Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Currently Available Pastured Pork

Bacon: $14 per lb

Ham Steaks: $10 per lb

Sausage: $9 per lb
  
Bulk Orders:

10-15 lb Pork Share includes an assortment of pork cuts (chops, roast, ribs), sausage, and bacon $8 per lb

10 lbs of Assorted Sausage includes Bratwurst, Breakfast, Italian Mild, and Italian Hot
$80 per 10 lb case

We deliver to the Sacramento/Davis region on Tuesdays, the East Bay and San Francisco on Wednesdays, Napa and Lake County on Thursdays and Sacramento/Woodland/Davis on Fridays. The pastured pork is delivered frozen. The animals are CCOF-certified organic. They are raised on an all-organic diet of: pasture, corn/soy grain from Bar Ale, triticale grown on the farm, whey from Cowgirl Creamery, and believe-it-or-not ice cream from Three Twins Ice Cream Co. The hogs also eat produce culls from the farm.  Riverdog bacon and hams are brined in a sea salt and brown sugar cure with celery baste for 12 hours in a vacuum tumbler at Roundman's Smokehouse in Ft. Bragg. Both bacon and ham are smoked with apple and alder woods and cooked to USDA specifications.  No nitrates are used. The sausage is made at our local butchershop Manas Custom Meats in Esparto. 
The processed pork is not certified organic because it is processed in facilities that are not certified organic. Please contact the farm via email or phone to place your order: csa@riverdogfarm.com or 530-796-3802.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

The First Piglets of 2015!

At the end of 2014 prior to our Winter Break there was a pasture of a dozen or more pregnant sows. Today I peeked in to see if any of the Mama sows had given birth.  Oh yes they did!! 
 These three are newly born, maybe a day old. 
After an early breakfast this litter of twelve keep warm as they all huddle up next to each other.  You can only see eleven piglets, number  twelve has the best spot in the house. Smashed against his Mama and buried under it's siblings. This litter is dominantly wild.  You can tell by the strips that run along the body. In pasture these stripped piglets stand out, however in the wild they wouldn't even be seen! 
Here is a Mama sow which has wild european bore genes in her yet her babies have more chester genetics in them.  You can tell by their soft pink coloring and those ears will only get bigger and more floppy. In fact so floppy they can fall down on to their face covering their eyes. Other characteristic of the chester breed is the broad shoulders and round broad hind legs. The little guy in front although just a few days old, you can see how he will grow into a big long muscular hog. Laying next to him, the piglet with strips, has no definition in his shoulders or hips.  
This Mama is tired and cranky!  Here she is grunting at me, as I have startled her babies. This pale brown piglet's genetics are dominantly duroc.  This breed has a beautiful burnt red orange color and those adorable floppy ears. 

Friday, November 7, 2014

Riverdog Hogs enjoying this warm November afternoon! 



One of my favorite scenes as the truck pulls up to the pasture. In the back of the truck a big bin of produce that doesn’t meet our quality standards.

They come running!

I would run too. These hogs eat well.  
They are feed organic whey from Cowgirl Creamery and from time to time they get organic ice cream from Three Twins.  


What a scene!  Rooting through the piles of produce.  Choosing their bites.  The loud sounds of hard squash and peppers popping as they chomp down on this afternoon snack.



Little Baby Piglets!


These little piglets are no more then a week old!  They are very nervous.  Mama Hog or sows are very protective of their babies. Much caution is taken when visiting these little piglets.  This sow is close to 500 lbs! While in the birthing pin if her babies get excited so will she.  This is not a good thing for she will forget her size and in the process of protecting them she can hurt them.  


You can see how tiny they are next to their Mama's hoof.  Weighing no more then 7 lbs each. 



'Oh you can do it little guy! Lucky for you Mama has 8 teats and their are only 4 of you feeding!'
Any baby animal is fun to watch as they figure out the world around them.  Romp all over each other and their mother. 

Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy Hog!

We got some rain in the Capay Valley today!


 The Mothers are very protective of their little piglets!  They must come check me out first before they allow their little piglets to interact.  Their are very start animals. They are curious about everything! This little guys here stuck his nose out of the fence and began to nibble on the fingers.  Ooch!


The Little baby piglets are sooooo cute!