Ethical pig farm to open its gates

AFTER starting up last year, Grenville-based agroecological pig farm Ethical Swine is inviting the community through their gates as part of their Lunch n’ Launch grand opening.

The event will comprise a tour of the farm and operations that’ll will culminate with a barbecue and co-owner Amy Pagett said “it’s going to be a party.”

“We’re opening the place up both to the paying public as well as our members who regularly support the farm,” she said.

“We want people to see what ethical farming looks like, and how our pigs are raised. People will be able to see the pig paddocks out in the forest and then we’ll come back up for a feast.

“We’ll have some of our mates who are up and coming market gardeners and artisanal bakers, so we can serve seasonal veg as well as all different kinds of meat as well.”

Local businesses and Melbourne-based breweries will be involved as well, and various cuts will be served by Ethical Swine co-owner, operations manager and in-house chef, Raign ‘Buck’ Buckingham.

The idea for the farm began in 2019 when Ms Pagett and Buckingham were both interning at Jonai Farms in Eganstown, and were inspired by its similar approach to agroecological farming.

Ethical Swine operates on what Buckingham calls their “one bad day” model in which the pigs are bred in a natural low-maintenance forest environment.

“The only bad day they’ll ever have is when they go to the abattoir, where we do the butchering ourselves to make sausages, bacon, pâté de tête, things like that,” she said.

“We sell everything direct to our customers, and we feed our pigs every day on a waste stream system so we don’t buy any industrial feed, it’s all from local businesses.”

With a rotation of over 60 pigs, Ms Pagett said Ethical Swine is very much “against the grain” compared to other pig farms.

“From what we know and what we’ve read, the pigs that are kept in those very industrial conditions are pumped full of feed and antibiotics, their movement is very limited, they’re kept in small pens” she said.

“I’d say the way those pigs live their ways versus the way ours do are remarkably different, and I think customers are becoming increasingly discerning in terms of where their animal proteins come from.”

The Lunch n’ Launch will take place from 11am to 3pm on Saturday, 30 April, with tickets at $65 or at $145 alongside a three-kilo pack of assorted pork cuts.

To book a ticket, or to browse through the meats, bit.ly/3v7HdYf.