"I am over the moon to see the RNZSPCA has given you the stamp of approval... I tasted your bacon at the Auckland Food Show and it was amazing!..."
R.K
Auckland
So how are our piggies raised?
For us it's all about creating as natural an environment as we can... remembering it's still a farm and not the Urewera Ranges ...We try to let piggies do what piggies like to do naturally.
For us and the SPCA this means real simple things like ...the ability to run about in plenty of open space... enjoying fresh air and natural sunlight, root in the mud or the straw... playing with your mates... you get the idea.
The Maternity Home... where it all starts
If there is piggy heaven this is it.
Tucked away at the foot of the Southern Alps are our farms... real farms with grass and mudholes and individual chalets for mum. In these chalets mum sleeps, builds her nest and gives birth to her piglets. And when she's not doing this, she's out in the fields rooting about or rolling in the mudhole.
Sounds simple doesn't it...?
Yet sadly most mother pigs miss out on these simple pleasures living their lives indoors on concrete floors often confined for her entire pregnancy to a crate the size of her body.
We passionately believe ours is a much better way.
The Playground...
The place where piggy gets to grow up.
Imagine a large open shelter ... with a roof over it (to protect them from the sun and heat)... Covered with deep straw... loads of open space... fresh air and natural sunlight.
Piggies get to do their thing... running, digging, playing and eating heaps.
We liked that idea so we thought we'd make it real.
We call this place "the deep straw shelter"(sometimes they are also called eco shelters)
Again... hate to say it but most piggies don't live like this... and spend their lives penned up indoors on hard concrete floors.
We say the SPCA is right and the only way to raise a piggy is fields or deep straw shelters... ....concrete pens and crates not good.
for info on the other way...
