We did not want to confine animals unless it was for their protection and of course within the boundaries of our property. We wanted animals that would thrive on the pastures that we have with minimal input from us. Through our research, we came across the Livestock Conservancy whose mission is to protect heritage breeds of livestock and poultry from extinction (https://livestockconservancy.org). What does that mean? Well, you can visit their website for more details but for us it means raising the animals the way our grandparents and great-grandparents did.
100 years ago, families did not buy all of their food from the local grocery store, they had gardens and raised much of their own food. There were animals that thrived in the pasture and woods. As our family has had to deal with many food allergies and sensitivities, we have taken a closer look at what we are putting into our bodies. Yes, we still eat junk and processed food but we want to develop our farm so we can eat better and provide great pasture-raised protein to our friends and neighbors.
Through this process, we discovered the Large Black Hog. It is a heritage breed that is on the Threatened list of the Livestock Conservancy. It is a native English hog that is well known for its lean meat and docile temper (ours are like big puppy dogs). The breed peaked in popularity during the 1920's but it was not competitive as an indoor breed as intensive animal husbandry began to develop. In the early 70's it was put on the critically endangered list and has since moved up to the threatened list. This breed is great at foraging and mothering which makes it a wonderful fit for our farm.
Don't worry, we do feed our hogs. However, with their foraging ability, they get a balanced diet and lots of exercise.
We want to encourage children and adults to come out and meet our animals, to learn about how food is grown...not sure about your children but mine were very surprise about the process of growing a hog from baby to table. It is a lot more work than picking up a package of pork chops from the grocery store.
While we have sold out of our first 2 hogs that we processed, we will have more coming this summer. If you are interested in purchasing a whole or half hog, please contact me at 479-640-6393 or shambacreekfarm@gmail.com. We are taking deposits at this time ($50 per half, $100 per whole).
These 4 girls arrived at the farm this weekend and will be ready for processing this summer. They need a bit of fence training before we release them into the pasture😊.
And here are some beauty shots from our customers...
“So good. Texture of beef, but a pork flavor. Fantastic!” – Jeff L.
Thank you Jeff!
