Pastured Pork – The Rodale Institute
We believe there’s a healthy and humane way to raise pork.
When we built our state-of-the-art pastured hog facility in 2015, we wanted to create a scalable model for other farmers looking to raise hogs the right way. The facility and its eight acres of surrounding pasture serve as our laboratory. There, we’re investigating best practices for raising hogs in a way that benefits the farmers, animals, and the land.
Read more
***
PASTURED PIGS — A PRIMER
Raising livestock on pasture isn’t new, but with the advent of confinement livestock operations and the industrialization of meat production, chickens, cows and pigs were moved inside and shut off from the natural world. Feed, water, pharmaceuticals and intensively managed animals living in man-made environments somehow became the norm. Getting these animals back outdoors has become the goal for many farmers, as well as consumers.
Many issues associated with confinement — manure management, odors, water pollution, disease due to crowded conditions — are the result of too many animals and not enough space. Likewise, managing livestock on pasture means respecting the limits of the land, understanding the animals’ natural behaviors and properly managing both.
“As with any other livestock, outdoor pigs, when not appropriately managed, can elicit damage to their environment,” said Silvana Pietrosemoli, research associate, North Carolina State University, Alternative Swine Research and Extension Project.
Pigs root in the soil, and this natural behavior is often maligned as the reason pigs aren’t able to be pastured successfully. But rooting behavior is controllable and can be beneficial to pastures, too. Wallowing is another pig behavior which can have detrimental environmental consequences. Soil compaction is another concern, and pigs produce a lot of manure.
All of these issues can be alleviated if stocking density, stocking rate and length of time in a given area are managed. What are some best management practices to alleviate soil and water concerns while allowing pigs to exhibit their natural tendencies? How can producers raising swine on pasture become better stewards of the land, avoid odor concerns and raise healthy animals?
Read more
********
Videos
While there, she also spent time at Niman Ranch, working with a co-op that supplies pork to Chipotle restaurants. The experience of raising pigs outdoors on pasture resonated with her and in 2006 she decided that it was time to “walk her talk.” Putting her beliefs into action, she and her husband, Ivan Maluski, started a small, organic farm on a few acres in Colton, Oregon.
At Goat Mountain Pastured Meats they raise goats, whose milk Ivan uses to make cheese, along with chickens, horses, pigs and two rescued oxen. They are committed to farming in a way that provides high quality, healthy and affordable organic food while protecting the biodiversity of the land and its water.
Three years ago they decided to raise heritage breed pigs and began a breeding program, an unusual step since most farmers buy piglets from breeders. With a Large Black boar she shares with another farmer and two Tamworth sows, Kendra is committed to the strong genetics that she finds in these breeds, both having docile temperaments and producing tender, flavorful meat. While she and Ivan have a ways to go to be able to farm full time, she’s still a farmer down to the soles of her boots, saying that it’s often hard to tear herself away from her animals to go into work. With luck, soon she won’t have to.
Today we are talking about raising pastured pigs vs CAFO hogs. CAFO stands for confinement animal feeding operation which is the conventional way that a lot of meat in the US is raised. Animals are kept in confinement and fed rations instead of being allowed to roam and forage like nature intended. Pigs in this case are raised in houses with up to 3000 other pigs on concrete slatted floors where they do not have access to sunshine or fresh air. Their manure falls through the floor and is collected in manure lagoons which can present an environmental issue.
We choose to raise our pigs on pasture. Here they get plenty of sunshine, fresh air and have the ability to live like a pig; rooting the ground, rolling in the mud and expressing their full personality. Our pigs are a heritage breed that gets plenty of exercise which leads to a superior pork product on your table. Pastured pork is more flavorful and is higher in nutrition. Pastured pork also leads to better quality of life for the farmer by allowing for a less costly startup and the ability to shift and change if the need arises.
We own a small farm homestead in central North Carolina where we are learning to raise food for ourselves as well as provide food for customers in the surrounding area. We work to raise animals on pasture like they should be and provide good, healthy, clean food that is outside of the industrialized food system. Be sure to subscribe and follow us for more ideas on how to make farming more effective and efficient which makes your life less stressful and more profitable. Sheraton Park Farms practices holistic, sustainable farming and soil building using a rotational grazing model as we try to grow more grass on our farm.
How Much Does It Cost to Start a Pastured Pig Operation – https://youtu.be/HD5Yaz6JLIs
