Pasture raised pork is healthier
When we decided to raise our own pork, I was determined that if we were going to put so much time and effort into it that the pork needed to be ‘the best pork we ever tasted’!
I mean if you’re going to keep pigs and raise them the same as they are raised commercially, why go to the trouble?
Without even considering the breed, all kinds of factors make a difference to the outcome of the meat. I have a philosophy that a big part of successful animal husbandry is down to working “with” the natural nature of the animal rather than against it.
And so learning about piggy nature steered our decisions in how we raise our bacon:
Happy pigs are healthy pigs
Pigs are social animals, they like to live in groups, travel in families and they have their own verbal communication. We raise our pigs in family groups, letting them roam our woodland pastures where the forest floor keeps them busy from dawn to dusk. Having space to roam keeps hygiene standards high to where they are not living in their own muck and since we rotate them through our woodland often it keeps parasite load to a minimum. Our pigs do not get vaccinated and never injected with hormones.
Pigs are natural foragers
Keeping our pigs in our woodland provides a lot of natural and free food that keeps our pigs in superb health. Many breeds forage on green vegetation and will root for bugs, grubs, acorns, hickories and walnuts… pigs know what they like and its definitely a myth that pigs will eat anything… maybe “starving hungry pigs will’ but not ours! Pigs are actually selective grazers they also will go after pigweed, poison ivy and other nuisance species like there is no tomorrow. Some will argue that they will destroy the forest but that comes down to management. When our pigs make holes we fill them with horse manure and move them frequently enough to respect our trees. In winter we supplement their diet with legumes and grains and we take care to supply only organic, non GMO whole grains like barley and milo, any grain that the pigs don’t eat often seeds itself and grows quite well in the woods . As i’ve learned about what pigs eat and the difference it makes to the health of the meat, for us, there is no other option. Healthy pork or no pork!
You are what you eat
A pig’s digestive system operates in a rather basic way and it is also true that they can barely sweat at all. This means that they aren’t as efficient as some other animals (and people) when it comes to excreting toxins from their body. From a consumer stand point, that means that many of these toxins remain in a pigs system to be stored in its fatty tissues so unless you know where your pork comes from and how it has been raised there is a good chance that you will in turn consume those toxins in your next bacon sandwich!…. Ready for the good news?
On the flip side, pigs that are not fed a diet of waste and junk food and whom are given chemical free grains, produce an entirely different product. As i mentioned above, we work hard alongside the natural needs of our pigs to feed them a clean diet that keeps them healthy. As a result, pasture raised pork is typically rich in iron, high in B vitamins, has a colour similar to beef and marbled with a superior quality of fat. In fact pasture raised lard is something I’ve recently become hugely passionate about because of its incredible health benefits and if this concept blows you mind just head over to my lard lover blog post to read what you wont find on page 1 of google!
Heritage Hogs
Many people ask us why our pigs are hairy, thats because they are the fascinating Mangalitsa breed.
We chose them because the Heritage of the breed genetics bring many advantages to the homestead. Firstly, they grow at a natural pace and have a longer “harvesting window” which has helped us pace our breeding program. They typically have smaller more manageable litters and are knows for their wonderful mothering instincts and a non aggressive nature. Also where we live in Missouri our winters can hit -30F and because our pigs have their own natural fatty insulation they have no issues handling our cold winters which means less issues providing shelters and heat and no one is going to freeze to death!
Because their socialisation and home environment is as natural as possible for them, our pigs are happy, relaxed and live a stress free life.
