Thoughts on boar taint?
Thoughts on boar taint.
The purpose of this blog was to create a forum where farmers can discuss what goes on the farm and educate each other. For this reason I want to discuss issues that we recently faced in regards to boar taint.
My father and I have been farming heritage pigs together out on pasture for the last two years. It has been very exciting because 1) pigs are wonderful to work with 2) they are so healthy and the meat is excellent.
One management decision we butted heads over was whether or not to castrate the piglets. My father was against it, and I defer to him on issues of animal health because I really respect his philosophy that selective breeding and letting the animal be as close to it’s natural state is best. For instance, we do not cut our lambs tails and have bred the wool out of our flock because this prevents issues that arise with flies and their larvae. I am concerned with meat quality and I contacted an academic at the University of Kentucky and then also a colleague who works as a chef on a farm and both said that if we were not going to castrate we had to harvest before sexual maturity which occurs around six months. I relayed this information to my father and we were all set to harvest the boars then but because of the issues with getting slaughter slots at our local processors (we had to wait 6 months!) we harvested after sexual maturity. While waiting we decided not to castrate because there is a lot of compelling data online on boar taint and many heritage producers who do not castrate and have been able to breed their herds free of boar taint. Supposedly, you can smell the taint on the boar and their urine. This all sounds rather nuts but after tasting our boar that had a slight taint I know what to look for and our boar does in fact give off this odor when he excited or in the presence of a female he wants to impress. So, if you know what odor to look for you can tell. I can. What an odd talent I now have!
Tamworths are supposed to have less boar taint than other pigs but our boar definitely has this trait. Thankfully, we only harvested a few of the boars and have been using it mostly for our own consumption. I find the taint to be mostly in the meat and not in the fat(which is against conventional wisdom). You can not taste the difference in the bacon or ground pork but there is a slight smell when you fry it. I am very sensitive to taste and smell and do not find it stomach churning or anything so maybe there are different degrees to the taint as well.
So, for now we are going to castrate our male piglets because at this point we can not trust that we can harvest before maturity because of issues with processing and in all honesty a few extra months makes for better pork because it helps with finishing.
What I take away from this experience is that farming is about problem solving and learning. It can be humbling but there are a lot of resources out there to help. It would be great if a University could investigate if there are boars with less of the taint than others because we certainly do not enjoy castrating the piglets even though it can be done quickly and cleanly. I am also curious about if there are more tests to see if a boar carries the taint and if it is true that the taint trait is carried by the sire.
Your thoughts and experiences are welcome too! Thank you.