Free range pork

Since Denmark has some 23 million pigs and only 6 million people, I think it would become pandemonium, if they let them all out of the concentration camps.
 
free range, pasture fed, thats all good if thats what your getting but it often is not what you think. I guess you gotta trust your farmer
 
Great idea. If you can find the farmer to buy from, its maybe best. I've been eating Goldie burgers and steak, as my neighbors have cows. Its illegal for them to sell it to me, technically, but the best thing going, by far. I told my neighbor to charge more, but he wouldn't.
 
Cory don't waste your money on marketing hype. Look up what the USDA defines as free range. Guarantee you'll look at that package of pork and go "Those clever mofo's".

Go and buy direct from a slaughterhouse in the country. Their pigs come from small local farms. That'll buy you MUCH better pork then that nasty stuff in the grocery store. I buy a whole pig each year from a local butcher/slaughterhouse. The pigs aren't raised golden castles, but they typically live a better 7 month life then the bastards at a huge industrial style farm. The meat quality is craftsman vs Husqvarna.
 
Tucker943 said:
Cory don't waste your money on marketing hype. Look up what the USDA defines as free range. Guarantee you'll look at that package of pork and go "Those clever mofo's"..
Click to expand...
Indeed. free range quite often means they have access to a small patch of grass for an hour a day. I am lucky to have a great farm nearby where I can get great meat and raw milk. it's about a mile from me but every time I'm there I see people showing up with several coolers and buying bulk 'cause there are no good farms where they are at(many hours away)
 
Copy/pasted.

In the United States, USDA free range regulations currently apply only to poultry and indicate that the animal has been allowed access to the outside.[3] The USDA regulations do not specify the quality or size of the outside range nor the duration of time an animal must have access to the outside.[4]

The term "free range" is mainly used as a marketing term rather than a husbandry term, meaning something on the order of, "low stocking density," "pasture-raised," "grass-fed," "old-fashioned," "humanely raised," etc.

There have been proposals to regulate by the USDA the labeling of products as free range within the United States. As of now what constitutes raising an animal free range is entirely decided by the producer of that product
 
That is quite disturbing, over here free range is rather more tightly defined. We are intending to raise our own pigs for meat this year, probably geese too.
 
Ya, its a racket. Plus when the farm allows the animal time out of its pen, what is it going into? Pastures of emerald green clover? No. Probably a 10x10 area of bare dirt/animal shit, at most. Now they can label it "Free Range". 5 minutes daily in a dirt area in front of the pen and now its worth much more money. How about the workers maybe just usher the animals out into the pen, then usher them back into the indoor pen? It got free range time, no? Its compliant with the law and it took 10 steps out of its pen and back in.
 
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  • #11
I appreciate that info. But it is a sad situation imo. Wouldn't it be nice if when the large scale pig farmer got the idea to go even larger scale by raising them in crates instead of in more open areas, he said, Nah, that just wouldn't be right to raise a creature in a crate…might be more efficient, but it just aint right.

Its just like the Norman Scwharzkopf quote I put up yesterday- Knowing what the right thing to do is easy. Actually doing it hard
 
Small scale will always be better for that kinda thing, I think. Capitalist nature.

PNW is better than most probably for local artisan-al stuff. I've traded firewood for Zeep soap locally, and can get locally made artistic live edge furniture at a local new/ used furniture store, and grass raised, always pastured beef.

You do have to pay more (usually) but its worth it. Farm eggs taste sooo much better than I ever knew. I grew up in a contrete and asphalt area.
 
The USDA regs on free range, organic, etc. are close to worthless. Find a good farmer and buy direct. Small farmers really need that kind of direct sales support too.
 
In England the pig farms I remember were cool. Each pig had it's own little house and a good sized piece of fenced off pasture grass. They rutted around a bit as pigs will do, but nothing like the crowded stinky mud mixed with crap enclosures that you often see associated with pigs.
 
We used to raise two pigs a year outside. Would sell one, and eat the other.
They are better than rototillers. Used electric fence, and they learn to respect it very quick.
When it was cold, they would burrow right underneath the straw in their house. Invisible pigs!
 
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  • #16
Pigs rock.
 
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  • #18
And tough. And comical.
 
When a kid, I knew someone that had a pig farm out in Saugus, California. A real wide open place then. I'd go there with my BB gun to hunt things. The male pigs liked to mount all the sisters frequently, possibly the brothers as well. Rather fascinating to observe for a young boy.. Pretty good stink about the place. The smell brings back memories.
 
we ve got 5 pigs at our friends farm right now, the meat is so much better home raised, they eat vegetables and grain, run, and play, and live a decent little life before becoming food
oh and over 70 meat chickens
 
I knew a guy in Bolinas, California that raised a few pigs. When it was time to get to the killing part, he'd have a drunken drag out party with the animals. I've seen pictures of him with his pigs, all wearing party hats and all very drunk. The next morning when the pigs were feeling terrible from hangovers, i mean bad enough to want to die, well you know ......
 
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  • #24
Sounds like my uncle. He got his pigs drunk a couple times. Apparently it was quite hilarious. His pigs is where I got my first-hand exposure to the creatures, their ridiculous snorting, powerful necks for rooting, tough hides which they loved getting back-scratched with rakes, and those noses. And the mud baths they loved.

He felt pretty bad when it came time to kill them.
 
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