Since starting the farm, we have had limited funds and space, so we initially chose to start raising poultry. We eagerly anticipated the day when we would welcome larger animals like cows and pigs to the farm.
We moved to our new leased property earlier this year, began preparing to expand the farm, and two weeks ago, we brought home three pigs, two of which were pregnant!
Originally, we’d planned to start with only feeder pigs. Feeder pigs are pigs that have been weaned from the sow and are then raised to market weight. Well, life rarely ever goes according to plan, right?!
Earlier this year we’d reached out to a farm months ago that raised the breed of pigs we were interested in. At the time they said there were none available, so we put it out of our minds for the time being. Then out of the blue two weeks ago, they contacted us with a breeding trio (a boar and two sows) for sale and they wanted to sell them before they had their piglets!
We jumped on it and the first sow just had her babies this week, precious as can be.
Why THESE pigs?
The name of the breed we are raising is the Idaho Pasture Pig. They are bred especially for small pasture-based farms like us! They are a cross between the Berkshire, Kunekune, and Duroc breeds.
The Berkshires are known for their top notch meat quality - juicy, flavorful, tender and beautifully marbled meat. They are hardy and the sows are great mothers.
The Kunekunes are a small domestic breed originating in New Zealand. They tend to be friendly, docile and great on pasture (they a true grazing pig!), which is perfect for our small farm where we have kiddos running around. They also have wonderful mothering abilities like the Berkshires.
The Durocs are a larger breed, known for their hardiness and quick growth, which is great to help balance the slow growth of the Kunekune. Their meat is also known to have good fat marbling.
These breeds together make a great pig for our small farm where we’re passionate about animals thriving on pasture, quality meat, and also being family friendly.
We are thrilled that these piggies became available and we were at a place that we could welcome them to our farm on such short notice!
Meet our Pigs
Their names are Whitey, Red, and Dave. Those were the names given to them by their previous owners and we decided to keep them.
Whitey & Her piglets
Whitey is our sweet mama pig who just gave birth to her piglets. Her hair is white so I’m guessing that’s where her name came from.
She is the largest of our pigs and this is her third litter, so basically she’s a pro mama. She eats like there’s no tomorrow, is an attentive mother and very protective of her little ones.
Her piglets have these precious spots, some mostly black and others mostly white. They are all doing well and have the loudest little squeals.
Whitey and her precious speckled babies :)
Red
Red is our sow who is pregnant with her first litter of babies, due early September.
She’s got more of the kune kune breed in her, hence the red hair, upturned snout, and smaller stature. She also reminds me a little bit of an ewok from Star Wars, ha!
She’s small but tough. She and Dave currently share a space and she can hold her own. Also, she is the loudest one of the bunch.
Dave (not Blackie, ha!)
Meet Dave, our boar and the father of all the piggies!
He loves to fight with Red over feed even though there’s two pails. We thought he’d be more aggressive since he is a boar, but turns out, he’s super friendly!
He also looks most like the pig you probably imagined in your mind before you met Whitey and Red. Well, maybe if he was pink. I used to think all pigs were pink, boy was I wrong!
Follow us on Instagram or Facebook to follow the journeys of our pigs and our other animals as well.
We hope you enjoyed getting to meet our pigs! Do you have a favorite? Any questions? Tell us in the comments below >>>