Pork

The pigs are raised on pasture and 25% or so of their diet is grass. We feed our hogs non-GMO, (organic transition) grains. They also get seasonal produce, as it’s available.   Our farm has a variety of of woodland & pasture settings with various nut trees like oaks, hickories and soon chestnuts, for the pigs to munch on.   Its a smorgasbord.

Order Pasture Pork

 

Contact to reserve your Spring or Fall pork.

• • • • • • • • Pork is available to purchase as whole, half, and 30lb box  packages. Reserve your pork by emailing us your intention and sending us a deposit. Checks are payable and mailed to Mirror Image Farms at 2365 River Road, Bainbridge, PA 17502.   Also accepting venmo @mirror-image-farms-1.  We’ll connect with you closer to the expected time frame your pork will be available. Most of our pork will be ready in October.

You may opt to have your pork cut differently than what is on our standard order form. Additional butcher fees may apply.

Contact us with your questions and with your pork reservation. If you are reserving both pastured pork and grassfed beef, the deposit for the beef will reserve both beef and pork.

• • • • • • • • Whole Hog: $8.25/lb
                • estimated 150 lb of retail cuts for a total of $1,240
                • deposit check of $250
                • Standard Cuts expected from a whole hog
              • Half Hog: $8.50/lb
                • estimated 75 lb of retail cuts for a total of $640
                • deposit check of $150
                • Standard cuts expected from a half hog
        • • 30lb Box of Pork: $8.70/lb
            • Total price for the box = $260
            • No deposit required. Payment at pickup
            • Mixture of pork cuts
            • The 30lb box of pastured pork is comprised of:
              • 6 pork chops (2/pkg.)
              • 1 rack spare ribs
              • 1 2-3lb ham roast
              • 3lb bacon
              • 1-2 pork shoulder roasts
              • 3lb ground pork
              • 3lb loose sausage
              • 3lb large link sausage
              • 3lb breakfast link sausage
          • 36lb Sausage Box: $7.75/lb
            • Total price for the box is $279
            • Standard:
              • 12lb Loose 1lb packs
              • 12lb Breakfast Links 1lb packs
              • 12lb Grillers 1lb packs
            • Customizing is optional

Our pigs process through Smucker’s Meats, located in Mt. Joy, PA. They are USDA certified, and process nitrate free. When your order is ready, we’ll contact you and schedule a time for you to pick up your meat at Mirror Image Farms.  The balance of your bill is due at time of pick up or delivery.

Want to buy pork by the cut?

Follow this link for prices and availability

 

How We Manage Our Pigs

We manage illness and disease prevention through nutrition and maintaining a low-stress environment.

Raising the pigs on pasture makes for a healthy pig, as it allows for constant clean and fresh forage for them to graze on and disrupts chances for parasites and disease buildup. The open pasture not only provides clean, fresh air and less stress but furnishes a variety of plant species with medicinal qualities for the pigs to eat.

We incorporate garlic and black walnut hull powder into the pigs’ diet, which are natural de-wormers, and use diatomaceous earth and aloe to treat skin issues.

All this results in clean, healthy, and happy pigs, which require little or no medical intervention.

Antibiotics are never used for preventative maintenance and are used only in the rare case of a pig in crisis that needs antibiotic intervention. In the uncommon situation that antibiotics are used on a pig, that pig is marked and sold as such.

About Our Pigs

We raise heritage breed hogs and the main breeds of hogs here at Mirror Image Farms, are Tamworth and the Idaho Pastured Pig. We cross both breeds with Berkshire.

Heritage hogs refer to ‘old’ genetics, as compared to the hog breeds that are developed for conventional, confinement hog operations. The conventional hog breeds were also developed to create an ultra-lean pig that reaches market weight as fast as possible. However, they do this at the expense of flavor and animal health. Heritage hogs have more fat and far superior flavor than the conventional breeds. The heritage hogs also are hearty and healthy in their outdoor environment.

The Idaho Pastured Pig is a cross between the Berkshire, Duroc and Kunekune. This combination of heritage genetics makes for a great midsize hog with a shorter snout and lower profile, while still maintaining a relatively fast weight gain on a grass-based diet. The Idaho Pasture Pig reaches 250lb live weight on forage and grain in 6-8 months. We like the Idaho Pastured Pig because of it’s mild temperament, foraging abilities, and quality meat.

The Tamworth heritage breed of pig is longer and a bit leaner than the Idaho Pasture Pig, and is orange/brown in color. Like the Idaho Pasture Pig, it also is an excellent forager. It reaches market weight (250lb live weight) in 6-7 months, a little faster than the Idaho Pasture Pig.

In the pastured meat world, everyone raves about the Berkshire pigs. Berkshire pork is more red than other pork, and bursting with flavor. We’ve been crossing our Idaho Pasture Pigs and Tamworth pigs with Berkshire. With AI (artificial insemination) we’re able to experiment relatively easily with different breeds as we determine what works well for our pastured system, and with our varied markets.

Our breeder stock currently includes 6 sows. We breed our own sows and raise the piglets ourselves.