Jan. 28. 2010 - After moving back to their home state of Texas from Virginia, James Page and his wife Rose bought four cows and grew a garden as their introduction to the world of agriculture. The 26 acres they purchased in south Bastrop County, near Rosanky, was more than big enough for the garden, but not for a cattle operation.
"That four head of cattle got us started, but it became apparent early on that our place isn't big enough for cattle, so I started looking at alternatives," James Page said. "I did a lot of research and decided to raise hogs. We bought one boar and two sows and started selling whole animalsThat turned out to be an extremely arduous way of selling pork."
Today, eight years after they started, Peach Creek Farm has about 80 cows on the ground at any given time. They raise free-ranging Berkshire hogs and sell between half a hog and two hogs a week at Central Texas farmers markets. Pork is the foundation of their operation, though they are experimenting with raising Scottish Highland cattle for sale through a beef buyer's market.
The Berkshire hog is considered a heritage breed, the livestock equivalent of an heirloom tomato. A study by the National Pork Producers Council concluded that Berkshires top all other breeds in meat marbling, moisture and tenderness. Those were the qualities that attracted Page to the Berkshire breed.
"We found a customer base that was tired of lean pork," Page said. "Berkshires are considered a fat hog, but they are not really a fat hog. They do have better marbling than other hogs."
Page said the biggest challenge to getting the farm up and running has been learning to understand and comply with the government regulations that pertain to raising and selling pork. Once that hurdle was cleared, the Pages found a ready market for their pork.
"We actually sold out of pork for a while," Page said. "We sold beef until we could get more animals in the pipeline. We went back to pork as soon as we could because that's what people wanted from us, plus we don't have enough cows to keep beef in stock."
Peach Creek Farm customers have a wide choice of products, including jowl, thick-cut and "Arkansas" bacon, ham, ham hocks, shoulder roasts, pork loins, ground pork, spare ribs and all manner of pork sausage. They also offer pork pies to their customers and dog treats, called Puppy Pate, to their dogs.
"We have some products that you can't find anywhere else around here," Page said. "You might call pork pies English ethnic food, which makes it sound pretty bland but it's not. We're also selling pork pies from my mother-in-law's recipe that's called French Canadian pork pie."
Just as they chose an uncommon hog with Berkshires, the Pages choice of a potential beef cow is also been a bit contrary to ordinary. The Scottish Highlands cattle are named for the part of the world where they originated and are a smaller and shaggier cow than is seen on most Texas ranches. They reportedly do well in northern climes but also in Texas, where they shed a lot of the shaggy hair.
"They are smaller, so they're a little easier on the land since we don't have a lot of acreage," Page said. "They're a lot less fussy about what they'll eat than other cattle. They do just fine on forage that other cattle won't eat at all. They're leaner, but they get their marbling from the shaggy hair instead of fat."
The animals are rotated from one pasture to the next, leaving behind plenty of fertilizer for new grass when they leave for greener pastures. Page has one Highland calf approximately five months old and plans to wait another seven months before he takes it to market.
"If this turns out to be something we can do, we will probably offer it through a beef buyers club and sell it through our website, instead of selling it through the farmers markets like we do with the pork," he said. "A lot of farmers markets try to make sure vendors don't collide with each other by offering too much of one thing. Most of the farmers markets we sell to already have beef vendors. As the markets grow, there will be opportunities for other producers."
Page said there are many keys to getting an operation like Peach Creek Farm up and running. The decision to do something like raise premium hogs and sell the pork is actually a series of many decisions, each one important to the overall success in the market place.
"Once you understand what it takes in terms of time and money to actually do what it is you want to do, you have to do a lot of study and research on marketing and sales," he said. "That's all part of it, whether you enjoy that part of it or not."
The Pages don't deal in the commodity market, partly because they know they can't compete in that market without dropping their prices.
"If you're not in the commodity market, it's important to have a niche market," he said. "And if you're going to have a niche market, it's important to have a good product."
For more information, visit www.peachcreekfarm.us .
