Small Farm Spotlight: Hickox Family Farm

In this series, get to know more about the small farm operations that are using sustainable methods to help meet the local demand for fresh food. And meet the farmers that are making it happen!

As a fifth generation farmer from the Waycross area, Phillip Hickox is bringing the family farm full circle by leaving behind conventional practices and embracing growing traditions from earlier generations.

Phillip grew up helping out on the family farm, but when he chose to take up hog farming for himself he chose a different path than that of his father and grandfather. Instead of being confined on concrete and fattened on feed, the hogs of Hickox Family Farm enjoy life on the land - grazing on pastures, rolling in mud and soaking up sunshine.

“These (hogs) are doing exactly what God intended them to do, they’re doing what they were created for and they love it. Happy pigs! Very humanely raised,” Phillip explained. “They get the sun, they get loaded down with vitamin D, of course, it’s so much better for you. But it’s also much richer tasting meat when they’re eating grass.”

Phillip raises heritage breed hogs chosen for their quality meat and their proclivity for grazing. He chooses primarily Berkshires, but has also incorporated Duroc into his herd.

“Everything I’ve got on this farm is at least 75 percent Berkshire to 100 percent, some have a little Duroc in them, both are heritage breeds. Berkshire is known for its marbling, it’s not a fat lard hog. It’s known for its meat. The roast on them looks like a good beef roast.”

I want that heritage breed hog because they graze well and they do good on pastures.

“These hogs will eat good hay really well. I’ve had old farmers like my dad and others come up to me and say, ‘hogs don’t eat grass’ and I’ll have to show them videos of these hogs on pasture. They just didn’t understand it because they’re used to growing them on concrete for the last 50 years.”

“I’ve had older farmers come by and stop and say, ‘I can’t believe what I just saw ...hogs are grazing like cows!’,” Phillip continued. “It’s just something new to them. It was new to me.”

The pastures on which they graze is a mix including clover and rye grass. The hogs are rotated from one paddock to another to allow the pasture to recover and be replanted as necessary.

Moving the hogs and maintaining the fences is somewhat labor intensive and is one of many reasons that pork raised in this manner comes with a higher price tag. Because of their breed and being raised on pasture, it also takes longer for them to mature.

Phillip works closely with a local USDA processor about 15 minutes down the road from the farm.

Hogs on the Hickox Family Farm are raised humanely and in harmony with their natural behaviors and the environment around them. They graze on green pastures, have access to a water hole in the summer and warm hay and shelter when the weather gets cold. Piglets are allowed to stay with their mothers until they reach a size that enables them to be safe with the rest of the herd.

Phillip plans to add a flock of egg-producing chickens to the farm soon to work into the paddock rotation behind the hogs.

The Hancock Family Farm sells mostly direct to customers either onsite or through various local markets. To learn more about this family business, please visit their website: https://www.hickoxfamilyfarm.com