{"id":4594,"date":"2015-11-23T07:46:10","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T12:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/?p=4594"},"modified":"2015-11-24T08:40:05","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T13:40:05","slug":"keeping-up-with-the-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/keeping-up-with-the-demand\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping up with the demand…."},"content":{"rendered":"

….until now, we’ve been content to buy 6 to 8 piglets every year and sell a little pork.\u00a0 But the demand has far outstripped our supply….so much that we don’t even announce when our pigs are nearing harvest.<\/p>\n

We think the exceptional flavor everyone raves about is due to\u00a0the breeds we use—Tamworth and Gloucester Old Spot—but also to our insistence on using only non-GMO feed.\u00a0 The acorns we get in the fall certainly help, too.<\/p>\n

The problem has been that raising pigs properly is very expensive and we’ve just not been able to even break even.\u00a0 In fact, we lose $2.70 on every pound of pork we sell.\u00a0 (Clearly not a sustainable business model.)\u00a0 Nevertheless, we’ve decided to change our procedures….starting with raising our own piglets.\u00a0 We’ve also found other feed suppliers who will work with us on price without sacrificing quality.\u00a0\u00a0 And we will also experiment with a new pricing system that gives you a roll in deciding just how much you wish to pay.<\/p>\n

So, while the proof of all this will be about a year from now, we have taken the first step on our journey.\u00a0 Here’s our new boar….I’d guess well over 600 pounds…purchased from Cathy Cochran’s Oak Hill Farm near Palmyra, Virginia.\u00a0 We brought along one of girl friends, so he would have some company on the trip.\u00a0 Grandson Church Matthews opens the gate and welcomes him to Thistle Hill Farm.<\/p>\n

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….until now, we’ve been content to buy 6 to 8 piglets every year and sell a little pork.\u00a0 But the demand has far outstripped our supply….so much that we don’t even announce when our pigs are nearing harvest. We think the exceptional flavor everyone raves about is due to\u00a0the breeds we use—Tamworth and Gloucester Old Spot—but also to our insistence on using only non-GMO feed.\u00a0 The acorns we get in the fall certainly help, too. The problem has been that raising pigs properly is very expensive and we’ve just not been able to even break even.\u00a0 In fact, we lose $2.70 on every pound of pork we sell.\u00a0 (Clearly not a sustainable business model.)\u00a0 Nevertheless, we’ve decided to change our procedures….starting with raising our own piglets.\u00a0 We’ve also found other feed suppliers who will work with us on price without sacrificing quality.\u00a0\u00a0 And we will also experiment with a new pricing system that gives you a roll in deciding just how much you wish to pay. So, while the proof of all this will be about a year from now, we have taken the first step on our journey.\u00a0 Here’s our new boar….I’d guess well over 600 pounds…purchased from Cathy Cochran’s Oak Hill Farm near Palmyra, Virginia.\u00a0 We brought along one of girl friends, so he would have some company on the trip.\u00a0 Grandson Church Matthews opens the gate and welcomes him to Thistle Hill Farm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4594"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4600,"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4594\/revisions\/4600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thistlehill.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}