We raise a mixed breed of pig. Some of the dominate breeds in our sows are hampshire, yorkshire, chester white, and landrace. We have reciently started to A.I (artificially inseminate) some of our sows to improve the genetics on the farm. We select our sows and boars for both their conformation and their family history of mothering ability. We have enjoyed the temperments and intellegence of our pigs.
Their lives
Our pork is pasture raised. That means that all of our pigs spend their lives outside! They enjoy running, playing, and rooting (helping with next year's garden). They are in their litter groups to be sure that they have someone to play with, but aren't so crowded that they are stressed by competition. They enjoy their hay filled shelters when weather is rainy, cool, or just when they need a shady nap! Our six-year old daughter takes her naming responsibilities very seriously. A couple of our pigs that we have now are called Tulip, Blackberry, Donut, and Oranges! Our five-year old son make sure that every pig on the farm likes to be scratched and petted!
Their Diet
We feed our pigs a mixture of corn, barley (all from the state of Maine), and soybeans. We also grow barley, field peas, and purple top turnips for our pigs to forage on. We continue to fine tune our skills of planting enough forage in successional planting to have most pigs foraging most of the time. We are planning to feed our pigs a field pea oat balage this coming winter (stay tuned to see how it works out!).
Your Pork
We have found that this lifestyle for our pigs gives our lean meat a full flavor. We have our pork slaughtered at a local USDA inspected facility, where they flash freeze our meat. It is then sold to you frozen and still fresh! We can always tell you (if you want to know) the name of the pig that the meat came from and when it was butchered. We welcome any questions and hope that you enjoy our pork!