Heritage Pig Breeds for Pork, Plowing and More

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by Adobestock/Matthew J. Thomas

Raise heritage pig breeds for composting and plowing new ground — plus, your pastured pork will be some of the best you’ve ever tasted.

As if raising your own Sunday bacon weren’t enough, allow us to outline even more reasons for keeping pigs. The ultimate recyclers, hogs can take kitchen and garden scraps — or just about any edible “waste” — and convert them into healthful, delicious meat, plus nutrient-rich fertilizer. Evolved to root and dig, pigs enthusiastically unearth tasty treasures, plowing and composting as they go about their piggish pleasures. For firsthand experience with a system in which nothing is wasted, try raising pigs.

Until the industrialization of agriculture, pigs were a welcome addition to virtually every farm. Keeping pigs was a way to store essential protein until it was needed. After slaughter, the pork could be preserved without refrigeration when made into ham, bacon and sausage.

In addition to being sources of delicious meat and precious lard, the pigs our ancestors raised were versatile beasts with a multitude of functions. Pig farms near cities were an important way to recycle garbage, and there were systems in place to pick up kitchen waste directly from urban households and move it out to the pig farms. By keeping pigs, modern homesteads can still take advantage of this sustainable porcine power.

  • Updated on Feb 10, 2023
  • Originally Published on Nov 1, 2012
Tagged with: Heritage Pig Breeds, How To Raise Pigs, Illustrate Guide to Pigs, Plowing With Pigs
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