An Old Breed of Hungarian Pig Is Back in Favor

With their abundant fat, the curly-haired Mangalitsa pigs of Hungary are making a comeback.

An Old Breed of Hungarian Pig Is Back in Favor – NYTimes.com.

Belted Galloway Society Launches National Campaign to Promote Heritage Cattle Breed

Got Land?

Anyone with suitable grazing land who yearns to start, or expand, a small farm, soon discovers the Belted Galloway – the distinctive heritage cattle breed with the broad white belt.

To encourage broader interest, the Belted Galloway Society  will organize tours of its member farms and ranches for those who want to take advantage of the benefits of raising this heritage breed.

Belties, as they are affectionately known, are smaller than their commercial counterparts, gentle and efficient grazers that can be brought to maturity on rough pastureland. This makes them about the greenest livestock one can raise. “The cost of energy – which translates into unpredictable feed costs – is fueling their popularity among small and hobby farmers who want to produce and market a premium, high-value product,” according to the Belted Galloway Society in Bendersville, PA. The cost of energy – which translates into unpredictable feed costs – is fueling their popularity among small and hobby farmers who want to produce and market a premium, high-value product.

Like traditional beef of years gone by, mature grass-fed beef from the Gilmonby herd is dark in colour, incorporating thin marbling layers of fat which imparts excellent cooking and eating qualities including flavour, texture, succulence and tenderness.

Though larger breeds gain weight more quickly, Belties consume about 75% of feed for equal gains. “Grass fed” breeds such as the Beltie also develop a naturally distinctive flavor, giving Belted Galloway Beef a premium position specialty shops and high-end restaurants are willing to pay for. The beef is also low in saturated fat as well as total fat with high ratios of Omega 6 to Omega 3 — the beneficial fatty acids.

More information about the breed can be found at the Society’s web site at www.beltie.org .

City Folk Flock To Raise Small Livestock At Home

If you picked up a carton of eggs at the store this week, they probably set you back about $1 or $1.50. The organic, cage-free kind costs more like $3.

Some urban and suburbanites, however,  are skipping the store entirely when it comes to things like eggs and honey and turning instead to their own backyards.

Whether from tighter food budgets or local-eating ideals, more and more people are petitioning their cities to allow small animal husbandry.

City Folk Flock To Raise Small Livestock At Home : NPR.