We strive to farm in a way that is good for the animals, good for the eater, and good for the environment.

Good For the Animals

Our pastures are chemical and pesticide free. The pigs do not receive antibiotics or medicated feed. Pigs are single-stomach animals like us and need variety in their diet. In addition to grazing and rooting in pastures, the pigs have full access to feed ground from the screenings of certified organic grains and legumes. I supplement them with open pollinated ear corn grown on the farm. All grains are organic or transitional organic. I also feed windfall apples and garden waste such as rotten melons, spent brassicas, and squash to them.

It’s easy to put a pig on pasture; the trick is keeping pasture under the pig. Left in one area too long, pigs will root and trample any pasture into a wasteland. Some people clamp a ring in their noses to prevent rooting, but that annoys the pig. Instead, I move our pigs every 2-3 days which keeps them from rooting a pasture beyond recovery and ensures they always have a fresh “salad bar” available. I build paddocks large enough for the pigs to run and play, which makes them happier and easier to handle. I try to work with the animals’ nature as much as possible. Part of the art of animal husbandry is getting the animals to  do what you need them to do by creating the conditions for them to do exactly what they want to do.

Good For the Eater

Pork takes on the flavor of the animal’s diet more noticeably than other meat. While “pastured pork” is better for the environment and the eater than anything raised in confinement, the term promotes a misunderstanding. A pig’s natural home isn’t on grassy plains, it’s in the woods. Some of the finest pork in the world (think Iberian ham) is finished on acorns. When the acorns and hickory nuts begin to drop, our pigs graze small paddocks in the woods. Pastured pork is already higher in omega 3 fatty acids, beta carotene, and vitamin E than conventional pork. Letting them forage for the highest quality natural foods gives their meat even more unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids as well as oleic acid, which is found in olive oil. Foraging also exercises the animals’ muscles, building the protein, myoglobin, which makes a darker and richer meat than most pork on the market.

Good For the Environment

Good farming practices build soil and biodiversity. 80% of our tillable acreage is in pasture or some combination of seven different cover crops that put nutrients back into the soil. Rotating pigs through these spaces builds soil further as grazed crops  leave biomass in the soil while pigs’ manure—“spread” by going as they please—fertilizes the soil. Moving pigs means moving their feeder and shelter. A lot of farmers use a tractor for that, but I don’t have a tractor. I designed or adapted my equipment to be light enough to move with a fuel-efficient, BCS diesel walk-behind tractor. For short moves, I stopped even using the BCS. I just maneuver everything under muscle power, lowering our carbon boot-print even more in exchange for a workout.

Rotating the pigs in the woods will help reduce the Boxelder and Buckthorn in the understory while clearing space to reinvigorate the Hickory and Burr-Oak stands that have played a key role in this region’s biome for the past few centuries. We’re also in the beginning stages of planting Burr Oak, Shagbark Hickory, and Black Walnut in the pastures to provide additional food, shade, and enjoyment to pigs, wildlife, and people.