What would feed a pig if you wanted the best flavor pork?

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:43 pm

If you where looking to raise a pig to feed your family and wanted the pork to taste like the best tasting pork you ever eat what would you feed it?
And has anyone noticed a difference between breeds of pigs in the flavor of the pork?
Can I raise a market pig so that people will pay more because they know what it's been feed and not how it looks.

Darin · Post by **Darin** » Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:56 pm

Great topic!

Yes, the feed will greatly effect the flavor of the meat. Do some research on specialized ham. You will find pigs raised on a diet of acorns whose meat sells for thousands of dollars. There are many examples. I will dig some up and post links.

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 12:41 pm

Thanks, that would be cool.
Diet of acorns, I would never think of feed my
pigs that but I'll have to keep an eye out for
acorns and see if they like them.

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:00 pm

Found this website.
Interesting, I sure would like to get $300 for 5 lb of my pigs.

Pata Negra Paleta Iberico Ham - boneless - 5 lb/2.27 kg by Fermin, Spain.

Dry-cured Iberico pork shoulder.

The Iberico pig, a descendant of the wild boar, wanders free in the dehasas, an indigenous forest in southwestern Spain. Popularly known as the Pata Negra, or Black Hoof, the Iberico eats naturally growing plants of the dehesa. This diet is the reason for the unsurpassed taste and quality of the traditional Dry-cured hams and sausages of Spain.
$309.00

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Also found Crawford Farm website, their pigs eat acorns and hickory nuts.

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It would be interesting to get to taste diffrent pork side by side.

Anyone hear of other things people have feed their pigs.

drw · Post by **drw** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:08 pm

I sold some littermates a few years ago to two different feeders. One fed the pigs a commercial hog mash, while the other made extensive use of waste vegetables, etc from a local grocery store. We got pork chops from each feeder and had folks taste them. There was a difference in flavor. Pork from the pigs that had the grocery waste had a "wilder" taste than the pigs that had been fed mash. Most of the younger tasters preferred the mash-fed pigs, but some of the older folks preferred the grocery-fed pork and said it reminded them of how pork tasted when they were young.

jhmt · Post by **jhmt** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 6:47 pm

Meat quality Berkshire lines fed a corn based diet supplemented with apples. Very good!

bolillo · Post by **bolillo** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 7:31 pm

Feed em a big heapin scoop of selenium every day! Mmmmmmm

Selenium pork goes great with my tequila!

Ok just a joke don't castrate me over it.

Buena suerte

hampy622 · Post by **hampy622** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:16 pm

A how ration diet of selenium, paylean and a little stress gene will get you better tasting pork.

In all honesty I would concentrate more on the preparation than the feeding them apples and acorns. Most people over cook their meat. Get a thermometer and cook them on a charcoal grill. Im not sure off the top of my head what temp it has to be but when you hit that temp enjoy.

Oink · Post by **Oink** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 10:16 pm

So, are you saying that if you feed your pigs sweet stuff, that it will pass onto the meat? Seriously???

Darin · Post by **Darin** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:27 am

Here you go. This is one of the most expensive specialty pork products in the world and is produce from a special breed of pigs fed a finishing diet of strictly acorns.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jam%C3%B3n_ib%C3%A9rico

I recently read an article about a European producer intending to introduce a new specialty ham that would be even better and more expensive. There will be a limited availability per year and the price is thousands of dollars per ham. I will see if I can find it.

Darin · Post by **Darin** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:31 am

Found it:

http://www.pigprogress.net/home/id1602- ... e_ham.html

Darin · Post by **Darin** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:25 pm

Check with kgb. Maybe HONOR can make a custom feed that contains mostly acorns. It's important to note that the genetic line is an important component also. Use a breed that naturally marbles easily, such as Berkshire or Duroc. In the case of the Spanish they are using Black Iberia (or commonly known to them as Pata Negra (Black Foot Hogs). They are foragers, kind of like a black tamworth, but marble more easily than tams.

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:42 pm

What do you think about the Herefords?

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:47 pm

KGB, What do you think. Has your company every do any research on adding acorns to a feed.
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Darin · Post by **Darin** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:30 pm

I can honestly say that I have never seen a carcass that I know for sure came from a hereford hog. I know nothing about their pork-quality tendencies. They do tend to be fatter and less feed efficient than most breeds, generally speaking, and fatter hogs tend to marble better also. But whether they could thrive or even survive on an acorn diet I have no idea.

Incidentally, much of the flavor involved in the acorn-fed pork comes from the type of fat they get from the acorns. It may be possible to immitate that by supplementing more traditional diets and get a similar result, but I am not aware of any research on the subject. I can assure you that a strict acorn diet is not properly balanced to meet a pig's requirements for all nutrients for ideal performance. But if you can sell 2 yr. old smoked legs for $1800 each, who cares?!