Pastured. Tastes. Better.
heritage breeds
outdoor grown - moved between pastured and woodlands
supplemented with non-gmo feed
Our heritage breed pigs are grown entirely outdoors, moving between the forest and the fields. We mean it when we say "pasture-raised"! Our Tamworth hogs are rotated around our farm with the utmost care to animal well-being and the soil and water systems on the farm. We supplement their forage with a GMO-free grain, ensuring that our pork is the highest quality meat you can find!
The Tamworth pig is classified by The Livestock Conservancy as a threatened breed. These pigs are fantastic foragers and well suited to an outdoor lifestyle, with their ginger red coats to protect them from sunburn and their very active rooting and foraging abilities. Read more about our wonderful "bacon breed" of pigs here at The Livestock Conservancy page.
Our pigs forage and feast on pasture and in the forest. They love the pasture grasses and legumes as well as the forest acorns, hickory nuts, grubs, and roots. Our pigs are moved frequently to new ground, and spend their entire lives in healthy outdoor environments, fully socialized and able to enact all their natural behaviors (including nest-building, playing, and wallowing). To reduce the impact on the soil from their natural rooting behavior, the pigs are moved frequently. The pigs can forage their own food without exhausting the resources that a static space would offer. We supplement their forage with rations of local grains. We have worked hard to ensure our ration is nutritionally-balanced, GMO-free, and absolutely no added antibiotics or hormones, ever. They are very enthusiastic about this arrangement, and so are we!
Up until 2014, we had always bought feeder pigs (piglets recently weaned from their mothers) to grow out to full size. For more details on our initial production, check out Worth's article on starting a pasture pork operation here at: A Growing Culture.
In March of 2014, we began our own breeding and farrowing operation. Although maintaining a breeding sow herd is a bit different than growing out feeder pigs, we love our ability to maintain a healthy herd and offer year-round production of delicious and nutritious pastured pork.
Our pastured pork is now available at the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market (every Saturday from 7am to 12noon year-round) and the Old Salem Cobblestone Farmers Market (Saturdays 9-12noon April-November). Just look for our banner - PASTURED TASTES BETTER!
And finally, if you are interested in buying pork in bulk, please be sure to follow our social media or reach out to join the waiting list. In the fall of each year, we offer whole and half-hog packages available for advance purchase. Buying in bulk gives you the assurance you are getting all the best cuts at the best prices, while often also giving you some new cuts to experiment with and hone your cooking skills.
All of our animals are humanely slaughtered at Mitchell and Sons and Apple Brandy Processing -- which are small, USDA-inspected facility about 30 minutes from our farm.
