A visiting friend once asked our son Daniel, “If you could choose one thing that you really want, what would it be?” Daniel didn’t need any time for deliberation. He immediately answered, “Pigs!”
Caleb and Daniel have long wanted pigs. Both boys like all kinds of animals. Daniel especially has been wishing for pigs for several years. When we started seriously considering getting some, he said, “I think we just need to go and get some pigs by tomorrow night.”
We didn’t really want to get into another kind of livestock until we had enough time, space in the barn, and especially, enough pasture.
That’s right, pigs on pasture!
Although most pigs are now kept in large barns and fed exclusively on grain, pigs are naturally savanna and forest animals. Being omnivores, they enjoy eating a variety of grasses and greens, fruits, seeds, bugs, meat and even soil for minerals!
Pasture raised pork has the advantage of superb flavor, similar to other grass fed meats. According to many studies, grass-fed pork is also much more nutritious. Their fats are healthier, lower in saturated fat and cholesterol and higher in omega 3 and other healthy fatty acids.
Our problem is that we have limited pasture. We did get access to some extra land across the road, but we need most of that for the cows and turkeys. Pigs can quickly “plow” large areas, as we know from our previous experience in Ontario. We didn’t think we had any pasture to sacrifice to pigs.
The search for pasture pigs begins
Well, we found out that there are special older breeds that are actually called grazing pigs. Best of all for our situation, some of these breeds have upturned snouts, so they don’t root as much. There is an old breed from New Zealand called Kunekune that has this trait especially strongly. Kunekunes have recently made their way to Canada, so of course we checked them out. These pigs are excellent grazers. They like nothing better than good pasture and hay, along with vegetables and fruits. Kunekunes only need a small amount of grain to get them through the winter. However, we realized that they are probably too small and fat for our needs, and they grow very slowly.
Eventually we found out about another more recently developed breed called Idaho Pasture Pigs. They are a composite of Kunekune, old type Berkshire, and Duroc. Although there is one small farm that has imported a few of them, they are not selling any yet. We considered importing some of these from the US, but the requirements are quite hard to meet. They have a strict quarantine procedure that seemed almost impossible for us.
Finally, we found some Kunekune cross pigs for sale on Kijiji in Quebec. The friendly gentleman named Richard told us that they were a mix of Kunekune… and Duroc and Berkshire! That’s the very same mix as Idaho Pasture Pigs! He had developed this cross breeding program without knowing about Idaho Pasture Pigs, but they are almost the same. He just recently found out about the couple who had imported Idaho Pasture Pigs into Canada–and it turned out they lived only a few hours away from him in Quebec. I think it’s very interesting how close together these two farms are, and how similar their pigs are.
Anyway, when we realized that importing was out of reach for us, we decided to make a trip to Quebec to get some of the Kunekune-cross pigs.
Taking the plunge
So Caleb and I made the trip last week. We actually made the arrangements with Richard and left on the same morning. The forecast was looking good for those two days so we wanted to take advantage of the good weather, knowing that travel can be unpleasant and dangerous in the winter.
We arrived after dark, and were welcomed by Richard and his wife to stay for the night. The next morning, after serving us a breakfast of his farm raised eggs and excellent bacon, he showed us his animals. This farm is a source of retirement income for him and a hobby he really enjoys. He is always working on improving the genetics of his pigs, chickens and turkeys.
We selected a young boar from a different line, to go with the two gilts (young female pigs) that he had for sale.
We also decided to buy the boar that was a brother of the gilts, since we wanted to have options for the future. Our plan is to buy some Idaho Pasture Pigs from the other farm in Quebec as soon as they have stock to sell, and we may even buy some local pigs and breed them with the Kunekune cross pigs. I believe it is important to keep the gene pool as wide as possible, to keep the vigor of a breed. If a herd becomes too inbred, they develop health problems that make it harder to avoid unhealthy management practices such as antibiotics.
We loaded the four young pigs in the back of our van, into a special plywood liner that we can slide in for moving small animals. Caleb had put a thick layer of straw into the box to make them comfortable for the long journey. Richard gave us a handsome rooster from his special chicken breeding program, and he also gave Caleb a young rabbit. The rooster was fine with the pigs, and we put the rabbit into a box at the front with us.
As we began the journey we had to navigate some rough Quebec back roads before we got on the Trans-Canada highway. Those bumps kept the pigs from lying down and resting for the first while. They did, however, often all stand side by side to help support each other over the bumps. I think we humans could learn from their teamwork! We were blessed with beautiful weather to make the eleven hour return trip, and arrived home with the new herd, tired but safe and sound.
Settling in
The boys were really excited to help them settle in for the night, even though it was past their bedtime as well. Our “boss” cow, Tyke, was very agitated and made a lot of commotion as we brought in the pigs. She clearly felt like she was losing the control of her barn to aliens. Tyke gradually settled down; it looks like she has totally accepted the roly-poly little squealers now.
Our special pigs have made themselves at home, and are eating soaked organic grains and lots of food scraps. I don’t think they even care that they live in a foreign province now.
It will be months before we actually have pork for sale, but we are happy to at least have made the start. And to have these cheerful little cuties on our farm with us.