should consider getting some for a while, and our neighbours’ daughter keeps them, too.

B&Q hasn’t put anything about it on its press site yet, and the Telegraph, which broke the story, said that it is at the point of talking to suppliers, so it sounds like they’re still a little way off. Even so, it’s a pretty big development, and shows that the self-sufficiency bug has well and truly bitten here in the UK.

B&Q reckons it has the research to back it up, too:

‘Our research tells us that Brits are ready to get their hands dirty and take the plot to plate revolution one step further by keeping back garden pigs. Home farming is a trend which is going to get more main stream over the next few years,’ said Katharine Poulter who heads up B&Q’s seasonal sales.

If I was going to do it myself, though, I think I’d be more likely to hire a bit of land somewhere and have several porkers in one place, rather than just one in the garden.

Even so, interesting times…

Related posts:

1. Grow your own cauliflowers
2. Getting permission for chickens
3. Eating the offcuts