A considerable amount of thought went into breed selection for our forest/pasture pig operation. We wanted a hardy animal with good temperament and foraging instinct that would produce a high quality meat. Being a heritage breed is a bonus.
Hardy – Our pigs are rotated throughout our forested and pasture areas without constant access to manmade shelter, leaving them more exposed to the diverse weather of southern Indiana.
Good temperament – This is a family operation with children present. Highly aggressive animals are not retained in our operation. (We devote time to our animals from a young age to aid in their temperament toward us as well)
Foraging instinct – Sometimes pigs are picky and some aren’t naturals when it comes to foraging. We want our pigs to feed on nuts in our woods and the forage cover crops that we seed the ground with after moving them to the next paddock.
High quality meat – I can’t stand to be associated with a low-quality product and it is not what I want to offer customers. “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” -Hippocrates. Mangalitsa meat is superb, even sometimes being called the “Kobe beef of pork”. The meat is dark red and with excellent intramuscular-fat that melts in your mouth due to Mangalitsa fat being nearly 2/3% unsaturated compared to the typical 1/3%.
ONE PROBLEM… The Mangalitsa is a LARD PIG.
Lard pigs, as their name would indicate, were bred for a higher percent of their carcass to yield lard. This means that while the meat quality it phenomenal, there isn’t a whole lot of it. Because of this, the “bacon” we harvested from our first Mangalitsa barrow was prepared as a seasoning for vegetables and not as a side to a delightful country breakfast. Additionally, Mangalitsas are known to produce fewer piglets and they take 2X the amount of time to reach ~300lbs than the average commercial pig.
So, we chose to incorporate Mangalitsa genetics through our Mangalitsa X Duroc boar, born on our farmstead. This will make every pig we produce 25% Mangalitsa, aiming for a highly productive animal while maintaining the beneficial aspects of the Mangalitsa breed – most importantly, meat quality.
The publication below is a study on the fat quality of Mangalitsa crossed pigs.