The Mangalitsa pigs are coming!!

“A pig resembles a saint in that he is more honored after death than during his lifetime”.

Irma S Rombauer

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

Ever heard about Mangalitsas? I certainly had not! But then I had never envisioned myself as a pig owner either.

After Scott suggested that we get pigs I answered with a flat out “no”. This suggestion came after we (well me) had decided to get chickens and sheep. Scott will be the bee keeper, so I thought we had plenty to do already. However, one night I found myself looking at the different pig breeds (who knew there were so many?) mostly to joke with Scott, stating pig facts and spouting comments like “well this one ONLY grows up to about 900 lbs.” My eyes landed on a picture of a really weird sheepish looking woolly pig. I laughingly told Scott that if he wanted pigs he could get one of those!

Being curious by nature I continued to read, finding out more about these strange pigs and the more I read about them, the more interested I became. The Mangalitsa pig, or Mangelica which they are also called, is an old Hungarian breed that like many other old breeds almost went extinct when the big commercial pig farms entered the picture., but that are now gaining in popularity, especially among small farms and homesteaders. They have amazing marbled red meat, and the Mangalitsa pork is described as being the KOBE beef of pork! This was something I had to try for myself.

After having actually tasted this incredibly good pork and hearing how dog like and docile these pigs are, on top of being wonderful mothers, easy keepers and great foragers- we happen to have a lot of woody areas which is their native environment- my decision was made.. we are getting Mangalitsas!! I am going to pick them up tomorrow morning and I am so excited and also a little nervous. The closest I’ve come to a pig was at the petting zoo at Davis Farmland! Good or bad- I’m in for another experience of a lifetime! Stay tuned, and don’t forget to subscribe so you can get the next chapter of this adventure. I promise to post pictures tomorrow.