Alright yall! I've been in search for a good pig farm around my area and found it! Super nice folks! Alan, the owner, is a 30 year marine vet and this is actually he and his wife's retirement 'hobby'....pig farming. Not my idea of a relaxing retirement hobby but to each there own haha.
They have a nice set up and have a few Bulls and mom's that they raised from babies 2 or so years ago. The pig we are going to get for the gathering is a mixture of berkshire and yorkshire. In the picture below of the piglets, the 2-3 larger ones are the size of the ones that the little ones will be when i go to pick it out. Those guys are 90-100lbs and the smaller ones are currently 60-70lbs. I'm actually going to go Thursday AM before the Gathering to pick out our pig and they are going to kill and clean it for me right there (said i'll have to wait about 1.5hr), doesnt get much more fresh then that! They also have Durrok pigs (i didnt get any pictures) and are actually the same price as the Y/B's. I was surprised to hear that since Durrok are held at such a high esteem in the culinary world.
The farm is called Blackberry Pig Farm, if anyone in the area wants to get nice pigs for a good price i can give you the contact info. They told me all about the feeding process..some was over my head but they do not give there pigs any slop except for an occasional treat if there local farmers market has some waste to get rid of. 16% of there feed is grains/oats (as to not only feed them stuff to fatten them up)...i couldnt keep up wiht exactly the other 84% of the diet is but something like 60% of it is a fiber/hay mixture that helps the pigs maintain weight and to not just make them fatten up to quick.
Alan and Linda are in the process, in the next year, of expanding the farm so they can rotate the pigs around the property and not let them sit in one area to long. This couple had a wealth of information and i look forward to working with them more in the future!
My plan wasn't to ask for money but many of you insisted so as it looks right now the Piggy is going to be $100 (for 90-100lb, one heck of a deal!) and $30 for the butchering. I'm hoping this SOB fits in my 120qt coleman but if not i'll borrow a friends 160qt. I put a 48lber in my coleman with plenty of room to spare so i dont foresee a problem there.
And not for you viewing pleasure...if anyone wants to pick out a potential piggy from the photo feel free...lets see who ya like:) But then again i wont know who they are when i go back in 4 weeks :)
Now i'm even more excited!!
The mommas and the poppas!
Nice drive home to Gainesville with Orange and Blue Skies! (no Will Greer joked please haha)
They have a nice set up and have a few Bulls and mom's that they raised from babies 2 or so years ago. The pig we are going to get for the gathering is a mixture of berkshire and yorkshire. In the picture below of the piglets, the 2-3 larger ones are the size of the ones that the little ones will be when i go to pick it out. Those guys are 90-100lbs and the smaller ones are currently 60-70lbs. I'm actually going to go Thursday AM before the Gathering to pick out our pig and they are going to kill and clean it for me right there (said i'll have to wait about 1.5hr), doesnt get much more fresh then that! They also have Durrok pigs (i didnt get any pictures) and are actually the same price as the Y/B's. I was surprised to hear that since Durrok are held at such a high esteem in the culinary world.
The farm is called Blackberry Pig Farm, if anyone in the area wants to get nice pigs for a good price i can give you the contact info. They told me all about the feeding process..some was over my head but they do not give there pigs any slop except for an occasional treat if there local farmers market has some waste to get rid of. 16% of there feed is grains/oats (as to not only feed them stuff to fatten them up)...i couldnt keep up wiht exactly the other 84% of the diet is but something like 60% of it is a fiber/hay mixture that helps the pigs maintain weight and to not just make them fatten up to quick.
Alan and Linda are in the process, in the next year, of expanding the farm so they can rotate the pigs around the property and not let them sit in one area to long. This couple had a wealth of information and i look forward to working with them more in the future!
My plan wasn't to ask for money but many of you insisted so as it looks right now the Piggy is going to be $100 (for 90-100lb, one heck of a deal!) and $30 for the butchering. I'm hoping this SOB fits in my 120qt coleman but if not i'll borrow a friends 160qt. I put a 48lber in my coleman with plenty of room to spare so i dont foresee a problem there.
And not for you viewing pleasure...if anyone wants to pick out a potential piggy from the photo feel free...lets see who ya like:) But then again i wont know who they are when i go back in 4 weeks :)
Now i'm even more excited!!
The mommas and the poppas!
Nice drive home to Gainesville with Orange and Blue Skies! (no Will Greer joked please haha)