Yanmah Pasture Raised Berkshire Pork

Let me introduce you to Bryan Hickman. Bryan came to WA from England 45 years ago on a working holiday and loved it so much, he never left! 

With his wife, he now breeds pasture-raised Berkshire cross pigs on his regenerative Manjimup property.

I was curious to see a pig farm first hand, as it’s virtually impossible to be granted permission to the majority of the rural properties producing pork.

I contacted Bryan and he willingly opened his gates to us, during our Southern Forest Food Tour in 2020.

What a delight to see peaceful pigs, and sows with the piglets running around, out in the fresh air with plenty, and I mean PLENTY, of space.

Plus, a delight to meet Bryan who obviously loves what he does and seems to run his property with ease, and definitely much enjoyment.

Bryan talks about his business…

“I like to think we produce the best tasting pork grown in WA. I understand talking to others that we might be the only pig farmers running an operation like this in the whole state. All of our pigs are at least 50% Berkshire bred. We use this particular breed as they produce incredibly tasty pork, as they’re the only breed of pig which has marbling throughout the meat.

Berkshire fat has the lowest melting point of all pig breeds; it goes like butter even on a gentle heat.

The reason why there aren’t many farmers using Berkshire sires is that they grow about 30% slower than the breeds commonly found on intensive farms. Our pigs run free in large paddocks, and as they move around, they develop superb muscle tone which gives texture to the meat.

The pork you might purchase from a supermarket marked as "Free Range" would mean that the pigs used were allowed a minimum of 4 M2 per pig to qualify for such a label. Our pigs usually have in excess of 500 M2 per pig.

Our sows have their babies in areas as big as a tennis court, in warm, insulated sheds with clean straw for them to nest in. They wallow in mud baths, forage and dig up roots as they wish, and in addition have unfettered access to a high quality ration from feeders in the paddock. What we lose in feed efficiency we gain in texture and flavour, and we know our pigs are happy. We don't ever need to dock tails or clip teeth.

We practice regenerative farming to try to be kinder to the soil. Our pigs spread a highly nutritive and natural fertiliser over our farm constantly. We grow forage crops using this resource, and this way we can circulate the nutrients and build up natural fertility. Strangely enough our pigs are really fussy eaters!

They prefer to eat weeds and clover to grass, so we fence our farm into paddocks based on soil type rather than convenience so we can manage this more carefully.

The best part of farming the way we do, is meeting and talking to our customers, hearing the joy in their voices as they describe eating our pork for the first time, and the realisation of the depth of flavour that is found in ethically produced meat.”

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We’d like to offer you access to this beautiful pork, farm direct.