Pork

Thank you for your interest in our pork.

We raise our hogs on pasture rather than the confinement style hog barns that the big operators use. The hogs are out in the fresh air and sunshine living like....well, like pigs! They wallow in mud, romp around, and root up the pasture. They keep themselves happy and busy. This is all good for the pigs and good for the people who eat them.

Pork is available in two ways - in bulk or by individual cuts.

To buy in bulk, you can buy a whole or half pig which we'll deliver to a meat processer.

This is called custom exempt meat processing. We take your order in advance for a whole or half hog. When you place your order, we will take your cutting instructions. The questions we'll ask you are quite simple and involve how many chops you want packaged together..2? 3? How thick would you like them cut ? The processor recommends that they be 3/4", is that okay? And so on. Don't worry, we'll guide you through the questions step by step.

We normally bring our pigs to Great Scott Meats in Buhl for custom processing, but this is negotiable. Some people may want to process the pig themselves or have the pig processed elsewhere. Your meat is ready about a week after we deliver the pig along with your custom cutting instructions. If you live or work near other people who are getting our meat, we can usually work out delivery to you. If not, we may ask you to meet us somewhere.

The hanging weight of half of a hog is about 100 pounds. The cuts you can expect are chops, steaks, roasts, ribs, side pork (or bacon), ground pork, a package of pork neck, and , if you wish, your unrendered lard. Your box of meat will measure about 19"x15"x9". This doesn't include your smoked product which is about 25-30 pounds of additional meat.

Prices are based upon hanging weight and are subject to change. Please contact us to make sure these prices are current.

Pork by the whole or half for purchase in the fall of 2011 is 2.29 a pound. We hope to be able to hold that price into the fall. Of that the processor will receive .45 a pound for slaughter, cutting, wrapping, and freezing. Bear Creek Acres receives the balance for the hog. You will write one check for the full amount to the farm because we will have paid your processing fees for you when we pick up the meat.

This does not include fees for smoking. When we talk on the phone, we can make those arrangements. We have a business that we are comfortable recommending for your custom smoking. They normally charge $1.00 a pound to smoke hams and bacon. We can drop off your meat for smoking when we bring in our own. Or perhaps you want to have someone else do the smoking for you. That's fine. When we take your cutting instructions, you'd tell us this - and we would relay that information to the processor.

On the other hand, you don't have to have meat smoked. The ham on the pig makes wonderful fresh roasts and steaks. If you prefer to take your pork belly as fresh meat, it's called side pork.

For those with less freezer space, we can now sell pork by the individual cut.

We have a full line of pork cuts that we had processed under USDA inspection in Clear Lake, MN at McDonald's Meats.

A wide variety of our pork cuts are also available at Natural Harvest Food Co-op in Virginia, MN. Natural Harvest is also handling our Breakfast Links, Wild Rice Brats, Italian Sausage Links, and Bacon. These products were made with our meat (and only our meat) by McDonald's Meats of Clear Lake, MN.

We also sell our meat off the farm and at Farmers Markets. But as of August 2011 we are out of just about everything other than a little wild rice brats and some braunschweiger.

Please call first (218-984-3235) before visiting to purchase meat. We'd hate for you to make the trip and find us not at home or out of the cut you want.