gillespie farm

The sows live outside and farrow in forest. They are intelligent animals and it is wonderful to see them exhibit their strong natural instincts. One of these is to build a nest before farrowing, which might take a couple of days. They do this using straw and clumps of earth and grass. The nest guides the piglets as they are born onto the teats – totally natural, and so different from the way sows are kept in industrial pig systems.

Unlike industrial systems, we do not clip the piglets' teeth or dock their tails – it is unnecessary when pigs are reared outside for their entire lives, with plenty of space to roam, living under natural conditions without stress.

We leave the piglets on their mother until naturally weaned, to get the full benefit of their mother's milk, and as well as rooting outside from only a few days old it ensures they build a strong natural immunity. We feed our Red Wattle pigs a simple non-gmo grain diet, in addition, they forage on herb-rich grass, acorns, apples,pears and leftover vegetables on the farm they call home.

Once weaned, the growing pigs live outside, in family groups, ranging freely and display all of their natural instincts, digging for roots and wallowing in mud, Mother Nature's brilliant sunblock. They provide the most sustainable way of managing a mixed farm, rooting and fertilizing the ground in the most natural way, preparing the ground for the next rotational crop.

We take our pigs a short distance to our local, small farm-based butcher. This is very important to us - it means that the animals are not stressed, the small team are highly skilled craftsmen, and importantly, the carcasses are in perfect condition to be hung on the bone, in the traditional way.

Our Red Wattle pigs live outside for their entire lives. They lead an active, outdoor life, spending their time happily grazing, foraging, rooting and wallowing just like pigs should. This means their meat has a distinctive, rich flavour and a fantastic texture.