2021 Pork Changes
One of the biggest changes we undertook in 2021 was how we grow and market our hogs. When we started our farm we sold our pork at the farmer’s market. While we loved meeting the customers and the vendors, our particular market was saturated with pork sellers. This forced us to look at other avenues.
We reached out to a company called Niman Ranch about becoming a producer. If you aren’t familiar with them, you should check them out. They buy speciality pork (like we raise), have high standards for animal welfare, and are focused on selling the best tasting pork rather than the company that sells the most pork. (If you have a chance check out their products in the grocery store). In 2018 we officially switched from farmer’s markets to exclusively raising for Niman Ranch.
Being a Niman Ranch farmer had many benefits but we struggled to make it work at our scale. We may sell 50 hogs to them a year while other farmers would sell that many a week. Our facilities aren’t set up to produce at that level and so we made the difficult (and scary) decision to leave the Niman family at the end of 2020.
In March 2021 we started selling directly to customers who were looking for high quality pork in whole or half hog quantities. With our current two sow setup we will be selling hogs to customers (maybe you?)
twice a year (spring and fall). We have not changed our growing practices at all. We still use the same animal welfare standards that we followed as a Niman Ranch farmer. You can reserve your next whole or half hog by following this link to our super cool new website/online store.
Selling at this scale is about doing what we do best, raising a superior product and getting it to our customers who enjoy both the value and great taste of Uncle Gs pork.
Check out our post about buying direct from a farmer.
We consider this change a big success. This change has allowed us to work more with customers one on one. If you have any questions about buying a whole or half hog (even if it’s not from us) please send us an email. We love to help folks learn the process of buying directly from a farmer.
