Berkshire Hogs
The Berkshire breed is well known for its amazingly flavorful meat. In Japan they call it Kurobuta and it is much sought after. The Berkshire has also been used to improve other breeds of hog throughout the world.
Our Heritage Berkshire hogs come from old farm lines, not show stock, so are taller and more narrow than a show hog. They have good feet and legs on them for traveling around their pasture and gentle personalities for easy handling.
Heritage hogs thrive living outdoors and eating a natural diet. They have thick hair and pigmented skin that protect them from the sun. They enjoy rooting in the dirt, making mud holes to wallow in, and running in playful herds.
The taste of pork is highly influenced by what a hog eats more so than any other farm animal. A hog eating sweet grains tastes sweet. A hog eating sagebrush tastes like sage. There are even some farms that offer specialty diets for hogs like "cranberry and hazelnut" since that imparts a different taste in the meat. Good tasting pork starts with hogs that are fed a good tasting diet.
Equally important is feeding wholesome foods consistently through their life so that proper marbling is established as the hog grows in size. Forcing a hog to grow fast and "lean" on a high protein diet and then fattening it up in the last month will give you lean meat with lots of skin fat. It won't produce the marbling in the meat that keeps it moist when cooking and imparts such excellent flavor.
We also believe natural foods are the best for hogs and for the people eating our pork. Natural feeding means our hogs get a mixture of nutritional dense foods and roughage. They are never fed antibiotics, ruminant by-products, GMOs, or growth hormones. It takes hogs longer to grow on a natural diet but they are healthy, happy, and satiated during their life.
Our hogs live in a 19 acre pasture that has naturally seasonal grasses - green rye, vetch, wild barley, wild wheat, and forbes in the winter and dried standing grasses in our arid summer. The hogs make the rounds of the pasture whenever they desire - most often early morning and just after sunset. Their diet also includes: Home grown grain and pea hay, wheat, barley, heirloom corn, and eggs. Everything we grow here is non-GMO. Locally grown grain hay, alfalfa, wheat, barley, oats, peas, and beans (all non-GMO). Sometimes they get our cow or goat milk and whey (no hormones) and fresh (not rotten!) organic veggies.