Sugar Mountain Farm is a family-operated pig farm in

West Topsham, Vermont Topsham is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,199 at the 2020 census. It contains four villages: East Topsham, Topsham Four Corners, Waits River, and West Topsham. Geography According to the United States Censu ...

with approximately 200-400 pastured-raised pigs. The pigs are fed acid whey from a nearby dairy farm, apple pomace leftovers from a nearby cider facility, vegetables, and spent barley from a brewery as opposed to grain. The company has stated that it uses "natural farming methods", also known as permaculture. They only use antibiotics if a pig gets sick. The farm does not use

castration Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharmaceut ...

to control boar taint, relying on other methods such as selective breeding, diet, and pasturing males away from females. They raised sheep and pigs until 2009, when the farm focused on pork due to lower demand for lamb and wool. As of 2010, the farm had been raising pigs for 12 pig generations in two herds of 40 sows and four boars. The herds comprise crosses of several heritage breeds. Most are Yorkshire crossed with

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

Large Black The Large Black is a British list of pig breeds, breed of domestic pig. It is the only British pig that is entirely black. It was created in the last years of the nineteenth century by merging the black pig populations of Devon and Cornwall in ...

, Tamworth, Hampshire and

Gloucester Old Spots The Gloucestershire Old Spots (also "Gloucester, Gloucester Old Spot, Gloucestershire Old Spot" or simply "Old Spots") is an English breed of pig which is predominantly white with black spots. It is named after the county of Gloucestershire. T ...

. Initially the farmers had to transport six pigs at a time to the nearest butcher. Using funding from friends, family members, their own savings, a community-supported agriculture programs of pre-buys by customers and $33,000 from a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign, they began building a slaughterhouse on the property around 2009, as a do-it-yourself project. Sugar Mountain Farm started butcher shop operations October 15, 2015 under Vermont state inspection. In 2019, the farm faced potential fines in excess of $100k from the state for failure to properly enclose pigs.

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em Agriculture in Vermont Sustainable agriculture Pig farming Farms in Vermont Buildings and structures in Topsham, Vermont

See also

References