How the The Rare Breed Pig Company started

Disillusioned by the meat on offer in supermarkets and the intensive methods used to produce such meat, we decided that we owed it not only to ourselves but also to pigs, to rear “happy pigs” that produce high quality pork that you can eat with a clear conscience.

Happy pigs that produce high quality pork that you can eat with a clear conscience

And so, in the early spring of 2007, we took delivery of our first 8-week-old Gloucester Old Spot weaners and ran them in some friend’s local woodland. It was here that we became passionate about pigs and soon realised that pigs and us would be a part of each other’s lives forever. Soon, demand outstripped supply for our amazing pork and we decided to take the porky plunge and turn our lovely hobby into what is now our full time Rare Breed Pig farm.

We decided that traditional breeds should be farmed with traditional methods, which is why we chose woodland. Pigs have been farmed in woodland for hundreds of years, providing the perfect environment and diet of roots, nuts, mushrooms, grubs, wild fruit and berries that enhance the already superb flavour of the meat.

Pigs have been farmed in woodland for hundreds of years, providing the perfect environment and diet…

This method of farming can even be found in the Doomsday Book where woodland was once measured by the number of pigs it could support. We are often asked why we choose to farm heritage rare breeds and the answer for us is simple. Pork produced intensively and on a mass scale is bland and watery, as the pigs have been bred to produce meat quickly at the expense of flavour. Our rare breed pigs cannot be reared quickly; they mature slowly enabling them to develop flavour and marbling.
The best way to save these rare breeds is to breed them, care for them, appreciate them and eat them. We aim to stop consumers simply seeing pork as a necessary cheap commodity and more as a precious and tasty resource.