Cert No. 0802 Cert No. 0205
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Cert No. 0802 Cert No. 0205
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Compassion – Quality – Taste
Our pigs:
Are free to express natural behaviours like wallowing, snuffling, grazing and playing Choose to be warm or cold, wet or dry Can form groups, mate naturally and engage in all the social behaviours that they are so driven to do.
Anyone who has spent time with pigs will know of their great intelligence. They are also inquisitive, sociable, friendly and sensitive animals. We think they deserve to be treated with the greatest compassion and respect.
Our pigs are free range their whole lives. It starts with the sow moving to her ‘maternity’ paddock for the last stages of pregnancy. There she has her own straw filled hut in which to build a new nest and a paddock where she can choose to explore, wallow, dig or just rest in the shade of some trees.
Once the piglets are born we allow them to choose to mix in with other mums and babies. This seems to reflect the more natural family groups you would see in the wild.
At six to eight weeks the weaners move into a large paddock with all the other youngsters. Here they play, wallow, graze, snuffle about and eat to their hearts content. Their Mum goes back into the sow group with our boar where they mate naturally and the cycle begins again.
All our paddocks have a range of environments from grasslands to heavily wooded areas, so the pigs can shelter from the elements or graze as they wish. We feed them by hand so they are very used to people.
We want our pigs lives to be as stress free as possible, they are weighed weekly and are unfazed by the hustle and bustle of runs and yards. Lastly, we personally transport to the butcher when the time comes to keep as much control over the process as possible.
Awareness is growing of the intensive farming methods, we know that there is another option. Our pigs live as natural and happy life as we can provide, enabling you to enjoy the meat with a clear conscience.
Compassion – Quality – Taste
Our pigs are fed a varied and seasonal diet. They are currently enjoying turnips from one of our local growers while we wait for the oats to grow for them to graze through. They also enjoy whey from High Valley Cheese which they love, just like the pigs that make Parma Ham in Italy. They periodically enjoy surplus fruit and vegetables. We also give the pigs a specially made balancing ration so we can make sure that there are no additives like antibiotics, growth promotants or hormones in their food. Our sows are all known by name and records of their offspring mean that the meat you buy can be traced back to the paddock it grew up in.
We grow Berkshire (the black pig with the white face, four white feet and white tail) and conventional breed (Large White crosses) pigs at Ormiston. We also have crosses of these breeds. You can choose which of these you prefer as the meat will reflect this on the label.
As we don’t rush the growth of our pigs they take a little longer to get to the right size. This is because they can run about and burn of excess energy but it means they can develop their muscles normally and the meat reflects this process in look and taste.
As a small family run farm we control the entire process to make sure we meet high standards every time and we continuously review our practices to reflect this. We are also proud to be certified members of the Free Range Pork Farmers Association. Compassion – Quality – Taste
“You are What you Eat” – this is certainly true for our pigs. On top of their whey and rations, the seasonal produce added gives different tastes to the meat depending on the time of year.
Our pork tastes the way it should – like it used to when most farmers had a couple of pigs grazing in the paddocks. There are many older ‘heritage’ breeds that are rarely farmed because they grow too slowly for intensive farming practices. Life is about variety, we know that you will enjoy the real and seasonal taste of our pork. Our Berkshires are a heritage breed developed over centuries for taste. We run both purebred Berkshires and also cross bred herds for variety and customer choice.
“The Ormiston” is our honest English sausage made with local Aussie ingredients. It contains only the highest quality ingredients; fresh herbs like sage and thyme, Murray River Salt, fennel, chives and cracked black pepper. They are gluten and preservative free and made from the best cuts of shoulder and belly (not the offcuts!). |
Send mail to
info@ormistonfreerange.com.au with
questions or comments about this web site.
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