Gerald Dunst's Farm

Gerald Dunst's Roast Piglets

Three roomy stalls keep his farrowing sows happy.

Gerald and Regina Dunst run an organic farm, in Sebersdorf, Styria. Mr. Dunst has 6 acres of pasture, on which he raises Mangalitsa.

You can see videos from their farm on the videos page.

Their pigs are outside all year long. His farrowing sows (the ones having piglets) are only confined for a few weeks with their piglets in a stall, until it is clear they are big enough to join the herd.

Mr. Dunst needs the stalls because his pastures are too small to allow the sows to build their own nests. He's had problems with dominant sows eating the piglets of weaker sows. Other than confining them at birth, the pigs are free to run around a big pasture.

Pigs rush to eat their morning potatoes.

Mr. Dunst runs a service that roasts pigs for special events, typically feeding 30-400 people with one pig.

He tries to produce relatively lean carcasses. Although the Mangalitsa are prone to fattening, he keeps them lean by having them eat high-fiber foods like grass and hay. He feeds very small amounts of supplemental grain (roughly a pound a day). A modern pig, in comparison, eats about twice as much grain per day.

Blonde Mangalitsa piglets enjoy a morning meal with their mother.

Although Mr. Dunst does not raise pigs for cured meat, he doesn't feed the pigs much corn. He favors barley instead.

It takes Mr. Dunst's pigs a long time to reach slaughter weight, and when they do, they are quite small compared to modern meat-type breeds. After a year, his pigs, when slaughtered weigh approximately 150 pounds, which is less than half the weight of a modern pig after the same time.

Curious red Mangalitsa Piglets in their stall on Mr. Dunst's farm.

According to Christoph Wiesner, farmers like Mr. Dunst who sell young pigs can avoid castrating the males, if they sell them young enough.

Most male pigs are castrated because otherwise their meat tastes like feces. If one keeps a young boar away from sows in heat, and if the boar never has sex, he can get as old as 8 months without developing a boar's flavor.

Mr. Dunst's system of raising and marketing his pigs young and lean allows him to keep things low-input, low-labor and high-welfare for the pigs.

Next: The Gasser Family's Farm