Wagga Free Range Pork - Berkshire Pigs

Wagga Free range pork PADDOCK TO PLATE
The Family.
Steve And Leah Anderson with their three children Matthew, Nicolas, & Ashleigh run purebred Berkshires on the farm. Steve completed a course with a heritage pig expert and is now a qualified ‘pig stockman’. The local free-range pork tastes great and the heritage breed offers more flavour that’s not available from commercially bred “white “ pork. We are also members of The Australian Pig Breeders Association and committed to keeping purebred lines.

Heritage breeds: the family farms heritage breeds
– the Berkshires. For almost four centuries the most flavourful pork has come from the Berkshire breed of Pigs. Known as the “black pig” to many, the superior taste of Berkshire makes it the ideal choice for everything from tasty barbecued chops to moist delicious hams. Berkshire pork is famous for the perfect combination of juiciness, flavour and tenderness. One taste and you’ll see why this breed of pork has retained its popularity through the test of time. They were first imported to Australia from the UK in the early 1900s. They were prized for their superior milking and mothering abilities and their black skin means they can withstand the Australian climate.
berkshire free range pork is good for Parma Ham, Salami, Fresh Sausages and smallgoods they’re big and slow growing pigs. they breed is No good in commercial systems and not commercially viable.
Berkshires are marbled throughout with a sweet nutty flavour and very, very sweet. Berkshire free range pork is good for traditional Cuts of fresh pork. “How Pork used to be” They grow differently; they have better bottoms and are not like “White Pigs or intensively farmed pigs”

Free Range: We have only pure Berkshire breed on the farm and they are free-range, which means they are outdoors all the time. We have pregnancy paddocks and the pigs can choose where they want to have their babies. They build a little nest, Steve has built shelters for them and finds a better success rate if they choose where to have their babies. Anything bred outside but put indoors is still intensively farmed.

Flavour & fat: The pink pigs or White pigs that are farmed commercially are genetically bred to be very lean and to grow fast. Breeders and large-scale producers weren’t really concerned about flavour, juiciness or tenderness. They needed a pig that would grow fast and be lean indoors. Our Berkshire pigs grow slower and we have to watch their diet so they don’t get too fatty. Steve says that an important part of the flavour is attributed to the pig's diet and is a strong believer that you are what you eat, as with the pigs they eat loads of fresh fruit and vegetables along with specially formulated pig pellet grain along with clean fresh water

Abattoir: Steve sends the pigs to slaughter when they reach 50kg, usually around six months of age. The Pigs are sent to the abattoir at Wangeratta, Then transported back to him in a licensed refrigerated truck ready for him to break down into portions ready for your dinner plate.

Smoking & curing: We do all our own smoking. We have special unique recipes to make up a cure for our double smoked ham & Bacons . We do Honey Cured Bacon and Hams but my favorite is a Special American bacon. Steve has worked in different butcher shops up and down the east coast of Australia and worked with some old style traditional Smallgoods makers developing the different sausages and small goods exclusive to Riverina Berkshire Free range pigs . Branded as “Riverina Berkshire Gold”