We've heard some rather horrible stories about a free range pork producer in the region whose farming practises are not all they should be, to say the least.
Our little beasties are most definitely free range.
They're not always on grass, as they eat anything green within a couple of days of being put on a new paddock. They're mostly in the swamp gum forest of our bush block which is useless for anything else but perfect for pigs. They have the shade of the trees in summer, which is important, as pigs do get sunburnt. They have the under-storey shrubs to root around in. They have plenty of space in which to dig and frolic. And they have wallows, which we dig out together companionably and which they rearrange with their snouts upon getting in.
We house them in a series of spacious pens. We leave new piglets on their mums for about eight weeks and then separate them to wean them. By that time, the sows are usually ready for a rest and the weaners are ready for a bigger space to explore.
Co-Pilot Bob our boar has his own bachelor spread, now amply arrayed with a complex of pits, wallows and tunnelling systems which he amiably shares with whichever sow is visiting.
And the pack of growers hang out together in a large pen and are moved from time to time. Pigs can do some damage to soil structure and composition so it's best to rotate the pens they're in. We've been constructing new pens this year so we can do this. Those lying fallow are now sown with rye grass, which soaks up all the nutrients from the pigs' waste. In two months there's a rich crop and you turn some lucky porkers onto it again.
Pigs need shelter, and ours have either an arc made from half an old corrugated water tank, or one of the luxury sheds that Oliver made early on. We also now have a larger shed divided into two stalls for birthing sows, which is near the house so we can keep an eye on them. It's this area we can see from the kitchen window, and it's very entertaining watching the growing piglets biffing each other, sunbathing in the grass, and generally learning how to be boisterous little porkers.
We wouldn't keep ours any other way. So be assured, if you're eating Langdale Farm pork, it is genuinely free range from happy pigs, and happy smallholders.
