Farms

Growing up in Ohio, I never really had exposure to what farm life was. Sure there was a corn field at the end of the road my house was on, but I didn’t even begin to understand what that meant. My Aunt and Uncle had raised pigs in southern Minnesota and I remember on a couple occasions going to visit them during the summer. The strongest memory from that time was the smell that came from the pig houses. I thought that was the way pigs were raised. Later on in life I learned that there is another way to raise pigs.

Pigs naturally have a desire to root in the ground. It is something that species has been doing for its entire history. It wasn’t until recently that our society had decided to change the way this animals are raised. Instead of being outside doing what pigs naturally do, these pigs have been forced into confined areas in very high numbers. With this new approach to raising pigs comes consequence to the overall health and comfort to the animal. In these confinement houses, tails are usually cut off because the animals are so stressed that they will bite each other causing open wounds and subsequent infection. These infections are generally treated with copious amounts of antibiotics, often included in food rations. To see this life and treatment of animals is hard for me to stomach, or eat for that matter. We are working towards a more practical approach to raising pigs on our farm. We are setting aside areas of land for the pigs to forage for their food. By letting the animals wander around in copious amounts of space we are trying to provide for a more natural life cycle.

Over the years people have been selectively breeding pigs for certain attributes, mainly lard on both ends of the spectrum. There was a time when people wanted a lot of lard and therefore raised pigs that generally produced a higher percentage of fat. More recently through our culture’s fear of fat, there has been a shift towards leaner breeds. Not only have we shifted to leaner breeds, we have all but abandoned the diversity of the pig by focusing a majority of our efforts on just a few breeds that meet the time, weight, and fat percentage and taste that a massive distribution system requires. With this change in the way we raise pigs we are in danger of losing variety of species. There are currently 7 varieties of domestic pig raised in the US that are listed as rare, meaning there is a population of less than 2000. If we let them, these breeds and all of their unique qualities will be lost forever.

If you take a closer look at the agricultural picture you will see that there is a movement happening to protect these rare breeds. Smaller diversified farms are starting to seek out these rare breeds in order to rejuvenate the desire for their meat and fat. In order for these farmers and others to succeed in saving the diversity of the pig, people will need to buy more of their pork. In order for this to happen, we need to find ways to educate consumers on the way our food systems work and how animals are raised for that system. It is the educated consumer that is able to make an informed decision on where to source good quality food. Together we can protect diversity of the species. We are doing our part here at Trusted Earth Farm. We started raising the rare breed known as the Red Wattle. This is our second year raising them and what we have discovered is that these pigs have a very playful demeanor, they are really good foragers, they put on weight faster than many other breeds, and their meat is incredibly delicious! And the lard, oh my, the lard is so sweet. It is our hope that with a little bit of time folks will start asking their butcher if they carry Red Wattle cuts of meat. We will continue to focus on the raising of rare breeds as long as we are able to cultivate interest in their wonderful qualities.

Come out and see us,
Steven

Steven Shoemaker along with Yvonne Rynearson make up Trusted Earth Farm CSA and Catering. They will be sharing some of their wonderful products at The Door County Beer Festival in Baileys Harbor, WI on June 16, 2012.