Benefits of Local Farm-raised Pork and Beef

Pork gets a bad rap and, as hog farmers, we couldn't agree more!

Why?

Information technology comes down to how they're raised. A staggering 97% of hogs in the U.S. are raised in giant confinement barns, housing upwards of two,500 hogs at one time. These animals live on hard floors and never see the calorie-free of mean solar day. Their waste is stored in lagoons which are vulnerable to spillage, and the sheer amount of which creates problems for disposal. These crowded living conditions also necessitate the use of sub-therapeutic antibiotics to keep the hogs alive.

To us, the worst office is how the nature of this fauna is stifled by such operations. An animal which has the intelligence of a 3-yr-former man, which is friendly, playful, and curious is reduced to a commodity, worth merely equally much every bit its feed conversion ratio.

But at that place'south a improve way. See why we're committed to raising our heritage breed hogs on pasture, and why you lot should demand that of your pork also!

College levels of Omega-3 fatty acids

Most health experts recommend a diet with a iv:ane ratio of omega half-dozen:three fatty acids— every bit omega 6s contribute to inflammatory processes in the body— while the average American diet has a ratio closer to xxx:one of these fatty acid groups!

While the omega 6:3 ratio of conventionally-raised pork is effectually 20:1, this number can be cut by 60% by raising the hogs on pasture, where they take access to a various nutrition, in addition to eating grain.

Read more about Omega 3 & 6 fatty acids here!

Higher levels of antioxidants

Pork from pasture-raised pigs contains twice the amount of vitamin E—which is important for eye, skin, hormonal, and brain health—as pork from confined hogs, equally well equally greater amounts of selenium—which is necessary for detoxification and thyroid health.

Higher levels of vitamin D

Technically a hormone, vitamin D is a hot topic in health and diet worlds for a good reason: it's critical for a dizzying number of functions in our bodies such equally hormone balance, allowed function, inflammation control, calcium metabolism, bone and musculus health, and more. And near everyone is deficient in it.

While there are a number of reasons behind this widespread deficiency, inadequate dietary intake is a big one.

And guess what? The meat and fat from hogs raised on pasture (i.e. exposed to sunlight) can have three times the amount of vitamin D every bit their conventionally-raised counterparts. In fact, the USDA lists lard from pastured hogs as a superlative food source of this vitamin!

Better for the hog

No beast deserves confinement, but especially one equally intelligent as the grunter.

Pigs raised on pasture are not only healthier, but they're immune to do, wallow in mud, root around, explore, and exist pigs!

Improve for the environment

Pigs may not exist grazing animals in the sense that ruminants like cows, sheep, and bison are, but notwithstanding consume large amounts of fodder, when given the chance, providing benign stress to their environment by chomping and stomping plants.

And remember the manure lagoons from hog confinement operations that we mentioned earlier? These deserve an entire mail service due to the implications of their impacts, but importantly they pose a significant ecology threat to soil and groundwater due to their spillage and disposal.

The number of pigs on pasture, on the other hand, are naturally express by the carrying chapters of the state, and are oft rotated and so that their manure is a beneficial fertilizer for the land, rather than a detriment.

Better for public health

The WHO has alleged antibody resistance one of the superlative x global public health threats and, while overuse in humans certainly adds to that, manufacturing plant farming of livestock and poultry is recognized as a main contributor.

Pigs raised in crowded, unsanitary confinement conditions must exist given regular antibiotics to proceed them live. Through antibiotic residues in their meat and contagion of soil and waterways from manure lagoons, conventionally-raised hogs are a articulate offender in this regard.

In contrast to this, hogs raised on pasture rarely, if ever, demand antibiotics. Out of the many hundreds of hogs we've raised at TWF, the only antibiotics we've always used were in our first year when we unknowingly purchased sickly feeder pigs from a confinement operation. When raised outdoors with proper shelter and a healthy diet, these animals thrive with a mostly hands-off approach.

Heritage and rare breed preservation

Conventional pig breeds were bred for solitude. They resulted from generations of selective breeding for quick weight proceeds and lean meat—traits that came at the expense of hardiness, parasite resistance, and flavor.

At Trillium Woods Farm we select for pigs who are healthy, bang-up mothers, who flourish on pasture, and have flavorful meat (who said pork was the other white meat?). Our goal has always been to raise animals who have a purpose, and the quality of whose meat nosotros stand behind with every fiber of our existence.

Read more about the importance of preserving livestock breed variety at The Livestock Salvation.

Meet the divergence for yourself!

Shop pastured pork

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Source: https://www.trilliumwoodfarm.com/blogs/news/6-reasons-to-eat-more-pastured-pork

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