Our heritage breeding cohort is currently made up of a purebred Gloucestershire Old Spot (GOS) herd and a purebred Tamworth herd. We have purebred Duroc sows for meat crosses with both our boars. We have piglets available year round since we have 10 sows breeding at varying intervals. Our first purebred GOS litter will be arriving in spring 2024.

We chose the Tamworth breed because purebred herds are difficult to find in the northeast. Tamworths are one of the oldest breeds of swine but they are currently listed as “threatened” in the US by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust because they do not do well in “modern” pork production programs. They are typically long and lean and produce fantastic quality meat while offering some leaner genetics good for crossing with typically fattier breeds like the GOS.

Our GOS herd hails originally from the UK and were known as an “orchard pig” because they would clean up downed fruit in the fall. They graze and forage very well and are amazing mothers. They have a reputation as a “lard breed” because they store fat when fed aggressively with a “normal” swine ration that is mostly corn and soy. To optimize meat quality we feed less corn and more barley and pasture forage.