FARM TO TABLE

PORK WITH A LIGHTER FOOTPRINT

Happy pigs at Enos Farms in Spring Green.

“The pigs were getting a bit more athletic than I would have liked; they could outrun me and I was getting tired of chasing them,” says Jeremy Crooks Lynch, who runs Enos Farms with his spouse Erin Crooks Lynch in Spring Green. “So I brought in a Berkshire boar to introduce some shorter legs into the gene pool.” Breeding their own pigs has been a focus at Enos Farms from the beginning. “We are going for heritage guts, so we can feed pigs a diet closer to what they would have eaten before industrial monoculture farming,” Jeremy explains, “which is the main way we can significantly reduce the amount of carbon emissions associated with the pigs’ diet.” Growing monoculture soybeans and field corn to feed livestock is one of the major sources of carbon emissions associated with raising animals for meat. The Crooks Lynches figure they are about halfway to breeding their ideal hog. In the beginning, the main metric was smell. “It turns out a hog farm doesn’t have to stink! If I can smell your breath from 10 feet away, there is probably something wrong with your diet,” Jeremy explains. By experimenting with what the pigs eat and breeding them to handle a more diverse higher fiber diet, the pigs at Enos Farms are generally aroma-neutral. That means the pigs have a more complex gastrointestinal tract, so there is a greater difference between the live weight of a pig at Enos Farms and the amount of meat at slaughter. Yet the Crooks Lynches say they still come out way ahead environmentally because they have significantly fewer inputs. Most of the pigs’ time is spent roaming the wooded hills of Enos Farms foraging for whatever interests them. “We never have to worry about poison ivy around the farm,” Jeremy says. “Every time I let the pigs into a different section of the land, the first thing they do is munch the poison ivy to the ground. They absolutely love it and have no reaction to the oil that irritates humans. And once the ivy is gone, they forage acorns, burdock and all sorts of other things growing out there on their own.”

Top: The newest additions to the drove explore the pasture. Left: Jeremy Crooks Lynch tromps through tall grass. Pigs at Enos spend more time on pasture, dining on anything they're able to forage. Right: All meat production will leave some kind of footprint on the earth. In the age of climate crisis, the Crooks Lynches are urgently interested in lightening that footprint to the point of carbon-neutrality.

In addition to foraging, the pigs also participate in harvesting some of the cultivated crops planted for their diet. Each fall the pigs are let into a field of pumpkins where they eat everything: the pumpkins, leaves and vines. “We also let them dig their own turnips, which is an understatement. They can get so into it, throwing them into the air or playing keep-away with them. It is the happiest squeals we hear all year and that’s saying something because we have really happy pigs,” Erin says. There is still some feed—soybeans and grain—involved in raising the pigs at Enos Farms as a stopgap as Erin and Jeremy finish building their ideal system. The small amount of grain supplement in the pigs’ diet is from a polyculture crop system and a portion of the grain feed is increasingly being replaced with organic spent grain—the leftover solids after making beer—from Giant Jones Brewing. Moreover, a newly acquired silo is allowing them to ferment much of the same plants the pigs forage during the growing season into silage; a process that makes a variety of nutrients available that will replace the remaining soybeans in the pigs’ diet. “This eliminates our need for monoculture crops to feed our animals. The probiotic fermented diet naturally boosts their immune systems and controls parasites and inflammation, precluding intensive medical intervention and reliance on chemical inputs in both the animal and on the land. The effect being nutrient-dense and flavorful pork that is antibiotic-free and has a lower negative impact and arguably a benefit to the environment and of course, a healthier product for the consumer,” Erin explains. All of this results in some obvious, as well as subtle, differences in the pork. “We’ll have people visit us and be surprised when I start making dinner. They think I have pulled out a piece of beef or something because our pork actually has color unlike what comes from pigs that have barely moved their whole lives,” Jeremy says, “The other white meat is a marketing gimmick for animal confinement.” In addition to their diet and genetics which can also increase pigmentation, Enos pork has a richer pink hue since the pigs are out foraging every day. The flavor of the pork is also enhanced. “Our pork can be used any way people usually prepare pork, but there are also chances to experience something else with our pork,” Erin says. “There are definitely some deeper flavors, but also there are some brighter floral or sweeter notes in our pork that work really well in lots of recipes, like in the sausages we make.” The Crooks Lynches recognize that we need to eat less meat in order to combat climate change. “We find ourselves in a funny spot,” Erin says, “Here we are, pork farmers encouraging people to eat less meat for a variety of reasons. But when you do eat meat, make sure that it is high-quality and nutrient-dense. Research has shown that truly grass-fed meats contain higher amounts of protein, vitamin E and good cholesterols* so you really are getting more bang for your buck and you have the added benefit of knowing your choice was less harmful to the planet.” *Source: FACT [foodanimalconcernstrust.org]