Type of pig
We have a herd of Saddleback Pedigree and Saddleback cross sows. We cross them with a large White Pedigree Boar. This gives our meat the traditional taste with a nice covering of flavoursome fat slightly more than your commercial pig; hence our market name 'Real Pork'. Rearing
As much as humanly possible our pigs farrow outside. The young stock then live outside with the herd exploring and foraging across the ground. When the piglets are nearing porker stage we bring them in to our large sheds with yards to finish them ready for meat. As our grounds sometimes become waterlogged it is important for animal welfare that the pigs have a dry area to go to. The pigs continue to have access to their field space and can access the large sheds and yards to use if they wish; they have plenty of room to run around and love playing in deep straw. Feed
We grow our own crops subject to extreme weather conditions: generally Winter Tricale and Spring Barley. The corn is stored at the farm and milled fresh when needed to aim for the best quality feed. Soya and minerals are added at the point of milling. The pigs are rotated around their fields, we back fill these with Turnips for them to graze on or grass. Slaughter
Our pigs are slow growing (Killed at 6 to 7 months on average) and take longer than a commercial pig to be ready for meat. Our pigs travel 3 miles to our local slaughterhouse. This means your food miles are minuscule and there is no stress to the pigs from travelling. Meat Processing
We have our own cutting space where we prepare the pork for market; cutting, making pork products, packaging and labelling. We work closely with our Environmental Health Officer to ensure we maintain our good practice with producing food products for the public. You can see food hygiene ratings for registered food producers at www.northsomerset.com look for C. White & Son; we maintained our 5 rating again in our recent inspection which we continue to be proud of. We supply to customers mainly directly through farmers market or local deliveries and currently supply two specialist food shops.
