Real Pork

Why Does Whistling Train Farm Pork Taste So Good?
It starts with the breeding stock: we have found excellent sows of the Berkshire breed—hard to find, but well-known for centuries as the "Angus" of pig breeds. Berkshires are the only pig breed that incorporates marbling of fat in the muscle, rather than strictly layering fat on top of muscle as other breeds do. This results in the most tender, most flavorful pork there is. We use artificial insemination as well as in-person boars so that we can choose from the best quality genetics in the country, and the world. What all this means is that we start with excellent baby pigs that grow lean and healthy. We are able to treat our sows as humanely as we possibly can, and raise the baby pigs in a stress-free environment.

Of equal importance, we feel, is the pigs’ quality of life. Our pigs are all given lots of room to exercise and fulfill their pig instincts. This means they can root around in the dirt, sleep in the sun, eat vegetation, and run and chase each other (rather than living their entire lives on concrete, in an enclosed building with thousands of other pigs, with little room to move around). Our sows are given a roomy box stall with straw bedding in which to deliver and raise their babies. This makes for happy, healthy pigs that rarely need any medication. We feed high-quality grain, in addition to surplus produce, milk, and eggs from our farm, in addition to completely-free access to the outdoors. The manure and bedding is then composted and used for fertilizer on the farm.

How is This Different from the Way Commercial Pork is Produced?
Thoughtful breeding is important in commercial pork production, but generally more importance is given to the actual bulk of muscle-rather than the quality of the meat, and to the ability of sows to produce as many offspring as possible per litter, per year. This can mean extra-early weaning so the sows can be bred again as quickly as possible. Often young females are given special hormones to bring them into estrus sooner than their bodies are ready.

In many large commercial, or factory pork farms, the animals spend their entire lives in crowded quarters, inside stuffy climate-controlled buildings. Their tails are removed to keep the bored and frustrated pigs from biting them off. Routine antibiotics are fed to the pigs to prevent diseases from spreading as a result of having too many bodies in too little space and "growth promoters" are administered to boost growth. Sows spend the majority of their short lives in metal crates with barely enough room to stand up and lay down, to prevent the babies from being crushed under her, and to make it possible to squeeze hundreds of sows into a single building. And these factory farms generate such huge amounts manure that the relatively small area of the farm can’t use it.

How Can You Get Delicious Farm-Fresh Pork?
Please contact us for availability. We generally have a waiting list. You are always welcome to visit our pigs, even when they are babies.

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