Our Pigs

Our Rare Pig Breeds are registered Gloucestershire Old Spots and Large Blacks. Both of these breeds are listed on the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy’s (ALBC) Critical List, which means that there are fewer than 200 annual registrations in the United States and estimated fewer than 2,000 in global population. We are lucky to have these girls here!

The Large Black pig has an exquisite succulent taste and texture due to its light intramuscular marbling. Instead of being bad for you, this fat is actually loaded with healthy Omega-3 fatty acids and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid).Ώ

The Gloucestershire Old Spot likewise is just as healthy for you. The meat is a dark pink, with natural intramuscular marbling throughout. Again the meat is tender, juicy and tasty.

Purebred Berkshires. Although this breed used to be on the ALBC Watch List, it is making a great comeback. Discriminating diners are realizing that this pork tastes like pork used to taste, before the commercial industry started producing hybrids whose meat is 30% leaner than it was 20 years ago. Berkshire pigs yield cuts that are dark pink, finely marbled and consistently sweet, tender, juicy and highly palatable. Quite a difference from your supermarket pork!

Our pigs are free ranged on the farm. They are able to come and go wherever they want, whenever they want. They have their own feed and water area, but are free to co-mingle with the poultry and cattle. Some sows farrow in a large section of one of our barns on deep hay so they can make a nest for their babies while other sows prefer to make a nest out on pasture or in the woods. Within days, the little piglets are exploring their new environment, traveling quite a distance away, but never forgetting how to get back to their momma.

These pig breeds can be traced back to the early 1800’s, and in fact, the Old Spot is recognized as the oldest pedigree spotted pig in the world. These pigs were created to be self sustaining and naturally resistant to the diseases and sickness that today’s hybrid pigs are very susceptible to. And since we promote such a healthy lifestyle we rarely, if ever, have to use antibiotics. Good for them and good for us!

 

Ώ  Omega-3 fatty acids and CLA’s: Both of these fats show signs of being potent weapons against cancer. However, the omega-3s may be the best of all the good fats because they are also linked with a lower risk of virtually all the so-called "diseases of civilization," including cardiovascular disease, depression, ADHD, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, obesity, asthma, and autoimmune diseases.