Buying a pig direct from the farmer can be a fairly daunting and intimidating process.  This page is designed to lead you through the buying process, whether you intend to buy from us or another local producer.  

The first thing to note is that not all pork is created equal.   Differences in breed, feed, and methods of raising them all contribute to the quality of the product you buy.  Most grocery store pork is produced from pigs raised in a few large scale confinement operations (which may not even be in this country).  These pigs are raised for the cheapest possible cost at the expense of the humane treatment of the animal. There are many local small scale farms that take the near opposite approach.  Seeking out one of these is definitely worth the investment of time.

"I'm interested in buying a pig.   What should I look for?"

Habitat

The first thing to look for is the habitat the pigs are raised in.  Are they raised in a barn or allowed outdoors?  If they are raised inside are they given adequate living space or is the space cramped and confined?   At Collins Farm and Apiary, we raise our animals strictly outdoors.  In fact apart from the very rare time (someone is sick or being brought to the farm for the first time) all our animals live outdoors.  They are given adequate shelter from wind, snow, and rain but have access to to pasture at all times.  We believe this allows the animals exercise, stimulation, and in the spring and summer months room to forage as they would do in the wild.  

Feed

Pigs are omnivores.  They will eat almost anything.  And in turn people will feed them most anything.  They require a given amount of protein to grow and the most common sources are grains, legumes, and food waste from people.   We raise our pigs on pasture so that they get a majority of their summer diets from the land that they walk on.   They have legumes such as clover to forage on, turnips to root up and eat, and garden scraps as a treat.   We also supplement their food with a locally made pig feed that consists of grain and some vitamins and minerals to round out their diet.  Their diet remains strictly vegetarian.

Breed

This is the trickiest of the three to pin down.  There may be 100 different breeds of pigs out there and unless you have experience with pigs this may not be as clear as the other two.  As a farm that specializes in heritage animals we would highly recommend you searching for either a heritage breed pig or a cross with heritage bloodlines.   The reason for this apart from supporting heritage breeds making a comeback is the quality of the meat.   Heritage breeds grow slower than a lot of the tweaked in commercial breeds. As a result they tend to have more intramuscular fat.  Read this as flavor.  A LOT more flavor.

So I think I found a farm.  Now what should I expect?

Most farmers typically will sell either a half or whole hog.  There are only a few that will sell based on the cut only.  This is due to the additional costs associated with licensing and storage of the meat.  I usually don't recommend buying just one cut as you miss out on a lot of the good parts.  

When you buy your pig (or part of) it is most often sold based on price per pound of hanging weight.  This is the weight post slaughter at the butcher with all the innards taken out.   The sweet spot where farmers tend to raise pigs to is 225-250lbs live weight (or with in a reasonable variance of that).  This usually translates to a hanging weight of 180 - 200 lbs.  The amount for the pig is the agreed upon price per pound times the hanging weight (or half).  We do it a little different here and charge a simple flat rate per half.  We are pretty consistent with the weights when they go to butcher and prefer people to know what they're paying for prior to it going.  This may change in the future but as of now we charge per half pig.

The other thing to discuss with the farm is if this price includes butchering.  We do not include the cost of butchering in our pigs.   People have a pretty wide range of what they want done and I feel this is best handled between the butcher and the buyer.  The butchering costs usually run 40 - 60% of the price of what you paid for the animal.  They vary widely on how much additional processing you have done such as smoking or sausage making.

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