We don’t do anything unless we are proud of it… and we are really proud of the pastured pork that we are raising at Five Marys. Did you know that only 3% of the pork consumed in the United States is raised on pasture or outside?! Most are raised in barns on concrete because it is much easier to feed, clean, and farrow large numbers of pigs… but pastured pork raised right is truly a rare thing.

When we first got to the ranch, we started raising Old Spot breed pigs, but we found that Berkshire hogs were better mommas (more maternal) and we love the quality of their pork. Our pigs have the run of the grassy hog pastures, mud wallows, and their own ponds too. We feed them a customized protein mix with different percentages for different stages of development (gestation, lactation, growing and finishing) since they love hiding in the tall grass, but they need more protein than just grasses.

It’s taken us years to work on and improve our pig program to where it is today. From farrowing outside in huts to building a proper farrowing and maternity barn with specially designed pens that give new piglets a warm corner to be safe from flopping-over tired sows. Our survival rates and litter sizes are much better these days!

Our piglets graduate from the barn with their mommas to a ‘group-lac’ pasture where they all nurse together until they are big enough to be out in the pond pastures to grow and finish - or become breeder sows and have more piglets (breeders don’t get harvested for meats).

Last year, we officially became one of only three ranches in the state who are ‘Prop 12 Compliant,’ which means we meet the new animal welfare standards for all pork sold in California. This means our sows have plenty of space to farrow in our maternity barn we built specifically for birthing piglets as comfortably and safely as possible year round.

Prop 12 is a proposition that was passed in 2018 by the voters in California that require pork products sold in the state (even if they are raised elsewhere) have been raised with at least 24 square feet of space for farrow and nurse.

Our program, of course, has always exceeded these standards (as most pastured operations do), but it took a lot of time, legwork, and paperwork to officially attain certification - maybe more than it should, because we were one of the first! The second ranch that was certified was our neighbor, Richie and his family, in the pasture next to us who raises and farrows pigs for us too.

We had to go through this process despite the fact that we are far more than compliant to continue to sell pork in California, but it’s very possible Prop 12 may get overturned by the US Supreme Court. If you order from us, you’ll now see a note on your order confirmation that Five Marys pork is Prop 12 certified!