Australian Way November 2013

TASTE RARE BREEDS

Free-range Berkshire pigs, Barossa Valley THE WHOLE Local farmers are working to save rare pig HOG breeds from extinction. Discerning food lovers are reaping the rewards, says Sally Gudgeon.

With fewer than 100 Large Black pigs left in Australia, it’s quite possible that this gentle, dusky skinned old English porker may disappear from our shores forever. It won’t be the first pig breed lost in Australia, either – Gloucester Old Spots, Welsh, Poland China and Middle Yorkshire Whites all died out here last century. The problem extends beyond Australia. More than 2000 domestic breeds have been lost globally over the past 100 years. Pig breeds that are now extinct include the Lincolnshire Curly Coated, the Cumberland, Ulster White, Dorset Gold Tip and Yorkshire Blue. According to The Australian Pure Bred Pig Herd Book, a pedigree register first published in the early 1900s and updated biennially, there are just 83 Large Black English pigs left in Australia. While 189 beasts still exist in the UK and some in New Zealand, Australian regulations do not allow genetic material from pigs to be imported. Intensive farming methods over the past century have brought about this catastrophic loss of diversity. Time is money. Rapidly maturing livestock breeds yielding more kilos of lean meat per hectare dominate. These breeds are usually chosen either for their milking or meat qualities, and dual-purpose animals fall from favour. According to Michael Croft, an organic farmer from Mountain Creek Farm in New South Wales, only a couple of breeds dominate Australia’s pork industry. “If we want a resilient system we need to maintain diversity,” he says. Not only is this monocultural farming with regard to genetics, but also with regard to the grain the animals eat, and the antibiotics and vitamins used to maintain their health and promote rapid weight gain. Pig farming is a classic example of this. The trend post-WWII has been towards lean

PHOTOGRAPHY: KATIE QUINN DAVIES pork, and the Large White pig, which is sometimes cross-bred with the Landrace, ❯

NOVEMBER 2013 QANTAS 191 TASTE RARE BREEDS

SADDLEBACKS HAVE ENJOYED A MINI REVIVAL AND PURE BLOODLINES HAVE BEEN SENT BACK TO THE UK TO ESTABLISH A BREEDING PROGRAM

chemicals and hormones, and are allowed to free-range, the nature, Over in Western Australia, “Farmer Dave” Hohnen from Margaret structure and texture of the fat changes. This enables it to be easily River runs Wiltshire Horn sheep and what he refers to as a “composite” removed once you have cooked the meat, should you choose not to pig: the male bloodline is Duroc, an American breed, while the sows indulge yourself.” are Tamworths, an old English porker descended from the wild boar. Now that Saddlebacks have enjoyed a mini revival and pure All his livestock are free to range and graze on grass. While the pigs bloodlines have been sent back to the UK to establish a breeding are foraging in the paddock, they are also enjoying the sunshine, program, Chambers is turning her attention to other breeds. In her which boosts their Omega 3 levels naturally, giving their meat role as development manager of the National Trust of Victoria’s Rare a healthy, dark-red colour. “Farmer Dave” Hohnen Breeds, she is running a breeding program for endangered domestic Hohnen’s pork is marketed as Big Red, a reference to the ginger (right); Large Black pigs at large (below) animals at Nehill Brothers Farm in South Purrumbete, Victoria. colour of his pigs, while his sheep are branded Arkady Lamb. Hohnen The Large Black is a priority and, thanks to a strategic mating sells his meat through his farm shop, at farmers’ markets and to many program, she hopes to reduce chronic inbreeding issues and top restaurants in WA such as Leeuwin Estate, Neil Perry’s Rockpool reinvigorate the breed. They are a culinary delight, too, so hopefully Bar & Grill, Cape Lodge and Muster Bar & Grill Margaret River. their edibility will prove an aid in their conservation. Christine Ross A keen advocate of the ethical treatment of animals, Hohnen advises: from Eastwind Farm in the Yarra Valley has 18 breeding sows and “Be an informed consumer. Think about the meat you’re eating, how sells their produce at various farmers’ markets around Victoria. it was raised and what it was fed on.”  Chambers knew that the only way of protecting rare breeds was to make them economically viable. Through the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia, she established a marketing campaign to sell the meat from rare breeds. It has been successful, because many of these old-fashioned pigs, sheep and cattle, when allowed to free-range and given the diet their ancestors enjoyed, produce meat of superior quality. And because of the different flavours and textures many of these breeds offer, top chefs such as Simon Bryant (of TV’s The Cook & The Chef ) and Jock Zonfrillo (formerly of Penfolds Magill Estate) are keen to add them to menus. Saddlebacks are a great example of just how good a rare dominates pork production. Other breeds with different colouring, breed can taste. This black pig, with a distinctive white belt around temperament and physical appearance, and which mature more its withers, puts on fat easily and it is this intramuscular fat that gives slowly and are prone to put on more fat, were not seen as economically the meat its distinctive flavour. It’s listed on the Slow Food Movement viable and numbers diminished. Ark of Taste, an online register of rare food products prized for their Fortunately, a few of these pig breeds have survived in Australia, unique taste, historical significance and association with a specific such as the Wessex Saddleback, the Large Black, Duroc and region. French chef and author of Pork & Sons, Stéphane Reynaud, Tamworth. They are scattered around the country, cherished by a has eaten Saddleback pork on his visits to Australia and declared it few visionary, enthusiastic individuals who recognise the importance the best he has ever tasted. of keeping rare breeds viable in order to maintain genetic diversity. Saddleback charcuterie is also extraordinary. Although they have One such individual is Fiona Chambers, founding director of the had to reduce their free-range herd due to council regulations, the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia and a director of the Rare Breeds team at Woolumbi Farm on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula make International world board. She began breeding Wessex Saddlebacks their pigs economically sustainable by running charcuterie classes. in 1995 at Fernleigh, her organic, free-range farm in Victoria. She The free-range pigs’ special diet includes boiled potatoes, which chose Saddlebacks because they were then critically endangered in impart a nutty flavour to prosciutto made from them, not dissimilar Australia, and had died out in the UK where they originated. to that of jamón ibérico (cured ham made from black Iberian pigs, The breed was imported into Australia in 1931 and these bloodlines which forage for acorns). had maintained their genetic integrity. Sadly, this was not the case Ken Neff, who established the herd, says that every flavour a pig in the UK, where cross-breeding has produced the British Saddleback. eats is stored in its fat. “If they are fed traditional diets without LARGE BLACK PHOTOGRAPHY: WILL MARSHALL; FARMER DAVE: FRANCES ANDRIJICH

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