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PIGS

it is a pigs life
here at heritage ranch i go the extra mile to provide a nice place for a pig to grow up. sure the goal is to eat them in the end, but i want them to be happy along the way. i think it makes it taste better any way when the pigs are happy. the smalles enclosure they are in is 2.5 acres of rolling pinion/ponderosa forest with plenty of open grass areas. i built them a strawbale hut but they spend more time outside sleeping under the stars and the chickens have taken over the pig hut as a comunal nesting area. let me tell you a bit on my thoughts for a pigs diet. i want them to grow fast and healthy. but if you just feed them free choice grain, well that would be like feeding your kid free choice coco puffs. they wont each much of the good food that is right there and they will get real fat, and wont be very healthy. i try to dole out the grain sparingly enough that they are not hungery but not so much that they dont go out foraging and chowing dow on the hay and veggy scrapes i give them. metering out the grain can be tough, and i also have goats runningin with them and i dont like to feed grain to goats (four stomachs are for digesting plant fiber like grass and browse, not grain) i have just ordered a "wild game feeder" that will drop a preset amount of food several times a day in the hog feeder that i have goat proffed. the amount of feed is adjustable so i think i can get it tuned to were they are not grumpy from hunger yet still grow well and stay healthy. the grains that i feed are mostly sorgum/milo along with oats barley and some millet. so far as i know these grain sources are not contaminated with GMO crops like the soy and corn supplies are. i am looking for a source of reasoably price organic grains, but will still stear clear of corn and soy. i also feed lots of alfalfa and an organic mineral suplement mixed in with some fishmeal and north atlantic kelp meal. and they generally get a an egg or 2 most days when i am collecting. the hogs are tamworths and tamworth crosses. i had 4, 3 gilts and a boar. the boar and the smaller gilt whent to the butcher recently. the boar had been with the gilts for almost 2 months so hopefully the 2 gilts i kept will be farrowing later this summer. i am all about the slow food thing. and slow growth makes for healthier meat and a more developed flavor. i raise my hogs to a minimum of 1 year of age. so this years piglets wont be ready for market till next winter. i hope to have 10-12 go to the butcher then. i handle my pigs as much as possible all of them like to get scratchies behind the ear. i also teach them to like going for rides in the trailer. i load them up in the morning and take them with me for a ride to town. then when we get home i give them a treat as we unload. after the first few rides they know what is coming when i bring the trailer and they load up as soon as i open the door. i do this about once a month, this way when it is time to go to the butcher, there is no stress from being loaded up in a trailer and getting scared. a happy stress free pig makes the best sausage

time to make some sausage

well last week i took 2 hogs, a boar and a gilt, to be slaughtered and made in to sausage. i chose Royal Gorge Packing in Canon City, CO to slaughter and do the USDA inspection that is required for meat that will be sold. i then took the cleaned and inspected hanging halves up to Jeff at the Chop Shop in westcliffe to cut and grind the sausage and cure and

smoke the bacon. the boar had a hanging weight around 160# and was fairly lean, the gilt hung around 240 and had a nice amount of fat. the sausage i had made is a variation on an old german bratwurst recipe that i tweeked into a gluten free beer bratwurst. i used the premium Celtic Sea Salt along with Frontier organic pepper, mace, and nutmeg with a dash of organic raw apple cider vinegar. the brats were stuffed into real hog casing, if anyone knows where i can get organic or even pastured hog casing i would love to use then instead. the brats are linked 4 to the pound and packaged in 2-4 brat packs. they will be sold locally at farmers markets, if there is interest i may sell some online as i belive these are the only gluten free beer brats available in the country. if your interested check out my gluten free beer brat page