Subscribe & Save 5% Storewide + Free Item with Every Order of $175+!

Pigs On the Move

written by

Liz Cunningham

posted on

January 31, 2018

Pigs are funny critters. We really enjoy them on the ranch. During the summer the pigs get the entire ranch to roam around, root and eat as much green grass as possible, but during the winter months we have to change their lifestyle a little bit. We usually try to have all the pigs harvested before winter, but sometimes they are just not big enough to harvest so we bring them closer to home and put them in a place that they can freely root and have all the feed they want. Today we moved them to a new home that'll allow them to root up my future garden plot this summer. I enjoy sitting next to my window and watching the pigs constantly move, root and play in the mud. I decided to set up a camera next to their pen so I could record what they do within 30 minutes. You'll see that pigs don't really slow down!

pigs

pastured pork

pastured pigs

cunningham pastured meats

Boise Meats

Boise grassfed beef

boise

Boise Pastured Pork

pork

Ground Pork

pork

More from the blog

More on the Big Four: JBS, Tyson, Cargill, and National Beef

🧩 “Who Controls Your Beef?” 🥩 The Big Four: 85% of America’s Beef Controlled by 4 Companies 💬 “When just four companies process most of the beef in our country, we don’t just lose competition — we lose connection.” — Liz Cunningham Panel 1: The Players ProcessorOwnership% of MarketKnown ForJBS USABrazil (JBS S.A.)~25%Largest meat processor in the world; ransomware attack 2021 shut down 20% of U.S. meat supplyTyson FoodsU.S.~22%COVID shutdowns led to mass cattle backlogs; ongoing price-fixing litigationCargill Meat SolutionsU.S.~22%Commodity-driven global agribusiness; joint settlements for antitrust violationsNational Beef (Marfrig Global Foods)Brazil~18%Foreign-owned; major importer/exporter balancing U.S. beef and South American supply 📊 Together: 85–87% of all beef processed in the United States Panel 2: The Hidden Costs 💵 Price Control: Coordinated market behavior drives rancher profits down and retail prices up. 🥩 Supply Risk: When one major plant shuts down — like JBS in 2021 — U.S. beef supply can drop 20% overnight. 🌎 Foreign Influence: Two of the four are Brazilian-owned, meaning U.S. beef production decisions are made overseas. 🐄 Lost Independence: Family ranchers can’t compete with massive volume pricing. Processing access becomes bottlenecked. Panel 3: The COVID Reality Check 🚫 Plant shutdowns → millions of pounds of cattle euthanized 🍽️ Empty grocery shelves → record-high prices 🤝 Small processors couldn’t expand due to USDA red tape “It’s not the cow. It’s the how. Our food system isn’t broken — it’s bottlenecked.” — Liz Cunningham Panel 4: What We’re Doing Differently At Cunningham Ranch & Northwest Premium Meats: Locally processed beef from Jordan Valley, Oregon/Treasure Valley, Idaho USDA inspected, small-batch handled Full traceability from pasture to plate  Dollars stay local — supporting Northwest families - Cliff's Country Market is now the home of Cunningham Pastured Meats💚 Food You Can Trust — From Families Who Care Panel 5: What You Can Do 🛒 Buy Local Beef — direct from ranchers and small butchers and locally owned family markets like Cliff's Country Market in Caldwell, ID 🗣️ Ask Questions — know who raised and processed your meat 🤝 Support Legislation — like the PRIME Act that gives small processors freedom 🍽️ Share the Story — because change starts around the dinner table 📍 Learn More at CunninghamPasturedMeats.com

More on How Grazing Got Complicated- it's a "heated" debate

🌾 How Grazing Got Complicated Back in the early 1900s, before federal oversight, ranchers and homesteaders often clashed over access to grazing land. By the 1930s, the BLM was formed to manage who could graze and where. Then came the 1960s — and with it, new fencing requirements, reduced grazing allotments (AUMs, or Animal Unit Months), and tighter federal restrictions. But, this isn't just a difference of opinion, this becomes a "heated" debate when fires are not well managed and threaten our lands and the solution is rooted in good stewardship of the land as nature intended.

Boise's #1 source for 100% Grassfed beef & lamb, pastured pork & chicken and wild-caught seafood