KuneKune Pigs at The Bent Barbell Ranch -Why We Raise Our Own Meat

Did you know that pigs are the fifth most intelligent animal? 

Our addition of KuneKune pigs to our homestead has been an absolute asset to our self-sufficiency goals and simply joyful as well! Helloooo…Mo!

I really am not quite sure how they determine which animal is more intelligent, it’s not like they have the ability to answer an IQ test, but I can attest to the fact that pigs are in fact intelligent animals and I’m always amazed at the thought the Creator put into each and every animal here on Earth.

Before I photobomb you all with our newest addition and my thoughts on it I’d like to get a bit deep here for a moment and discuss our food source here in America.

I recently watched a pretty horrific documentary called At the Fork on our meat here in America, if you are still consuming meat from the store I encourage you to watch it, not to push you to eat a plant based diet, but in fact to educate yourself. Take the blindfold off and dive in.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and make a pretty bold and probably offensive statement. However sometimes the truth stings. If you are eating meat from the grocery store odds are likely you are eating meat that is sickly and frankly tortured. If you are buying from a local or small rancher I applaud their efforts to make a change and yours! 

Who determines what is humane for each animal? And did we ever vote on eating sick animals? I guess by continuing to eat those sick animals we are in fact voting aren’t we?

When we were given dominion over animals there was no asterisk that says animals don’t feel pain. That is an absurd statement I’ve heard over and over. Of course they feel pain they are living breathing animals. That is a naive statement and I’m here to shed a little light onto why American’s need to wake from their sleep and realize the finger pointing at the mass farms is in fact because…the consumer.

Let me say it again. The consumer. An ever increasing demand of more meat for a glutenous society. Perhaps we should educate, and then teach how to raise our own food, encourage and incentive families to own more land and raise more of their food decreasing the burden on these large farms. Thus resulting in healthier meat for the consumers.

Do you know how often I hear how much someone loves to eat meat, but doesn’t understand how we can raise and process our own meat on our homestead.

I used to just sort of shrug and move on, but after watching At The Fork, I found my soul was grieved and frankly disgusted that there doesn’t seem to be any concern to the fact that the majority of American consumers are consuming sick, mistreated, drugged up animals, but then I wonder, how many really know the depravity these animals are enduring? 

There are scenes in the documentary that seriously made me absolutely sick to my stomach. To see a human use their hands to pull out multiple piglets because the mom pig was to drugged to push her babies out on her own. 

Pumped full of shots, left in small cages, how did we get to this point where we are placing intelligent creatures into such horrific conditions for our own consumption?

Injected with vitamin D because they don’t ever see the sunlight except when they are moved into a trailer before slaughter. The mom cow removed from her baby before she can even clean up the afterbirth. To hear the mom crying for her baby long after they’d thrown it into a wheelbarrow and separated from one another. It was too much to really not discuss and hopefully encourage others to really consider this as well. We are not only feeding ourselves, but also our children.

It had been a long time since I did a deep dive on our meat here in America and I assure you all it did was encourage me to why we raise all of our own meat here in our homestead. Why I name each and every animal here, showing them the love and affection they need before they do in fact fill our freezer.

We do not confine our animals to small spaces, or heavily feed them before slaughter, we believe in letting our animals live out a natural life here, loved on, respected, and treated kindly. Their deaths are also humane as well, quick, no long suffering, and no fear beforehand.

So I encourage you to do your research on the meat produced here that lines our grocery stores. The meat that is causing the average American consumer a lot of money. You are paying for sick and mistreated animals, plain and simple. Like it or not it’s truth. And you can do with that truth what you want.

All of this talk about sick farm animals let’s switch gears to our newest homestead addition! Three new KuneKune friends on our homestead. What a treat they are!

We have LuLu, Beatrice, and Mo. Beatrice will be heading to the freezer in the summer, and Mo and LuLu will hopefully give us a handful of piglets each year for our homesteading benefit and hopefully others looking to raise their own pork.

I think Mo might be my favorite, with his cute little perma smile face I can’t help but pick him up and rock him like a baby!

We’ve raised Berkshire pigs but never a KuneKune. They are hilarious, a bit loud and such an asset to our self-sufficiency goals here on our homestead.

We’ve raised a lot of animals for food here so I’d like to shed some light on this breed my pros and cons on the KuneKune and why I’d encourage any small homesteader to add them to their self-sufficiency efforts.

Pros of Raising A KuneKune Pig

• Smaller and slower growing than other types of pig breeds out there. An excellent way to have “walking” meat on your homestead. We never are in a rush to produce the biggest animal this is a slower growing pig.
• A fattier breed than some of the other breeds, your feeding should be considerate as to not to over fatten them. This was a sought after breed for us with my skincare business since I render my own tallow.
• Docile and gentle with kids. As much as I loved the Berkshire pig oh she was pushy, and she was intimidating. I feel much more comfortable with my kids helping to raise these pigs.
• Not a heavy feeder due to their slow growing nature, gentle on the pocketbook. Is that even a term anymore. 
• Chatty and very social
• Longer hair makes them a good breed for our extremely cold winters here in Nevada.

Cons of the KuneKune Pig

• Slower growing for those looking to fill their freezer quickly I would say this isn’t the breed for you.
• Louder than some other breeds. You can hear Beatrice shrieking in the video above.
• More fat than other breeds, this comes down to personal preference if you have no need for your own tallow then maybe this won’t be the breed for you.
• The price tag of purchasing a KuneKune is more expensive than purchasing other breeds of pigs.

To be honest I really don’t have many cons to them, they are easy to feed, not expensive to raise in my opinion, and they are gentle and so fun for my kids to raise.

Each time I’m out doing chores, there they are greeting me with squeals and snorts until they get their pets in. I can find my daughter tucked into their shavings chatting away with them as they dog pile on top of her snuggled in.

What do you think about animals raised in our factory farms vs animals raised in a healthy outdoor, natural environment.

I encourage you even if I offended you, if you are going to consume meat you should be researching what you are in fact eating. I think our own inablity to really discuss and address the issue with our primary meat sources here in America is why we are here in the first place.

Tell me, who else finds Mo’s face to be hideously adorable?

Happy Homesteading!

Danielle