Our new arrivals are here! Meet our new Kune Kune pigs. At the moment their names are KimChi (large gilt–female pig), Kevin Bacon (small ginger barrow–meat pig), and Bon Jovi (multi-colored barrow–male breeding pig). Bon Jovi came with his name and we’re undecided about whether we’ll keep it but the other two names are good, right? 😀
I love pigs and had two mini pigs (a potbelly and a Juliana) when we lived in NY. Unfortunately even though I was smart enough to know mini pigs arent really “mini” sized (they can be up to 200 lbs and still be mini) I was not smart enough to know they really needed to live outside. They lived in our house and basement all fall, winter, and spring in NY, and let me tell you it was just not a good situation. Pigs are clean, pigs are intelligent, pigs can use litterboxes. All of that is true. But the intelligent part is where things go terribly wrong because intelligence means they are easily bored and bored equals destructive. Yeah, not so good in the house. When we moved to Texas we had them in a nice fenced yard but our neighbors complained and had animal control after us. Luckily animal control knew all about mini pigs and they left us alone after visiting and seeing our “little” guys (about 60 lbs by then) but we worried our neighbors would hurt our pigs (sadly things like that happen–poisonings, shootings, etc). When we moved to an HOA my daughter’s school promised to take them and for a summer they kept them with their goats and chickens. But then the school changed their minds, which broke our hearts because we were stuck in an HOA where pigs were not allowed. So the pigs then moved on to a school an hour from us. A few months there and one of our pigs started attacking children; it turns out he was deaf and was probably just terrified when kids approached without warning. He got rehomed to a woman in Dallas who already had pig experience. Malibu, my main squeeze, stayed at the school with his new pig sisters and to my knowledge he is still doing well there. I still own him but there he is living his best life because he adores the kids there and all the attention. Who knew we would live on a farm some day? I don’t dare take him away from his happiness though.
Anyway, I know more about mini pigs than most people should know. And we love bacon (though I didn’t eat any pig meat for four years after having the mini pigs) and so having meat pigs made sense. At first we were going to just get two barrows (castrated males) to raise organically and eventually take in to the butcher. But then we decided in an effort to be more self sustaining we should get a breeding pair so we could raise our own little meatballs. And you can’t keep a pig by themselves but ideally you want to separate females and males so you can control when they breed (when they’re old enough) and so two pigs turned into five (it’s weird how that happens, right? But two will be good to eat in 2-3 years time).
Why Kune Kune? As we are interested in regenerative agriculture, putting health back into the soil and our bodies, we also strive for heritage animal breeds and heirloom vegetables. The way God made them. Not some weird things we’ve created over time but the originals. Kune Kune were on the endangered list for a time–there were only 9 left at one point. Know that there are two categories of pigs in the world–bacon pigs and lard pigs. Remember in the early 90s when the campaigns about “the other white meat” started? That was the era of fear around fatty foods and the lard pigs were no longer “in.” If you follow Weston Price, you believe lard is good for you. If you follow mainstream dieticians, you believe lard is bad. Honestly I had to stop listening to other people about diet and just go inward and see what is right for *my* body. I also have a lot of damage both emotionally and gut-wise from all the years in the vegan cult, because that’s actually what it is. Lesson learned: NEVER let someone else tell you what diet is best for your own body. We are all different. My 16 year old has never had a bite of meat in her life save for one accidental time she thought a hotdog was a tofu dog. I don’t force my beliefs on others; I merely hope some day we can go beyond “diet” and just do what feels good…and, well, I do hope people start caring about the environment enough to note that local food eating options are what will save the planet, not veganism or factory farms, that’s for sure.
So back to Kune Kunes, yes, they were endangered for a time and now they are making a comeback, thanks to the conservation program and to people who care about this heritage breed and it’s sweet tasting melt-in-your-mouth taste.
“Oh, I don’t want to eat them if they are endangered!” Actually, eating them is supporting the breed and the farmers to continue breeding them, so by eating them you are helping them survive.
In addition to the heritage aspect, we chose this breed mostly because of their small size and friendly personalities. They also have short upturned snouts and thus they root *less* than other pig breeds. They thrive mostly on grass; a grazing pig! They take longer to grow, 2-3 years to reach maturation (200-300 lbs, though some breeders who breed for pets and not meat may have smaller stock). They can breed at about a year old, so ours will be ready in 6 months or so, and they can have two litters per year. Our breeding pigs are all registered so that we can be a part of keeping this beautiful breed going. We have two more coming, another gilt (female) and another barrow (meat pig) but they won’t be old enough for another month.
Ours are taking a bit to warm up; they aren’t sure who we are, of course. But with a little food…
And if you want to know how the goats like the new arrivals, they do not. They are absolutely terrified of them. Yesterday they were a little curious but today they refuse to come out of their night enclosure, even for alfalfa!
However, Tucker seems to like his new friends.
