ROCKSPRINGS—Upper Canada Heritage Meat owner Barbara Schaefer believes there is an intrinsic value to heritage breeds, which she has been specializing in for several years.
Schaefer is raising a herd of about 200 Large Black Pigs, and small flocks of Chantecler and Silver Grey Dorking chickens and Cayuga Ducks on her Leeds County property.
She also has a Lincoln Red cow, another rare breed which she intends to develop into a small herd. Currently she has an agreement to pasture some of her friend John Ashby’s Lincoln Reds on her land. The breed has a reputation as a docile, dual-purpose animal that breeds and calves easily. It is also distinguished for its award-winning, fine grained meat.
"Heritage breeds aren’t really in the lexicon right now. People have heard of naturally raised and organic livestock, but heritage isn’t really on the radar," Schaefer told The AgriNews during an interview on April 23.
Even though these breeds take much longer to raise, Schaefer stresses they have an importance because of their rarity. Her operation is based on the belief that the best way to ensure their survival is to build consumer demand.
In addition consumers increasingly require that livestock be raised in a more natural, humane way while the local food movement insists that the source of one’s diet come from within an immediate radius of 100 miles or less.
"People are concerned about some of the issues raised in movies like Food Inc. and some books written recently. Some won’t buy meat from the supermarket. For those who don’t want to become vegetarians, they have this option of eating meat that’s raised in a way you would want, in a humane fashion, by letting them live lives as they would if they were never going to slaughter," she said.
All these trends combined with the characteristics of the heritage breeds mean that Schafer has just the formula for success in her operation.
She chose the Large Black Pig because of its reputation for hardiness, docility and easy maintenance, also the rich and tasty quality of their meat that comes from the micromarbling of the fat. Originally developed from the black pigs of Devon, Cornwall and East Anglia in England, the breed is ideally suited to small farms and pasturing on grasses and vegetation, which pretty well describes this 100-acre farm south of Rocksprings in Elizabethtown-Kitley Township.
Unlike the Tamworth, which has a reputation for being an escape artist, the Large Black Pig’s vision is somewhat obscured by its ears, which hang over its eyes. It relies more on its sense of smell to get around.
It is affectionate as well. During a tour of the barnyard, the pigs followed us around like dogs and some demanded to have their bellies rubbed.
The pigs are pasture fed, rotating through several fields that are fenced in with just a couple of strands of electric fence. An outside animal, they take refuge during winter in makeshift shelters composed of bales of hay, supported by cedar trees.
In addition to roots, and vegetation obtained by rooting, the pigs receive discarded produce. They eat corn, wheat and barley obtained from local farmers and their main protein source is soybean meal obtained from Dixie and Egan. A mineral premix from the International Stock Food enriches their diet, which will be further enhanced when Schaefer grows forages.
Compared to pigs housed in a confinement system, which go to market at five months, the "pasture-raised" Large Black Pigs reach market weight of about 240 pounds in a year.
One reason for raising her pigs in pastures is to allow them to root and play, thus fulfilling their natural instincts as rooters and social animals.
"I don’t certify organic. I don’t want to be restricted, but I follow and surpass organic principles," she said.
Raising animals organically also precludes the use of antibiotics, which Schaefer only uses when necessary and not as a measure to prevent disease. Instead, she prefers to boost the animals’ immunity by raising them in a natural environment and through an enriched diet.
Other measures like farrowing crates used in some large conventional pig farms are not employed at the Upper Canada Heritage Meat farm. "I’ve tried them and find there’s no improvement at all. Now I let them give birth in big pens," she said.
She doesn’t separate the little ones from their parents either, although she used to stay up all night with the mother, dry them off and put them under a heat lamp.
Schaefer finds that even with a farrowing crate, the piglets can still run under the mother when she is standing up. When she lies down, they could still be underneath her.
"My experience is that without the farrowing crate and me hovering over them, they do better," she said.
She finds castration is an unpleasant "two-person" job, which she discontinued last May, and her first crop of uncastrated boars will go to market this May.
Once she bought some Large Black Pigs from a friend in Delta who has never castrated her animals. "I’ve tried the meat and it’s been fine," she said.
To ensure there is no boar taint in her own animals, samples of meat are thrown on the frying pan at Lynch’s slaughterhouse in Mallorytown.
"If there is any scent at all of boar taint, that animal will end up becoming pepperettes or some kind of spicy sausage," she said.
Schaefer does without the "middle man" by marketing her pork and Ashby’s beef directly at several Ottawa restaurants and at the Ottawa Farmers’ Market in Lansdowne Park. She also sells the products through a community shared agricultural project. For a cost of $875, customers who buy a six-month membership receive half a pig; 75 pounds of Lincoln Red Beef, known as for its prize-winning meat and five chickens, cut wrapped and delivered to their home.
She charges $4.50 a pound for hanging weight and sells cut, wrapped loin chops for $8.50 a pound. "People are happy to pay that. At the market, I sell it for $9 a pound and they’re even happier," she said.
Since this one-person operation is highly labour intensive, Schaefer is looking for a young farm couple to help out.
Some young people would like to farm, but have no farm experience and are not going to inherita farm.
"I’m offering for them to come out here and set up camp. They can get themselves a trailer and learn. If it works out really well, I’d offer them a little piece of land to build a cabin on. While they’re working for me, they could also have a market garden and have their own thing going on. They’d be living rent free and I wouldn’t ask them for a lease agreement on the land, it would be an exchange agreement," Schaefer said.
For more information on this operation or to answer Schaefer’s offer, check her website at www.uppercanadaheritage meat.ca/breeds.html
From the Archives:
AgriProfile, May 2010
