High on the Hog

with Jon Jackson

JON JACKSON IS A DECORATED COMBAT VETERAN WHO SERVED AS A US ARMY AIRBORNE RANGER. HE FOUNDED STAG VETS, INC. IN 2014 AND COMFORT FARMS IN 2016 TO AS- SIST HOMELESS VETERANS, VETERANS IN NEED, AND VETERANS SUFFERING FROM POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS AND TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY. IN EACH ISSUE, JON SHARES HIS LESSONSLEARNED RAISING HERITAGE BREED HOGS.

It was two years ago today that I and a small team of friends and veterans put shovels in the ground and created Comfort farms in honor of my Ranger Buddy Cpt Kyle A Comfort. We started off with the best stock of hogs we could find, the American Mulefoot, one of America’s oldest heritage breeds.

So here I am two years into this journey with a collective 1,000 head of heritage hogs strong. We sell premium pork at our farmers market and to high-end restaurants. 100% of all the proceeds go back to caring for our veterans and training them to become our nation’s next food producers.

When I started Comfort Farms I decided I wanted to breed heritage animals, because I wanted to have hogs that were not ordinary. I wanted animals raised with care that would yield meat that would taste extraordinary.

After doing some research, I settled on the American Mulefoot and Mangalista hogs; both of which are prized for their superior taste and high quality meat. But I didn’t just want to have great stock, I wanted to raise the animals in such a way that would enhance their flavor while allowing them to thrive as animals, living life as naturally as possible.

You can easily taste the difference in commercial pork and Comfort Farms pork, a fact that I am proud of, for good reason.

Our pigs never set foot on concrete. They never receive vaccinations of any kind because they don’t need them. They play in hog wallows that they create in the woods and pastures of the farm. They live their days wallowing, running through the forest as the early morning rays of sun warm them up, twirling in circles, massaging their muscles on trees, and enjoying a carefree life -- exemplifying what truly happy hogs are supposed to be.

Pigs taste like what they eat, and our pigs forage for food all their lives, eating wild persimmons, plums, hickory nuts, acorns, fauna and grubs, and even some farm vegetables. We also feed them fresh goat’s milks, free range chicken eggs, black soldier fly larvae, leftover bakers dough and bread to supply high calories and protein as well.

I found the American Mulefoot pigs on a farm inNorth Carolina and I was delighted to be able to buy

some of those pigs and take them back to Georgia. The Mulefoots, which get their name from their non-cloven hoof, have come close to extinction. But with programs like the one we have here at Comfort Farms, they are making a comeback.

The American Mulefoot Hog Association is dedicated to bringing back the breed from extinction. Unlike most commercially raised pigs, the Mulefoot is a hardy pig with a good foraging ability. Piglet litters can range from 6-12 piglets, and the mothers are calm, according to the American Mulefoot Breeder’s Association.

Comfort Farms also raises Mangalista pigs. Called “the kobe beef of pork” the curly-haired Mangalista has a marbled meat and superior flavor that is prized by connoisseurs. Top restaurants like Le Cirque, French Laundry, and Eleven Madison Park feature the Mangalista pork on their menus because they understand and value the unique flavor of the meat and fat.

According to an article in The New York Times, chefs prize the Mangalista for its flavor and will pay extra for the meat. It takes longer to raise a Mangalista and get the right marbling of the meat, but it’s worth it.

People often ask me… “Why is your pork so expensive?” Before I answer that I like to ask them this question: “Why is the pork you normally buy so cheap?” -- because I understand what it takes to grow delicious pork. You can’t get a Bentley for Hyundai prices. So why would anyone expect to get the best pork for what our major retailers charge?

There is a drastic difference in taste and quality of true heritage breeds versus the commodity pork being sold in the millions of tons per day.

On average America processes 23 billion hogs annually. That works out to approximately 63 million hogs being processed per day. The price points for a true Georgia Country hog are very different from the commodity pork being sold every day.

For one, the Heritage hogs that we raise in Georgia are slower growing. Commodity pork takes on average 4 months to grow to 275lbs. That’s right, 275 lbs of live weight in 4 months is what it takes for commodity growers to get that pork to the table. That is extremely impressive.

Let’s compare that to our heritage hogs: they takenine months to a year to grow and if you’re raisingMangalista, they take two years to grow.

The vast majority of American Pork and Pork producers raise hogs for the smoker. Smoking pork is as American as apple pie and it’s the one conversation that has many of our customers in awe, because although Comfort Farms pork is great in the smoker... It’s excellent roasted.

Our hogs have Spanish lines. Their ability to transfer forage into dynamic flavor is not by accident. Around the world, Spanish hogs are cooked much differently than your typical American Hogs. Our hogs are raised in the woodlands, they run, dig hog wallows and forage for anything, using their muscles for what nature intended. This creates oxygenation that causes their meat to take on a much redder profile like cows and sheep. The genetics we carefully selected throws amazing marbling, enhancing both the quality and flavor of a hog raised in a unique minerally rich area called the Georgia Piedmont... which draws strong comparisons to the Piedmont areas in France and Italy.

America has been told that pork is “the other white meat”-- a terrible campaign that has tricked Americans into thinking pork is supposed to be white meat. It’s not. Your grandparents ate delicious red pork meat!

The meat is highly prized by chefs who understand that it’s important to give their customers pork that tastes very different from what they find at the grocery store. The chefs who use Comfort Farms pork like to create amazing dishes. For a taste of Latin Cuisine, El Super Pan in Atlanta has created Chuleta Can Can. That is a Comfort Farms Bone in loin with skin attached to create delicious crackling with rib and belly attached.