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Iberico pigs, most expensive pork.

5K views 37 replies 7 participants last post by  krackin 
#1 ·
A couple farms in the U.S. now raise these fine pigs.
These pigs are raised in woods/pastures. The main feed is grasses and legumes and fatten out on white oak acorn in the fall.

If interested google ( youtube Iberico pig.)
 
#3 ·
are you talking about these pigs? This pretty much fits the description of "moonscape" pasture. and this is their advertising; presumably the best pictures they could find to represent their product.
The farmers are not claiming these pigs are on pasture. These are not grazing pigs. They are browsing/scavenging pigs. I've had Iberico pork and it is phenomenal.
 
#5 ·
There are a number of video on youtube about this most expensive pork in the world. This pig is a cousin to the Mangalitsa hog. They have been raised in Spain for hundreds of years. Like Their diet is grasses and other plants, rooting for worms etc. and fatten out on acorn from the oak trees. No soy or other grains. Just woods/pasture raised.

This is the way I raise my hogs. This is the way we raised hogs when I was a kid. The people I supply with pork wants the over fat 400 lb. hogs I raise.



There are many vedios
The farmers are not claiming these pigs are on pasture. These are not grazing pigs. They are browsing/scavenging pigs. I've had Iberico pork and it is phenomenal.
on youtube where people are raising pasture/woods pigs like pigs use to be raised in this part of the county.

The Iberico hams sale for around 1600 bucks each.
 
#11 ·
Agroforestry (Silvopasture)-Grazing in the woods.
Grazing in the woods has been practiced for many years. In Spain and other places including U.S.
Pensacola bahiagrass,Clove,Rye,and many other plants do well with this type of wood/pasture farming.
 
#12 ·
You opened this discussion with, " The main feed is grasses and legumes and fatten out on white oak acorn in the fall." Recently in the Pig Forum, there has been discussion on pastured pork that resembles moonscape. The first reply to your post showed what I guess they are most proud of, a barren wasteland. If I were promoting a high priced pastured pork, I would shy away of showing a paddock of barren land. I understand the acorn diet is the finishing touch, a promotional photo of pigs belly deep in lush green pasture grasses would better serve this business. White oak trees in Michigan look nothing like the trees in the moonscape barren promotional photo and take many decades to produce acorns. Also, I'd expect that Agroforestry would take place in a forest. I doubt you could convince any Michigander that the photo is a picture of a forest. It looks more like a promotion for Monsanto's Roundup.
I wish them the greatest success.
 
#7 ·
Presumably, the picture shown is of them finishing on acorns. Go to their website it shows them on vegetation. Spanish Ibericos aren't really grazers...they are free ranged, but in more of an arid savannah/woodland. These guys ARE claiming to graze, then finish on acorns.
 
#8 ·
They have been raising these pigs for many years best pork in the world. I would like to raise some of them but the price for one of those sows is out of my price range :). I do intent contacting a couple farmers that raise them and see if I can visit them. Would like to get just one of them pigs to raise for my own use. I think there are two farms in the U.S. that has them.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Some iberico hams from spain originate from grain-fed animals. The fact that they are iberico doesn't mean that they aren't fed grain, even those kept in spain.

Here's a farm that describes their feeding and husbandry of their pastured pigs; grain supplemented for most of their lives. http://www.fullcirclebisonranch.com/organic-acorn-finished-pork/

here's the Spanish regulations related to iberico:

"...To help consumers navigate the confusing world of Iberian products, in 2013 the government released a classification of pork products based on the animal breed and the conditions in which it was raised. A white label is used for “ibérico de cebo,” made from grain-fed pigs; a green label “ibérico cebo de campo,” where animals spend 60 days grazing and eating acorns on a dehesa; a red label for “ibérico de bellota,” who spend the period between October 1 and December 15 on a dehesa, and a black label for pigs who also spend two-and-a-half months on a dehesa and both of whose parents are black Iberian pigs..."

None of the regulations prohibit feeding these pigs grain as far as I can tell.
source: https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/07/06/inenglish/1499366286_535537.html
 
#10 ·
Some of the big farmers in Spain don't like others coming into the business and taking business away from them
The people in Ga. can feed them anything they want. However I think that is a point some farmers in Spain is making that its not as good as the pork they raise over in Spain. Fellow in Ga. put a price over 2000 buck for his hams. Don't think I will be buying any pork from him. :)
I think I will stay with my Hereford pigs.
Just finish fencing in another 40 acres of woods/pasture for some new Hereford pigs.
 
#13 ·
What I've found is that in true woods/forest there is not a lot of light getting to the ground so there is not a lot of food value on the forest floor. Mostly what is there is rotting plant matter which has some food value. Things like nuts have a very limited season. Apples and pears have a longer season but still limited compared with ground forages on pasture.

I found that I could boost the ground forages by thinning the trees, more light is getting to the ground, and that produces a very nice pig habitat. That is a lot more like what I've seen in the photos of Iberico pigs in Spain where the trees are spaced apart.

I've experimented with creating double fence lines that protect reserve areas between paddocks and planting apples, pears, nut trees and other perennials in those areas which drop food and forages into the pastures. Imagine two fences about six feet apart. The reserve areas are setup as creeps so that chickens and small pigs can get in there to cleanup. This works well for me and I want to do a lot more of that.

Before diving too deep into the idea of the super high priced Iberico, or any other specialty item, carefully examine your market. Our bread and butter is the basic cuts of pork, sausage, etc. I'm developing, slowly, my market for higher priced items but nothing like the $1,000 I sometimes see cited for Iberico hams. That is way out of the range of my customer base - perhaps it would fit in a major city market. So know your customer, and how much they'll spend.

I found I was able to continue to serve my market and earn a lot more money from each pound of pork sold simply by vertically integrating. Producing as much of the feed as possible, the pigs, the processing, direct delivery, etc. The fewer people between the producer and the customer the more the producer keeps in their pocket. This is similar to simply selling for a higher price but I find it easier to do.

Cheers,

-Walter
 
#14 · (Edited)
What I've found is that in true woods/forest there is not a lot of light getting to the ground so there is not a lot of food value on the forest floor. Mostly what is there is rotting plant matter which has some food value. Things like nuts have a very limited season. Apples and pears have a longer season but still limited compared with ground forages on pasture.

I found that I could boost the ground forages by thinning the trees, more light is getting to the ground, and that produces a very nice pig habitat. That is a lot more like what I've seen in the photos of Iberico pigs in Spain where the trees are spaced apart.

I've experimented with creating double fence lines that protect reserve areas between paddocks and planting apples, pears, nut trees and other perennials in those areas which drop food and forages into the pastures. Imagine two fences about six feet apart. The reserve areas are setup as creeps so that chickens and small pigs can get in there to cleanup. This works well for me and I want to do a lot more of that.

Before diving too deep into the idea of the super high priced Iberico, or any other specialty item, carefully examine your market. Our bread and butter is the basic cuts of pork, sausage, etc. I'm developing, slowly, my market for higher priced items but nothing like the $1,000 I sometimes see cited for Iberico hams. That is way out of the range of my customer base - perhaps it would fit in a major city market. So know your customer, and how much they'll spend.

I found I was able to continue to serve my market and earn a lot more money from each pound of pork sold simply by vertically integrating. Producing as much of the feed as possible, the pigs, the processing, direct delivery, etc. The fewer people between the producer and the customer the more the producer keeps in their pocket. This is similar to simply selling for a higher price but I find it easier to do.

Cheers,

-Walter
I cut a lot of big oak, etc down which leaves some fairly big open spaces in the forest. From the middle of the grove after cutting down some of the big trees I cut a path about 50ft. wide in both directions in and out of the area. Anywhere I cut big trees down I cut 50 ft. open spaces out to the edge. This leaves in enough sunlight for grasses etc. to grow. Also plenty of room to go in and out of the grove hauling logs. When I finish a 20- 40 acre plot I go in with tractor with disc cultivator and give the bare spots a light going over. Just enough to rough up the soil. Then I plant seeds. After a spot is ready and fenced in I turn in a group of hogs. Next to the wooded area will be a field with different things planted in it. The new hogs can goes from field to forest as they please. They spend about 2/3 their time in the woods pasture. By fall the acorns are ready. They feed on the acorns and other things in the woods in the fall and all winter. Works out just fine for me. The pigs just about takes care of themselves.
Two business people that buys my pork have asked about Iberico. I could sell it but the cost of going into it would cost me 20,000-40,000 bucks. Just to much money to put out at this time. I will just stick with my Herefords.
I have 2 men that work for me. One cuts down trees and hauls them to sawmill. The other young man helps me run my sawmill.


Best,
Gerold.

P.S. I did call the people in Georgia
. I wanted to see if they had any Gilts for sale. Just got a recording over the phone. They may call me back tomorrow as I left them my number.
 
#16 ·
They been raising them in Spain for 100 years and it is the highest priced pork in the world. I only get $2 a pound live weight for my Hereford pigs. They get $1500-$2000 for one 16 lb. ham. They are doing something right.
I'd agree with you; I think it's great that they get that sort of price for their production. I think that prices like that are related to the marketing more than the product itself - think about it. Are their pigs really 50 times better than yours, or mine? I think not, but the marketing makes the difference.

and remember that between the retail customer and the farmer there's more than a few people who take a cut of the sale; the price to the farmer for the pig isn't the $100 a pound retail.

As highland notes; the fewer people between the customer and the pig the better it is for the farmer.
 
#17 ·
I'd agree with you; I think it's great that they get that sort of price for their production. I think that prices like that are related to the marketing more than the product itself - think about it. Are their pigs really 50 times better than yours, or mine? I think not, but the marketing makes the difference.

and remember that between the retail customer and the farmer there's more than a few people who take a cut of the sale; the price to the farmer for the pig isn't the $100 a pound retail.

As highland notes; the fewer people between the customer and the pig the better it is for the farmer.
I called farm in Texas this morning. Asked about buying live Gilts. Man said they didn't have any Gilts for sale. He said they were all out of meat for now. They would have 2000 pigs to butcher this fall. Whole leg sales for 2K. He said all his pigs eat is woods pasture 5 different grasses and acorns. He said they sale almost all their meat to restaurants in St. Louis , Chicago, and NY.
Still not heard from the farmer in Ga.
 
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#23 ·
Math.
2000 pigs of all sizes, 10 pounds to 400 pounds, average 205 pounds, 8 per acre. That would assume that the entire property is pastured and has ample acorns. Very rare for any farm to be fully utilized.
2000 pigs weighing 205 pounds would eat 5 to 10 pounds each day. That's 3 1/2 million to 7 million pounds of feed. That is over 7 to 14 tons per acre.
That's a lot of grass and acorns. Interesting that this is located in a fairly arid, barren area.
 
#29 ·
In their web site, shown in the second comment in this thread,"the finest pork meat in America" it looks like a location where NASA could fake the Lunar landing. But then, I'd be presuming that all of their Texas acreage resembles that barren, beige, rock strewn, vegetation-less moonscape that they used to promote their product.
I've never lived in an area so devoid of vegetation and topsoil. My only understanding of such conditions is on movies like Capt. Philips, Hidalgo, Lawrence of Arabia and Martian and documentaries on Bangladesh and Iran. With my limited understanding of high plains grazing, I can think of no animal more poorly suited to both that climate and that diet than pigs.
I wish them great success.
 
#28 ·
2000 finished pigs this fall on 250 acres is 8 pigs per acre. the pictures on their site show a pretty arid landscape; I'm curious what their carcass weights will be. Wild pigs don't get very big at all.
They said they was going to have over 2k pigs in the fall and that they had other farm area to put them on. They have more then one farm in 2 diferent states. They are still expanding according to them. Wish I had a million bucks to expand my farm. I only have 4 sections of land.
 
#30 ·
I would be ashamed to run that farm or be behind the marketing.

Right now our hogs are in a corral. DEP rules. Spring through fall they are out on pasture. They destroy that pasture every year. It's what pigs do. We replace that pasture every year and couldn't even think about charging.

Our pigs get acorns, and all of the free waste from gardens and orchards in the area. Meat is as red as beef and our pigs look better than those lean dogs.

https://www.acornseekers.com/
 
#33 ·
I think it may be around Stillaguamish river. If I was there I would be fishing for steelhead. :)
Here's a google map link that points to my farm if you'd like to take a look. If you look at it
via google earth you can move backwards and forwards to see what changes in the fields over time. I've
owned this particular place since 2013; so what happened prior to that wasn't me. The google map picture
was taken sometime in the spring; I had just leveled and then replanted two different grazing areas. The crop areas flood pretty much every year, and depending on the severity of the flood I'll sometimes get ripples or divots in the field, so when I replant it I smooth it out and run a cultipacker over it and then plant whatever it is that I'm putting in to have the pigs graze on.

The largest building there is 25000 square feet (a little over 1/2 an acre) this particular farm is 70 acres, and I purchased another 40 acres up the road this year as well.
 
#34 ·
Math.
2000 pigs of all sizes, 10 pounds to 400 pounds, average 205 pounds, 8 per acre. That would assume that the entire property is pastured and has ample acorns. Very rare for any farm to be fully utilized.
2000 pigs weighing 205 pounds would eat 5 to 10 pounds each day. That's 3 1/2 million to 7 million pounds of feed. That is over 7 to 14 tons per acre.
That's a lot of grass and acorns. Interesting that this is located in a fairly arid, barren area.
When claims are made of pastured fed pork not many people do the math and figure out how much forage the land would have to produce to mimic a balanced ration. Thanks for doing the math Haypoint.
 
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