I invented the perfect tasting pork but need to build a birthing & growing facility to produce a sustainable herd of pigs.
My name is Carl Blake and I’m an Iowa farmer. I’ve done what many people said couldn’t be done. I’ve invented better tasting pork by breeding a better pig. Not just a better pig … a super pig. A happy, healthy pig that’s really good to eat.
The Problem
The stuff most grocery stores are selling as “pork” just isn’t. Real pork isn’t white. It’s red, like beef. Big pork producers try to add flavor to that pale white stuff by injecting it with chemicals imitating the flavor of pork. They add water to make it weigh more so they can charge more. And you don’t want to see where this pale pork comes from! Huge corporate farms, with pigs spending their entire lives inside tiny little cages. It’s inhumane. It’s not good for the pigs and it’s really not good for those of us who eventually eat the pork. It doesn’t have to be that way. There’s a revolution under way to change the quality of pork we eat, and it starts with breeding a better pig.
The Inspiration
A couple of years ago, I began researching and discovered that some of the best tasting pork in the world came not from a pink pig but from a black pig created 180 years ago in Germany. King Wilhelm I took Chinese Meishan pigs and mated them with wild boars to create the Swabian Hall – a pig with just the right ratio of fat to meat. It was named the world’s best pork in 1832 and then again at the 1892 World’s Fair.
When I wasn’t able to import that pig into the US, I figured out a way to improve on it. I took a Chinese Meishan and bred it with a Russian Wild Boar.
The Result
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Iowa Swabian Hall
I call this new pig pig the Iowa Swabian Hall. It’s a healthy, happy pig, raised humanely in the heartland. I feed my pigs hydroponically grown barley because it’s less expensive than corn, pigs love it, and it’s more nutritious and eliminates a lot of health issues. Here’s the amazing result: This pig and this process produces pork that tastes better than any other I’ve tried. The first year I perfected this pork, I entered it into the prestigious annual competition Cochon555 that brings together the country’s top chefs, pork farmers and wine makers. I thought, well, if I’m going to compete, I might as well compete against the best. Guess what? My pork won – first place. And then we won three more national competitions!
Hydroponically grown barley
Why I Need You
Produce better pork and they will come! Bizarre Foods America with Andrew Zimmern visited my farm for a taste. Reporters began calling. I was featured on the front page of the New York Times. I even appeared on The Colbert Report – all increasing public awareness of the pork. Chefs, grocery stores and restaurants all want to buy my pork. All this publicity is fantastic, but I am still running a tiny operation with limited capacity. In order to grow the herd to meet the new demand, we urgently need a new birthing and growing facility. Unfortunately, no state funding is available for a project like this. Traditional investors aren’t interested in helping the small family farm. I’ve thrown every penny I’ve got into this. My kids, my family and friends have all pitched in to help.
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Andrew Zimmern and Carl
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Front page of nytimes.com!
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Carl and the piggies on Colbert
Growing the Herd
In order to produce new litters of Iowa Swabian Hall, and meet the demand for this better tasting and healthier pork, I need to build a new birthing and growing facility. That includes:
- Custom designed farrowing stalls for birthing
- A community pen where piglets and sows can eat, sleep and play together
- Improvements to the existing water purification system to give clean water to pigs and hydroponic units all year long.
We need a total of $75,000 to create the infrastructure to build a sustainable herd of happy, healthy pigs and provide the best tasting pork possible. This is a start to finish build project that ends with the completed birthing and growing facility that could yield 25,000 pounds of Iowa Swabian Hall pork each season.
We’ll be sending a message to the entire pork industry that the humane treatment of pigs is crucial and that the family farm can make a difference. I am often asked to speak to schools and community groups. Completing this project will allow us to bring kids to the farm to model humane farming methods and how we each have a say in where our food comes from.
Please understand that we are not asking for a handout - but a hand up. A way to complete this project. We will perform all labor and make installations work. I work every single day of the week and I see no slowdown. That is our level of dedication to this project.
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Iowa Swabian Hall on the smoker
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Iowa Swabian Hall prosciutto
Thank You
This is a project I can only continue with your help. Together, we can change the way pigs are raised and pork tastes in America.