"Bob" and "Betty"
We started naming our pigs "Bob" and "Betty" a few years back, and the names stuck - ever since then, all the sows have been Bettys and the boars have been Bobs. As the old saying goes, a spring pig seldom sees the snow of winter. But, oh what a good life it is! Our pigs get to enjoy freedom of movement in large outdoor pens made of hog panels and T-posts. They get a cool mudhole to wallow away those hot summer days, and nice warm "pigloos" for those frosty spring nights. Pigs are such friendly and personable creatures to have around the farm, it is almost a shame that bacon has to taste so good! Our pork has a taste and texture so different from the bland mush sold at grocery stores that it's hard to believe it is from the same animal. But if you stop to think about it, our farm-raised swine really are not the same animal as the factory farmed variety. The wholesale hog lives in a 6x 4 foot crate (or worse - stacked snout to tail with other swine) and is fed a corn-based diet with untold additives and antibiotics. Freedom of movement, fresh air, the joy of rooting through the soil with God's perfectly designed natural plow (the pig snout) is never known to these poor creatures. Our "Bobs" and "Bettys" get to grow slow and naturally in the elements of nature. We raise them on a diet of local grains from the Willamette Valley bought straight from the farmer. Wild plants, fresh vegetables, kitchen scraps and unused portions of farm grown poultry and rabbits adds to their diet.
Here at Sleepy Creek Farm, we do our own butchering, curing and smoking. Each year the bacon, sausage and ham gets even better than the last! We hope to build a sow shed soon and have our own brood sow to help pay the feed bill with her offspring.
Here at Sleepy Creek Farm, we do our own butchering, curing and smoking. Each year the bacon, sausage and ham gets even better than the last! We hope to build a sow shed soon and have our own brood sow to help pay the feed bill with her offspring.