Is pasture-raised pork even affordable?
No matter how much you care for the environment, animal welfare, supporting local businesses, or whatever else your motivation for considering pasture-raised pork - no one is exempt from making sure it will fit in the budget. After all, if your local, farm fresh meat is so expensive that you can no longer afford bread and eggs, is it really worth it?
We like transparency. Sure, you could sit down and do the math on ALL of the different cuts of meat that you plan to buy and figure out the price per pound and how it fits in your budget. But that sounds like it would take a lot of time (and a lot of brainpower!). So we did it for you!
Here’s the truth: you can totally go to a bargain big-box store and get pork for cheaper than we can sell it to you. The pork that those stores are selling come from “farms” with thousands of animals living in a huge warehouse. Their costs are very low because their effort in raising their animals is very low.
But if you are determined to feed your family with ethically and sustainably-raised animal products, you probably aren’t shopping at those bargain big-box stores anyway.
Now if instead you are shopping at a premium/gourmet/natural/organic/whatever grocery store, I’m sure you know that the trade-off for better food is higher prices. This is where local farms can shine!
Take a look at these numbers below. If you want to buy the same meat that you would get from a whole pig from a local farmer at a grocery store, here is what you can expect to pay:
Bargain big-box store: $668
Premium grocery store: $977
That’s a pretty big swing. It’s important to remember that this isn’t just your monthly grocery bill though. This is over 120lbs of meat! Unless you have a relatively big family (like we do), that should last you a good long while. Assuming you also enjoy other types of meat (like chicken or beef), that may even last you an entire year.
If you were instead to choose to purchase a whole pig from a local farm like ours, you would be getting the same amount of meat and the same cuts, but for a price that lands between the two listed above.
Local pasture-raised farm: $863
Not only are you savings money over buying at a high-end grocery store, there are so many more benefits!
You are supporting a local farm, which keeps your supply chain nice and short. This means fresher food, and fewer opportunities for price hikes due to outside forces (hello gas prices!).
You are avoiding food that has been unnaturally altered in some way. Grocery stores pump many meat cuts with saline solution to keep the meat moist (and also to increase their weight - it seems strange that they can add water to their products when you have to pay by the pound).
You are getting food that is 100% free of hormones, vaccines, antibiotics, dewormers, and lots of other chemicals that large “farms” rely on to keep their animals healthy. In reality, none of those are needed if you just provide animals a clean, sunny place to live!
You are helping the planet. Typical agricultural practices today strip the land of nutrients and literally create patches of dirt so devoid of life that even grass cannot grow. Our farm practices regenerative agricultural practices, which heal the land and build up soil health, so that future generations can enjoy growing and raising their food.
You are feeding your family meat that came from an animal that had a good life. The pigs at New Day Family Farm spend their life on green grass pastures, digging in the dirt and sunbathing every single day.
Here is a real life image of some of the pork that came from right here at our farm. Compare that color and marbling to grocery store pork!
If you are interested in learning more about buying a whole pig directly from our farm, or how our farm raises pigs, please reach out! We would love to chat with you.
