"Clean" Pork Producers (Organic / Grass-fed / Natural)

meadow_wind said:
Question: is corn considered a grain or a veggie? If it's a vegetable, then it should not be a problem if there is corn added to their feed, as long as it's organic. Any comments on that?
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It’s considered grain from my understanding and it’s one of the grains that gets more toxins due to the pesticides farmers use on the corn fields!
 
I agree about the quality of hunted meat being not ideal if you’re trying to avoid GMOs, etc. The deer where I am fatten themselves up in the fall on GMO corn. Their meat doesn’t even taste gamey because of it.

Anyway, if you are in the United States I like Dutch Meadows Farm for pastured pork, poultry, beef, lamb and eggs. They also sell raw dairy. They are based out of Pennsylvania but will ship to most if not all of the lower 48 states. I will maybe place an order once a month or every other because the shipping costs are hefty.

Raw Milk & Grass Fed Beef | Paradise, PA - Dutch Meadows Farm

Dutch Meadows brings you the finest in high quality, grass fed meats and organic dairy products, raised in harmony with the land.
dutchmeadowsfarm.com dutchmeadowsfarm.com
 
iamthatis said:
Cool, I found a producer of good pork in Southern BC in case anyone is interested. I emailed the farmer and the pigs are not fed conventional/GMO feed - they are fed with barley, pastured, given fruit and veggie scraps, and finished with apples. Looks pretty darn good for $8 per pound!

www.heartstoneacres.ca

Heartstone Acres

www.heartstoneacres.ca
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They also sell fat for $3/lb! That's crazy! Nowadays I use rendered fat from the pigs I raised as an additive to soups and the grass-fed beef I eat. This may be a good option for people who can't find cost effective clean pork - ask the farmers if they'll sell you fat, render it, pressure cook it, and spend the apocalypse in comfort and enjoyment.
 
iamthatis said:
They also sell fat for $3/lb! That's crazy! Nowadays I use rendered fat from the pigs I raised as an additive to soups and the grass-fed beef I eat. This may be a good option for people who can't find cost effective clean pork - ask the farmers if they'll sell you fat, render it, pressure cook it, and spend the apocalypse in comfort and enjoyment.
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I've talked to them and am going for a full pig in September. I was looking all over BC for good pork, its extremely hard to find out here.

I am lucky enough to have a butcher that sells grass-fed beef fat for 3$/LB as well.. 50/50 tallow/lard mix is finally within grasp.

Thanks for the info!
 
gottathink said:
New Zealand pork is a pretty good bet for a reasonably healthy and ethically raised meat.
You can learn more about free-range and free-farmed pork on the website.


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Being free-ranged is a first step indeed. However it doesn't exclude GMO feedings, antibiotics and growth hormones being given to them, unfortunately. Without talking about the various toxic and useless additives found in ham, bacon and sausages...
I found 2 fully organic sources so far :
- North Egmont Retreat based in Taranaki, that I haven't tried yet and products appear as sold out.
- The Organic Farm Butchery from which I bought other products but haven't found pork yet in their retailers. Ordering online may allow more chance to get some, they also have an official shop in Hastings.
 
ELT said:
Being free-ranged is a first step indeed. However it doesn't exclude GMO feedings, antibiotics and growth hormones being given to them, unfortunately. Without talking about the various toxic and useless additives found in ham, bacon and sausages...
I found 2 fully organic sources so far :
- North Egmont Retreat based in Taranaki, that I haven't tried yet and products appear as sold out.
- The Organic Farm Butchery from which I bought other products but haven't found pork yet in their retailers. Ordering online may allow more chance to get some, they also have an official shop in Hastings.
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Not quite correct. Although obviously organic pork is better if you can access or afford it.

From the New Zealand Pork website:
They are fed a mix of grains and cereals for energy, plus sources of protein such as dairy by-products, and soya bean meal, along with vitamins and minerals. Pigs are also excellent recyclers of by-products and left-overs from the human food chain, such as bread, dairy and vegetables from supermarkets that would otherwise go to landfill.

Growth hormones are not used in New Zealand pork production. While PST (porcine somatropin) is registered for use in New Zealand under veterinary supervision, the New Zealand pork industry took a stance against its use in 2002. When farmers send their pigs to processing, they sign a declaration that the pigs have not been given PST.

Antibiotics are not used routinely – only under veterinary supervision when needed for a sick pig and to maintain and enhance pig health and welfare.‍
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(Emphasis is not mine, this is a direct quote.)
 
gottathink said:
Not quite correct. Although obviously organic pork is better if you can access or afford it.

From the New Zealand Pork website:

(Emphasis is not mine, this is a direct quote.)
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Thanks, when I go on their page there's no way to get the text for me, both on phone and laptop for some reason.
 
ELT said:
Thanks, when I go on their page there's no way to get the text for me, both on phone and laptop for some reason.
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I had to hunt through the pages to find the specific info on the pigs diet. It wasn’t super easy to find, I think it was under the farming tab.
 
Tristan said:
Here you can buy authentic 100% acorn-fed Iberian pork. From Extremadura, a region of Spain where this breed is traditionally raised.
www.evamuerdelamanzana.com

Híncale el diente al cerdo ibérico de bellota 2024 - Eva muerde la manzana

No sé si te parece tan increíble como a mí el paso tan rápido del tiempo. Y para mí, hay una cosa que marca el pasar de los años, y …
www.evamuerdelamanzana.com www.evamuerdelamanzana.com
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Sorry, actually the pasture where these pigs are raised is located in Cordoba (Andalusia). Finca Las Hazas (Los Pedroches Valley). They are producers and also sell other types of organic meat.

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clubdeliberico.com clubdeliberico.com
 
Polyface Farms wrote about grains and PUFAs within the context of holistic treatment of livestock. Here is an excerpt.
polyfacefarms.com

PUFAS - Trendy or True?

Are PUFAs a big deal? Polyface has been in the pastured livestock business long enough to have seen numerous litmus tests of the day come and go. What about PUFAs?
polyfacefarms.com polyfacefarms.com
Interestingly, I've noticed some "low PUFA" poultry operations who have their outdoor chickens on dirt rather than pasture. I must suggest that there's more to health than PUFAs. Most things are a bit more complicated than single-item fads tend to admit.

We got a call a few weeks ago, for example, asking if we could grow hogs without feeding any grains. "Research" has convinced many folks that this was the only way to lower PUFAs. Yes, we can do that, but it would take perhaps 50 acres per hog to let it forage all it wanted. At that land use rate, we'd need to charge more than $10,000 per hog.

While the Omega 6 and 3 ratios have certainly changed in recent decades and are indicated in various chronic maladies including inflammation, all omnivores were eating grain long before recent days.

My collection of antique agriculture books from even the late 1800s show chickens and hogs eating corn, wheat, barley, and other common grains. But not canola. Ahh, there's the rub. Fads tend to throw out everything, the proverbial baby with the bathwater, but this is simply the pendulum overcorrecting.

What has thrown our Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids out of whack is commercially feeding seeds developed for lubricants and diesel fuel, confining animals to eliminate dietary salad from pasture, creating unimaginable stress in factory farms and constant inhaling of fecal particulate, and denying exercise and sunshine. All of these fundamentally altered the many threads weaving together the PUFA tapestry.

Many years ago a patron sent Polyface eggs to a lab for analysis and found a substantial balancing of Omega 6 and 3 when compared with industrial counterparts.

We have not recently gone to the expense (it's substantial) of testing for PUFAs, preferring to put our effort into taking care of you wonderful patrons, making sure the animals have sanitary, hygienic, no-stress lives, and moving them onto fresh ground - honoring their original design.

In an analysis conducted a decade ago, Polyface eggs had 1,038 micrograms of folic acid per egg compared to 48 on the conventional industrial egg label. Yes, food can be medicine.

PUFAs are something, but they aren't everything.

One-thread fads come unstitched over time, and at Polyface we take a holistic and broad approach for practical balance. Thank you for trusting us with these decisions and we look forward to many more years of service.
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