Who wants some Pender Pork?

Be a Pendervore. Eat local. Be resilient. If you’re interested in purchasing local pork, then this is your lucky day! 

 

currently Taking Waiting List Orders!

 

The short and sweet version!

We sell our pork in whole, sides (half), and quarters. We currently have orders for all our pigs, but we often find people change their minds, so if you are interested in pork, we encourage you to fill out the order form and we will fill whatever orders we can on a first-come / first-served basis.  

If you have any questions about the details of pricing and process, read on!

Our Pigs

This year, we are excited to have Purely Pender Pigs! Our piglets came from Lovin’ Off the Land’s Berkshire-Tamworths.

Our goal is always to raise the happiest, healthiest pigs possible. Apart from basking in the sun and taking mud baths in their wallows, our pigs have been eating a combination of high-quality Vancouver Island-sourced feed, apple pomace, fallen fruit from our trees, kitchen scraps from the HUB (our local vegetarian restaurant) and all the natural offerings from the pasture. Rounded out with plenty of back scratching, these have been some pretty contented pigs.

How’s does the process work?

We know many people have never bought meat directly from the farmer, so we want to walk you through the process. We know you all only want the bacon, but farm-gate sales are usually by the whole animal, the side (half) or the quarter. Buying a side is the most common way to do it and it represents enough pork for a small family for a year (unless you are big meat eaters).

What’s in a side?

Each side has a mix of pork chops, roasts, sausages, ribs, ham and bacon.

When you order a whole or a side, you get to select the size of roasts, thickness of chops, bone-in or boneless, which cuts you’d like cured or smoked, and what sort of sausage you prefer (if any).  We guestimate that you’ll get 110-140 pounds of finished pork for a whole pig, and 55-70 pounds for a side – with variation coming from the size of the pig, and the selection of bone-in vs. boneless cuts.

Quarters are generally the same mix of cuts (but, obviously a smaller amount), but you will get “butchers choice” of cuts since we can’t customize the butcher instructions on quarters. 

 

What will it cost?

We’re offering our pork at $5.75/pound (based on the hanging weight1) plus the butchering costs. The price of butchering varies based on the custom cutting requests, but runs $1.25 per pound for regular cuts, and slightly more for sausages or smoked meat (like hams and bacon). Butchering will be done by Lester’s Butchery and processing in Duncan. Our cost per hanging weight pound stays the same, but your total amount will depend on the size of the pig. We guestimate your invoice will be in the neighborhood of $2,000 for a whole pig (and about half that for a side). Last year, it worked out to about 2.17/100g which is only about 10% higher than you would pay for industrially raised pork at Thrifty Foods.Again, variation in price is a result of pig size and butchering choices.

Pick-up Process

Your pork will come frozen from the butcher.  We will make arrangements to use the Farmers’ Institutes Shed behind the Pender Community Hall for distribution!  When we know our delivery date from Lester’s, we’ll send you an invitation to pick a time to show up to avoid a bottleneck of activity. We’re expecting the orders to be ready the third week of November (Nov. 14-18); but it depends on the butcher.  We’ll give you as much advance notice as possible.  

Sign-up for the Waiting List Now. 

We have orders for all our pigs, but are still accepting folks onto our waiting list for whole, sides (that’s half a pig), and quarters. People often change their minds, so getting your name on the waiting list gives you the first option for any canceled orders. Please fill out the order form here to get the first spot on the list!  

 

Contact us directly if you have any questions. 

 

1 Live weight refers to the weight of the animal when it goes to market. The hanging weight is the weight after slaughter which removes much of the internal organs – leaving about 70% of the live weight. The actual weight of final meat products is reduced again by about 30% of the hanging weight as most bones and excess fat is removed. Again, the final weight of meat will depend on the custom cutting instructions you choose.