Two Calves Standing is committed to raising a variety of Heritage Pig Breeds, many of them registered, in order to promote better tasting meat with a variety of flavours, breed conservancy and genetic diversity, and suitability for humane and sustainable raising conditions.
Two Calves Standing is committed to raising a variety of Heritage Pig Breeds, many of them registered, in order to promote better tasting meat with a variety of flavours, breed conservancy and genetic diversity, and suitability for humane and sustainable raising conditions.
What breeds?
Two Calves Standing is currently raising registered Red Wattle pigs, Ossabaw Island hogs, Berkshire and Berkshire/Tamworth crosses. This is a great variety of pigs with different tastes, fat contents and suitability for different purposes. Read on for more info about each one.
Two Calves Standing is currently raising registered Red Wattle pigs, Ossabaw Island hogs, Berkshire and Berkshire/Tamworth crosses. This is a great variety of pigs with different tastes, fat contents and suitability for different purposes. Read on for more info about each one.
Why Heritage Pigs?
Superior Taste – Heritage pig breeds are a throwback to time when great taste was valued over quick growing rates and affinity for commercial feeds, hormones and antibiotics. Most heritage pig breeds are well-suited to pasture and foraging and can get much or all of their food that way, creating meats with more flavour.
Sustainability – pasture raised pigs are able to get much of their diet directly from the ground, eating roots and larva. This helps to limit the environmental costs of feeding them. Their rooting and manure work as natural soil improvement for crops in a rotational grazing system
Breed Conservancy- because of their unsuitability for industrial farming, many heritage breeds are significantly down in numbers. Raising them for meat and buying that meat creates an incentive to raise the animals on small farms and is the best way to preserve the breeds.
Genetic Diversity – preserving heritage breeds is an important way to maintain genetic diversity within a species. Genetic diversity is critical for enhancing resilience and adaptability to change. This helps to keep a species alive through environmental shifts.
Superior Taste – Heritage pig breeds are a throwback to time when great taste was valued over quick growing rates and affinity for commercial feeds, hormones and antibiotics. Most heritage pig breeds are well-suited to pasture and foraging and can get much or all of their food that way, creating meats with more flavour.
Sustainability – pasture raised pigs are able to get much of their diet directly from the ground, eating roots and larva. This helps to limit the environmental costs of feeding them. Their rooting and manure work as natural soil improvement for crops in a rotational grazing system
Breed Conservancy- because of their unsuitability for industrial farming, many heritage breeds are significantly down in numbers. Raising them for meat and buying that meat creates an incentive to raise the animals on small farms and is the best way to preserve the breeds.
Genetic Diversity – preserving heritage breeds is an important way to maintain genetic diversity within a species. Genetic diversity is critical for enhancing resilience and adaptability to change. This helps to keep a species alive through environmental shifts.
The Livestock Conservancy Priority List
The Red Wattle
The Red Wattle Pig is a growing focus of the Two Calves Standing heritage pig program. Simply put, they are possibly the best tasting pig in North America. They have lean, rose colored meat that has great marbling and texture. They are included in the Slow Food Foundations Ark of Taste and are described as ‘exceptionally lean and juicy with a rich beef-like taste and texture’. Chef Mike Poiarkoff of Brooklyn's Vinegar Hill House says, "It's the porkiest pork you can get, the purest expression of how a pig should taste." We haven’t seen it available in any Waterloo area restaurants yet, but we will certainly be approaching some of the better restaurants in town when we have enough supply. For now, it is only available direct to the home consumer.
The pigs are large and red with a distinguishing wattle from each side of their neck. They have a gentle demeanour for large pigs and are quite fertile with good mothering instincts. They do well on pasture and can easily live outdoors in Canada year-round. Red Wattles are listed as critically endangered by the Livestock Conservancy. Two Calves Standing Red Wattle pigs are registered with the Red Wattle Hog Association, helping to keep the breed alive.
The Red Wattle Pig is a growing focus of the Two Calves Standing heritage pig program. Simply put, they are possibly the best tasting pig in North America. They have lean, rose colored meat that has great marbling and texture. They are included in the Slow Food Foundations Ark of Taste and are described as ‘exceptionally lean and juicy with a rich beef-like taste and texture’. Chef Mike Poiarkoff of Brooklyn's Vinegar Hill House says, "It's the porkiest pork you can get, the purest expression of how a pig should taste." We haven’t seen it available in any Waterloo area restaurants yet, but we will certainly be approaching some of the better restaurants in town when we have enough supply. For now, it is only available direct to the home consumer.
The pigs are large and red with a distinguishing wattle from each side of their neck. They have a gentle demeanour for large pigs and are quite fertile with good mothering instincts. They do well on pasture and can easily live outdoors in Canada year-round. Red Wattles are listed as critically endangered by the Livestock Conservancy. Two Calves Standing Red Wattle pigs are registered with the Red Wattle Hog Association, helping to keep the breed alive.
Ossabaw Island Hogs
Ossabaws have a very interesting history. Spanish explorers in the 16th century dropped a number of pigs off on Ossabaw Island of the coast of Georgia, with the intention of creating an ongoing source of food. They did not come into contact with pigs on the mainland for many years so they are the closest genetic relative to the original Spanish stock. Over time, these pigs evolved to suit an environment with limited space and seasonal scarcity of food. To survive, they adapted to the food cycle on the island, storing large amounts of fat to help them survive. They also became much smaller in size, suitable to surviving in limited space such as an island. This is a selective process known as insular dwarfism.
The meat of Ossabaws is dark, with a unique texture, and is prized for resembling the jamón ibérico of the black Iberian pig. It is considered to be artisanal, heritage product that is also listed on the Slow Food Foundation’s Ark of Taste. Because of its high fat content, it is particularly well-suited to cured meats but also makes for flavourful fresh pork and whole hog roasts. The Ossabaw is a great forager and can live outside year round. They have small litters but are fiercely protective mothers, in contrast to their general gentle demeanour. They grow much more slowly than many other breeds. Our Ossabaws are currently raising new litters and we don’t expect any meat to be available for quite a while, but we are very excited to try it out when the time comes. We are also looking forward to try some crosses with other heritage breeds to see if we can recreate the Ossabaw flavour profile in a larger faster growing pig (Crossabaws, perhaps?)
Ossabaws have a very interesting history. Spanish explorers in the 16th century dropped a number of pigs off on Ossabaw Island of the coast of Georgia, with the intention of creating an ongoing source of food. They did not come into contact with pigs on the mainland for many years so they are the closest genetic relative to the original Spanish stock. Over time, these pigs evolved to suit an environment with limited space and seasonal scarcity of food. To survive, they adapted to the food cycle on the island, storing large amounts of fat to help them survive. They also became much smaller in size, suitable to surviving in limited space such as an island. This is a selective process known as insular dwarfism.
The meat of Ossabaws is dark, with a unique texture, and is prized for resembling the jamón ibérico of the black Iberian pig. It is considered to be artisanal, heritage product that is also listed on the Slow Food Foundation’s Ark of Taste. Because of its high fat content, it is particularly well-suited to cured meats but also makes for flavourful fresh pork and whole hog roasts. The Ossabaw is a great forager and can live outside year round. They have small litters but are fiercely protective mothers, in contrast to their general gentle demeanour. They grow much more slowly than many other breeds. Our Ossabaws are currently raising new litters and we don’t expect any meat to be available for quite a while, but we are very excited to try it out when the time comes. We are also looking forward to try some crosses with other heritage breeds to see if we can recreate the Ossabaw flavour profile in a larger faster growing pig (Crossabaws, perhaps?)
Berkshire
Berkshire pork was one of the first heritage breeds to return to prominence. It is raised in Kagoshima, Japan as Kurobota pork and is considered the pork equivalent to raising Wagyu cattle to make Kobe beef. Berkshire pork, prized for juiciness, flavour, and tenderness, is pink-hued and heavily marbled. Its high fat content makes it suitable for long cooking and high-temperature cooking. The meat also has a slightly higher pH which makes the meat darker, firmer, and more flavorful. Our Berkshire pigs are not part of the Kurobota line but they still have many of the flavour characteristics at a fraction of the cost. They are raised as purebred Berkshires but our boar, Arthur, is also bred to our mixed heritage breed sows. Literary fans will note that Napoleon, from George Orwell’s Animal Farm was a Berkshire boar.
Our Berkshire crosses are available for purchase this fall. Purebred Berkshire meat will be available in the summer of 2020.
Berkshire pork was one of the first heritage breeds to return to prominence. It is raised in Kagoshima, Japan as Kurobota pork and is considered the pork equivalent to raising Wagyu cattle to make Kobe beef. Berkshire pork, prized for juiciness, flavour, and tenderness, is pink-hued and heavily marbled. Its high fat content makes it suitable for long cooking and high-temperature cooking. The meat also has a slightly higher pH which makes the meat darker, firmer, and more flavorful. Our Berkshire pigs are not part of the Kurobota line but they still have many of the flavour characteristics at a fraction of the cost. They are raised as purebred Berkshires but our boar, Arthur, is also bred to our mixed heritage breed sows. Literary fans will note that Napoleon, from George Orwell’s Animal Farm was a Berkshire boar.
Our Berkshire crosses are available for purchase this fall. Purebred Berkshire meat will be available in the summer of 2020.
Heritage Crosses
We have four sows on the farm that are heritage crosses of Tamworth, Berkshire and Large Black, all very valuable heritage breeds. Tamworths are an English breed known as the ‘bacon pig’ because of their length and depth of sides, light waist, and their large portion of lean red meat to fat. The Large Black is also an English heritage breed that was extremely common in the late 19th and early 20th century, prized for lean meat and excellent bacon, but has since become endangered.
Raising some of the heritage breeds as crosses helps to expand genetic diversity and also creates new and interesting flavour profiles. Plus, boars are big and motivated when there are sows in heat, so sometimes the pigs themselves decide they want to create a genetic cross despite the presence of fences and gates.
We have four sows on the farm that are heritage crosses of Tamworth, Berkshire and Large Black, all very valuable heritage breeds. Tamworths are an English breed known as the ‘bacon pig’ because of their length and depth of sides, light waist, and their large portion of lean red meat to fat. The Large Black is also an English heritage breed that was extremely common in the late 19th and early 20th century, prized for lean meat and excellent bacon, but has since become endangered.
Raising some of the heritage breeds as crosses helps to expand genetic diversity and also creates new and interesting flavour profiles. Plus, boars are big and motivated when there are sows in heat, so sometimes the pigs themselves decide they want to create a genetic cross despite the presence of fences and gates.
