Hog Barns are pictured at left. This is where your grocery store pork, fast food pork, and likely your restaurant pork comes from. Up to 5,000 hogs are concentrated in a small area where they spend their entire life never seeing outdoors.
FACTS ABOUT COMMERCIAL PORK
1. HOGS ARE MEDICATED.
Close confinement results in disease. Indoor hogs are medicated even if they are not sick. Over administering animals antibiotics is causing bacteria to become resistant to the drugs and is leading to new strains of superbugs. One such bug, MRSA, is thought to have originated from commercial hog farming practices. Read more about how factory farms are farming superbugs here.
2. RAISING HOGS IN BARNS IS INHUMANE.
Mother pigs spend their entire life in a crate shown in the upper left. They cannot turn around. Feeder pigs, shown at the lower left, are kept in only 6-8 square feet of space as they grow to market weight in 6-8 months. These hogs weigh more than most people and live their entire life over a slatted metal floor given space the size of your bathtub.
3. PORK ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE WHITE.
The marketing slogan, "Pork, The Other White Meat" isn't something to be proud of. The slogan was created after pork color became anemic due to lack of sunlight and exercise.
4. HOG BARNS ARE BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Large concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) are terrible for the environment. The smell of these operations is your first clue. Manure lagoons (shown at left, middle) create a toxic breeding ground for deadly pathogens and a toxic waste problem. These hog barns are causing human health issues in their communities.
PASTURED PORK VS. COMMERCIAL PORK
Enjoy some pictures from our farm at right. Heritage breed piglets are purchased at 6-8 weeks of age and raised on pasture until fall.
FACTS ABOUT SORRELS BEEF COMPANY
1. PIGS ARE NOT MEDICATED.
Our animals develop a healthy immune system and do not require antibiotics.
2. HORMONES ARE NEVER ADDED.
Although it takes us longer for our animals to get to butcher weight, we just don't think adding hormones is a good idea.
3. PIGS EAT WELL AND GET PLENTY OF EXERCISE
Pigs love acorns, grass, clover, worms, eggs, you name it! They enjoy foraging on the pasture. Feed is supplemented with grain from our neighbor farmers. The pork is dark pink and could easily be mistaken for beef. The flavor is bold and the aroma from cooking it is absolutely wonderful.
4. PASTURED PORK IS BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Pigs don't stink when raised on pasture. They are very clean animals. There are no manure lagoons when pigs are raised on pasture. We use pigs on the farm to replace tractors when we decide to replant a field. They do all the tilling for us and enjoy doing it!