Hogs

Once per year, we will raise a group of hogs for sale. These hogs are raised outside on pasture. Historically, hogs were a very important part of a diversified farming operation. Hogs grow rapidly on the right feed. Prior to World War II, most family farms would have been raising them.

The beginning of the 1900s, when dairy farms had less than 20 cows, the cream was often separated and sent to a local creamary to make butter. The excess skim milk, made excellent hog feed. Milk is rich in the amino acid, lysine, which is important for hog growth.

By feeding the skim, or butter milk to hogs, farmers made use of a valuable resource to its fullest potential. This made for great tasting pork and significantly reduced grain cost.

At Every Season Farm, we purchase a small batch of feeder hogs each spring. This season of the year is when our American Milking Devons are milked, and we use the cream to milk butter, and the milk to feed our family. The butter milk and skim milk go to our hogs, allowing them to have a healthy diet, which is supplemented with pasture and grain. Hogs are available late summer for purchase.

This is another seasonal aspect of our farm, that ties in the multiple species, functioning together in rhythm with the seasons.

If you would like to purchase a whole or half a hog, it would be important to give us a reservation in the early spring, since we only raise the number of hogs that we can locally sell.