South 40 Farm is home to a Red Wattle swine operation

Cattle Sale Every Saturday! 12 Noon, Selling All Classes of Cattle

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Stock Cow and Bull Sale 3rd Tuesday of Each

Month, 6:30 p.m.

Next Sale Date

October 20th

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4th Tuesday of Each Month 6:00 p.m.

Next Sale Date October 27th

Call Lyle or Leon or one of our fi eldmen to fi nd out what we can do for you: Bobby Cole 573/674-3131 John Sanwald 417/718-3317 • Danny Cross 417/576-5461 Lyle Caselman, Owner/Mgr. 417-345-7876, mobile: 417-533-2944 Leon Caselman, Owner/Sheep Sale Mgr. 417-345-4514, mobile: 417-588-6185 Howard Miller, Owner - 417-818-3914 Buffalo Livestock Market

Barn 417-345-8122

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Catering to Pork Lovers

By Julie Turner-Crawford

South 40 Farm offers pasturerasied Red Wattle pork

Retirement has been anything but sitting in a rocking chair for Tim Martin.

Tim grew up on a farm in Texas, and after 35 years as a computer specialist with the federal government, he and his wife Susie decided it was time to go back to a rural way of life. mule foot, it better be a mule, so we went

“I wanted more than 20 acres and I wantwith the Red Wattle.” ed a creek on the place,” Tim said. “SuRed Wattles, a large breed of heritage sie agreed with all of this, so she got on hogs, are known for their red color and disCraigslist and started looking. She found tinctive wattles on each side of the neck. a place and I called the owner. It sounded The breed is also acknowledged for its harlike what I was looking for, but there was diness, forage proficiency and growth. someone else looking at it that weekend. I “They produce lean meat, but they still sent my son, who lives in Springfield, out have plenty of fat, and it’s supposed to be to take pictures. I called the guy back and the best tasting,” Tim said, adding that the told him I was interested in it if the other meat is also a little darker in color than people weren’t. He said I had first choice; I other breeds. “We also considered Tamsaid I wanted it and I bought it just from a worths. A guy raised a Tamworth, a Red bunch of pictures.” Wattle and another breed. He kept track

The couple moved to Dadeville, Mo., of the feed and everything he did to raise from Washington state in 2012, and began them and found out the Red Wattles were remodeling the barn into “the bunkhouse,” the best tasting and the most economical giving Susie a canning kitchen, sewing and to raise.” quilting rooms, as well as sleeping areas for The swine herd consists of six sows, a mavisitors, in addition to rebuilding the house ture boar and about 50 to 60 younger pigs and reclaiming the land, giving birth of the of varying ages. His original stock came South 40 Farm. from registered breeders out of state, but

Once the property was improved, the Tim never wanted to become a registered couple was ready to start a breeder. livestock operation. With “I wanted a purebred line of pigs,” he the help of family members said. “I have now found a purebred with a passion for research, breeder locally who has stock not they opted for Red Wattle pigs related to mine. I just bought anin 2016. Dadeville, Mo. other boar, so when he gets a lit

“It came down to the Red Wattle older he can take over for the tles or Mule-Footed breeds,” Tim big guy.” said. “I said if something had a Summer is not the ideal to

Photos by Julie Turner-Crawford

Tim Martin said bacon is one of his more popular sellers from his Red Wattle pigs.

forrow, a lesson Tim said he learned early on, so most of his litters are born in the spring and fall.

“From the time the sow is bred and the pigs are ready to butcher, it’s about a year,” Tim said. “From the time they are born, they are ready to go in eight months, at about 250 pounds. My goal weight is 300 pounds because I want to get a little more sausage, and my steaks a little bigger.”

While Red Wattles are foragers, pigs also receive supplemental grain and minerals.

“Pigs have a simple digestive system, just like humans,” Tim said. “They aren’t like cows with their four-chambered stomach, so they have to have protein and minerals.”

He went on to explain that pigs need a high-protein feed to develop muscles and grow at a normal rate. Tim found a 14-percent hog mix from Main Street Feeds gave him what he was looking for. The additional grain also allows the flavor of the meat to be consistent.

“They are on pasture, but nothing with tress on it,” Tim said of his pigs. “Acorns or walnuts can change the flavor of the meat and the fat, which is something I didn’t want.”

Pigs are allowed to roam on 5 acres of the farm, with the remainder being rented to a local cattle producer. No vaccinations are administered. Diatomaceous earth is occasionally mixed with feed to control parasites.

Fall Sale

Saturday • Noon October 10, 2020 Interstate Regional Stockyards • Cuba Missouri

Consigners: B & M Angus • Behlmann Angus • Gutermuth Angus Farm Herron Angus • Jordan Angus • Kable Cattle Farm • McBride Angus Farms Ricketts Angus • Royal Flush Angus • Schaefer Beef Farm Tilly Angus Farm • Triple C Cattle Company Twenty Oaks Farm • Voss Angus

More Sale Info at EastCentralMissouriAngus.com For more information or for your free sale book contact: Tim Gutermuth (314) 393-2885 • timgutermuth@gmail.com

The Martins offer pasture-raised pork through three farmers markets. The Bolivar, Mo., market is year-round, while markets at Hermitage and Fair Grove, Mo., are seasonal. Meat is processed at Golden City Meats in Golden City, Mo., a USDA-inspected facility, and packaged under the South 40 Farm label.

From their Red Wattles, the Martins offer a variety of cuts, including pork chops, pork steak, sausage, tenderloin, ham, specialty apple or jalapeno bacon brats.

“Keeping meat (in stock) this year has been difficult,” Tim said. “I have to butcher everything I can to keep up. We normally would send one pig a month up until last year when I would send them as we needed them, but now I take three a month. I tried to get four a month, but they are full.”

The push to locally-produced food has brought a new customer base for farmers and ranchers, and Tim said he has a growing business.

“What brings them back is my meat,” he said. “Once they try it, they come back. It tastes good, and our hams and bacon are cured with sea salt, brown sugar and smoke. There are no nitrates in it and people like the fact there aren’t any in their meat… On our hams, we can’t cure a whole ham without nitrates, so it’s cut in half. If makes for a different looking ham, but we cut them down into 3- and 4-pound hams. We also do ham steaks so people get what If you sell meat, vegetables, fruit, dairy products, eggs they want.” Moving forward, Tim said there is a possibility for expansion, which is good and bad for the Martins. “It’s going to mean more work, more infrastructure, and I’ll have to dig more post holes and Fro the Farm to your family or any other farm to table products, be sure your farm is listed on FromTheFarmToYou.com The listing is completely free. Just visit FromTheFarmToYou.com build more fence,” Tim said, adding that with pigs fences are more like a suggestion at times. and click on “Submit Your Farm” at the top of the page. “It’s good because more people will be getting more meat that’s good for them. It’s fresh, it’s local and they know what the pigs have been fed.” The Martins traded their city life for life on the farm, a choice they continue to embrace. “This job is for me,” he said. “I enjoy it, but it’s far harder than sitting behind a desk doing computer stuff. My wife was a manual therapist and had a clinic in Vancouver, Wash., and she Fro the Farm retired the same time I did. She still works on people out there on the farm in the bunkhouse. www.FromTheFarmToYou.com You have your ups and downs, and you can’t plan for every storm, but it’s been good.” SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 Ozarks Farm & Neighbor • www.ozarksfn.com 25