Our Herd

We have 100 pigs including Yorkshire-Landrace,  Tamworth, Duroc ,Old Spot  Hereford  and Berkshire breeds. The Yorkshire-Landrace pigs are known for reliable meat  production and prolific reproduction. The Hereford and Berkshire stock are  pedigreed eritage breeds. We have found that the Old Spot and Tamworth pigs  excel at foraging and are excellent mothers. Durocs are prized for fast growth.  Our initial stock were purchased when young and raised to finish on the farm. We  are presently farrowing spring and fall piglets on the  farm.

What it means to be a pastured pig- Cattle, being ruminants with a natural diet of grass, can be truly “locally fed”  by relying on grazing lands and hay, resulting in the "grass fed" label that savvy meat eaters are looking for. Pigs, however, even those that live 100% in forest and pastures eating  acorns and roots, must also be fed supplemental food.   Pig farmers will typically purchase grains, organic or conventional, to meet this need. Finishing a market pig requires 7-8 lbs. of grain a day for up to 60 days and in western MA this grain will typically be retailed from Vermont and likely  grown in the Midwest.
 
No Commercial Feed- HillTown Grazers takes a different approach. Our pigs pasture diet is supplemented with organic vegetables, chickpeas, granola and dairy all sourced no more than 20 miles from the farm.  These  feeds are mixed with roughage as needed and adjusted for pig size and age, or  mixed separately to target high protein feeds for piglets or gestating  sows.  While it takes a bit of  ingenuity to mix our own feed for pigs, we think it’s worth it.  This  diet is closer to what a pig would have been eating years ago and creates pork products that  have deeply developed tastes.  

We are also pleased that this approach reduces the financial and  environmental cost of producing and trucking grains remotely and leverages local  resources- food that would otherwise be wasted.