We accidentally made ourselves a boar
Here at BOTL Farm, we're pretty against having a boar ["we don't have any boars. Instead, we are the boar" and "We find it convenient to order boar semen from a semen supply company and not deal with stinky boars" and "Boars are big, stinky, and potentially aggressive to humans"]. Luckily the universe makes fun of farmers who write newsletters and we now have made ourselves a boar. Welcome, Boarling (that's right, that's the clever name we gave him. It's an amalgam of what he is [boar] and our hope that he will grow up to be boring, combined with a diminutive because he was young and small when we named him).
Don't tell Boarling, but he was a mistake. He escaped during castration time (all male pigs are castrated to avoid boar taint but that's a story for another newsletter) and now that he's about six months old, he's starting to have feelings. Big feelings that involve foaming at the mouth, a willingness to skip meals in order to sneak to other paddocks to meet new pig ladies, and being just tall enough to mount mature sows.
For now, Boarling is working hard at his new job and that means we've been ordering less from our semen bank (who is still getting up and running). We're still not convinced that we want a boar long term, so we're keeping an eye out for an animal welfare focused farm that needs a nice heritage breed boar. He totally doesn't stink yet.
Factory farming is bad so small farms need small slaughterhouses
It's October now, so if you're in the mood for a horror film you should consider a documentary about factory farming and be sure to choose one that includes slaughterhouses (how about Food, Inc.). Factory farming treats animals as commodities instead of sentient living creatures. The huge numbers of animals raised on factory farms need to be slaughtered for food and this requires huge slaughterhouses that prioritize speed and low cost over everything else (animal welfare, employee well being, basic food safety, etc.). The government sets legal limits on how fast slaughterhouses can "process" live animals into food by establishing "line speeds." These limits hypothetically allow USDA inspectors to inspect each animal and carcass for wholesomeness. Unfortunately, factory farms have lobbied to increase line speeds to horrifying levels: a cow every 11 seconds, a pig every 3 seconds, and less than half a second per chicken. The amount of suffering inflicted on animals (and humans) when line speeds are this fast is immoral.
There are so many reason we don't work with slaughterhouses like this. First, we aren't growing commodity pigs. We raise pigs in a very particular way to be sold under our own name, not a nameless entity called 'pork' at the grocery store. Large slaughterhouses input thousands of commodity pigs a day and output generic pork, so they wouldn't work with our small farm even if we wanted to. Secondly, our animal welfare certification (Animal Welfare Approved by AGW) won't allow us to. As a birth to slaughter program, it requires slaughterhouses to be inspected and meet standards set by AGW. Thirdly, large slaughterhouses are morally reprehensible. Bleck.
We take our pigs to Meatworks in Westport, MA for slaughter. Meatworks is run by a non-profit group (The Livestock Institute) and they don't have line speeds. Their capacity is 12 cows or 30 pigs per day. Not only do they meet Animal Welfare Approved standards, the facility was designed by Temple Grandin, a global expert in humane slaughterhouse design. Meatworks and their staff have the time and intention to spend as long as necessary with each animal and treat them as sentient beings who deserve a respectful, individualized end.
Another way that Meatworks supports small farms is by accommodating special needs. Our pig matriarch, our very first sow, a sociable doyenne and gentle pig named Cow Pig (okay, we're not the best at naming animals) who weighs around 646 lbs with a bit of arthritis, just went to Meatworks. She needed additional attention because of her size and age but the experienced kill floor team was happy to take extra time to work with her. It's hard to believe that we've been farming long enough to send our first pig breeder to a dignified end.
New stuff this month
Welp, that was sad, so let's talk about one of the topics near and dear to our hearts (and stomachs): sausage.
Because we feel most comfortable when we're surrounded by a protective cloak of rules and rule-based thinking, we have defined topics for each of our newsletter sections that we write each month. You, brave reader, find yourself now in the third section of the newsletter, which in our rules-based world must be "New Stuff" or "Weather." Lately we've been remarkably restrained about endlessly talking about the weather, so we've been talking about new stuff in this space. Honestly, we've mostly been talking about sausages.
Guess what, we've got new sausages. We bet you're surprised. Based on feedback, we're moving our latest version of Kielbasa from the 'one-time' column to the 'always keep in stock' column. We also just made our latest attempt at a very spicy sausage: Sweaty Breakfast. It has (what we thought was) an unreasonable amount of fresh habanero peppers paired with maple sugar and a supporting cast of tasty organic spices all stuffed into small links. Turns out, it's not that spicy. Whatever. We'll keep trying.
Also new this month is smoked pork hocks, also known as ham hocks. These are great for making soups, stews, and anything else that simmers for a long time. The hocks have bone, skin, meat, and all sorts of flavorful goodness from being smoked and cured.
Finally, we have new merch. We've been bugging Twiddle T's Pottery in Sturbridge, MA to make custom coffee mugs and they have obliged. Now available in a variety of colors and two types: traditional coffee mug and travel mug.
Okay, one more thing. Our first New Haven pickup date is approaching. Since we're not doing the Wooster Square Market anymore, remember to place an order online for the Sunday October 18 pickup in Wooster Square Park. Deadline for ordering is the Tuesday before.
Animal feed prices going up because of diesel prices
This month we raised our prices for animal feed from New Country Organics for the first time in just over a year. We've been pleased to see feed prices remain steady for so long, but the rapid rise in diesel costs means higher shipping costs. The increase was about 1 cent per pound of feed, so 50 lb bags went up about 50 cents. Until diesel prices are under control, we may see more price adjustments (and by that we politely mean increases).
Find us
On farm store: Every Wednesday noon - 2pm, every Saturday 1 - 3pm. Pre-order
On farm self pickup: Every day 8am - 8pm. Pre-order only
Wooster Square Pickup, New Haven CT: Sunday October 18. Pre-order only
Assawaga Farm Market, Putnam CT: This market runs every Saturday from 9am - noon from now until Thanksgiving. We will be there every week. Dates we'll be there in October: October 03, October 10, October 17, October 24 [Note we will not be there October 31]. Pre-order
Sturbridge Farmers Market, Sturbridge MA: This market runs every Sunday from 9am - 1pm from June until October. We will be there every week. Dates we'll be there in October: October 04 and October 11. Pre-order
Ask a Farmer Anything, virtual question sessions: second Monday of every month from 7:30 - 8:30pm and fourth Thursday of every month from 8 - 9am. Dates in October: October 12 and October 22. Registration free but required
It's too many dates! Save me!
Want to get these blogs in your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter.