Rare Breeds

With the arrival of warmer weather and the occasional glimpse of sunshine comes barbecue season. Stephenie mackentyre speaks to three essex farmers to discover where to find local, high quality meat.

- Stephenie Mackentyre

GREAT GARNETTS BISHOP’S GREEN

Julie and Jonathan Smith are pig farmers from their farm, Great Garnetts in Bishop’s Green. ‘We have 180 breeding sows and each sow will have a couple of litters, so we can have anything up to 4,000 pigs on the farm at any one time,’ explains Julie. The females are Large White crossed with Duroc and the males are 50% Large White and 50% Duroc Hampshire Land Race.

‘This mix has evolved over the years as the Land Race gives tremendous mothering ability and the Large White in the male line gives them prolificacy, while the Duroc gives them the great taste. We are lucky enough to have an abattoir only 10 miles from our farm, so our pigs travel their on a tractor and trailer, and the pigs aren’t stressed at all during their lives,’ explains Jonathan. ‘I love being a pig producer and I try to produce the best pork and pigs that I possibly can do. We’ve been butchering for chefs and restaurants as well as the general public for the past 15 years. We try to tell people what type of pigs they are and we give great consistency with pork full of flavour – and it crackles up nicely too.

‘For me, to produce quality pork you need the right breed to give the shape and an animal with vigour. Once you have the quality genetics in place, then it’s about what you feed the animals on. We buy our food from local feed millers, sometimes Marriages in Chelmsford. They make the food from wheat, barley, peas and beans and then the protein comes from soya, so it’s not swill or a by-product. It’s a mixed cereal, good quality feed with high energy, just as you would want for your own children. If you give pigs a good balanced diet, they will grow well with a balance of fat and meat. It really is important to have fat on the animals, because it’s the fat which keeps the meat succulent and tender.