Our family farm

Our family farm

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Our family farm is a story of determination. The journey started 15 years ago for Sterling and Manu Hatch. “When we moved back we had a few people ask us right off the bat if we could raise them some show pigs and I said sure.” The couple bought a mere 10 acres near Blackfoot, Idaho and “so we bought four pigs the first year, the year after we had six, the year after we had eight, then it went to 15 and pretty quick we had a lot of pigs.” Show pigs, to be exact. They are different than plain old commercial pigs and worth more to the farmer. “A show pig is made for looks. They're supposed to be pretty and not necessarily made to taste good. They are supposed to be wide, thick and lean and have lots of muscle expression. Compared to a commercial hog. If you ran into a commercial hog barn the pigs are all going to be mostly white. They are going to be bred to grow fast and they are going to have enough muscle and fat and enough of everything they need for the meat counter.” And while Sterling tends the pigs, wife Manu manages a flock of chickens that lay plenty of eggs. “The highest production we had, was 15 baskets which is about 150 dozen per week.” That’s 1800 eggs a week, all hand gathered and hand cleaned.
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