Havoc pigs are happy pigs

Tuesday, 14 February 2006

Jo Bates for Life & Leisure

“Down here you don’t talk about kilometres, it’s time,” says Linda McCallum-Jackson, the ex-human resources consultant turned pig farmer and producer of gourmet Havoc pork products. The question was how far away is their butchery in Waimate from the Waitake Valley pig farm that she and her husband Ian Jackson run. The answer is about 15 minutes. It’s a simple question but it’s relevant to Linda and Ian’s unique and sustainable pig farming practices.

Their pig-in-mud philosophy requires that their herd of around 90 - a cross of Large White, Landrace and Duroc - is the happiest in the land. Surrounded by quintessential Southern scenery, the herd has 30 hectares in which to frolic. And they can create as much havoc as they like – that’s what happens when 90 sows have around 10 piglets each at the same time! These pampered pigs are even serenaded by Ian’s assistant, Jock Howie, on the bagpipes because he can’t practice at home.

Havoc pigs are happy pigs

“We breed happy pigs here at Havoc and we believe that happy pigs taste better,” says Ian. “I farm sustainably and aim to leave the land in a better condition than I found it. On the farm my pigs’ welfare comes before anything else - while they are with us they have the best life we can provide. They are able to exhibit their natural behaviours and this leads to less stress on the pig and therefore the use of antibiotics is not necessary on our farm. We also abhor the use of growth promotants. It goes without saying that we don’t use any antibiotics or growth promotants on our farm.”

Havoc practices have been unique among New Zealand pig farmers, but this is changing. Sentiment has swung from other farmers thinking they were mad to keep their pigs outside, among other things, to some following their blueprint. And the proof is in the product - Havoc can hardly keep up with demand for its specialty sausages, cured bacon, smoked meat and fresh cuts.

Ian knows pigs!

Ian, who was born in Scotland, was raised on a pig and poultry farm, studied pigs at agricultural school, and has worked with them most of his life - so it’s fair to say he knows his pigs and what’s best for them. When he laid eyes on his Hunter property in 1996, he knew it was where he could raise a happy herd. And he’s found an advocate for his philosophy in his wife Linda. She quips that before marrying Ian in 1999, the closest she had been to a pig was a pork chop in a supermarket, but she’s become passionate about pig farming and producing top-quality pork products. She is horrified that nearly 40 percent of the pork consumed in New Zealand is imported and she’ll “bend the ears of anyone who will listen” about the subject. “Imported product is not labelled as such in the supermarket. It can have New Zealand made if it is processed here, yet it is imported meat!” she exclaims. “It’s a matter of public awareness. In my own quiet way I tell people, ‘I really don’t mind if you are buying our product or not, but when you are buying pork, please buy New Zealand pork.’”

It’s not just that we are buying imported pork from Australia, Canada and China, it’s the level of interference, such as growth promotants and the practice of chemical castration – both banned in New Zealand – that we are subjecting ourselves to, says Linda.

Havoc hogs live a life of comparative luxury

Havoc’s free-range, closed herd is fed Ian’s mix of locally grown grain that he prepares in their mill, which is blended with soya oil rather than tallow.

Back in the days before the herd was closed, Linda recalls thinking the pigs that came off the truck were drugged: “They had never walked on grass before, only concrete, and have come from very sterile conditions.” At Havoc, the herd lives a life of comparative luxury – huts are dotted around the paddocks for sows to suckle their young in the comfort of a dry bed of hay, and piglets are weaned at six to eight weeks, as opposed to three weeks on many other farms.

Havoc's Customers

While Ian runs the farm and Linda takes the helm at the butchery, the Dunedin Farmers Market (about two hours from the farm) is where you’ll find them every Saturday. The couple has been selling their prized product there for three years. Despite the fact that they distribute throughout New Zealand via www.foodlovers.co.nz, and sell from their Waimate factory-cum-butchery, Ian and Linda remain faithful to the market that gave them the start they needed. “It gave us an opportunity to grow our business without a whole lot of risk and it’s absolutely wonderful to meet our customers,” says Linda.

And it’s the customers turned taste-testers to whom Linda is also grateful as they returned every week with comments on the products she was developing, enabling her to fine tune her recipes. She’s become quite famous for the range of largely gluten-free sausages that includes Andouille, Bratwurst, air-dried Italian and Borewors, pure pork and a Cumberland, which her butcher recently added to the list. No mixes are used and Linda blends all her own spices, using as much local produce as she can source.

Havoc Products

The factory, which has an old-fashioned smokehouse and drying room, produces “anything that comes off a pig”, including four types of bacon, secret-recipe ham and a range of fresh cuts. “We don’t muck around with the meat, it’s cut up, vac-packed and sold,” explains Linda.

Business has boomed to the point where Linda nearly wore her last and much-loved butcher into the ground. Demand was so high for Havoc products that he could barely keep up with his own clients. Courtesy of her HR acumen and contacts, Linda literally imported her current butcher from the UK and now his wife runs the packing side of the business.

The butcher may have come a long way but it’s Havoc products that will be remaining fairly close to home: “I really do believe that food miles are something we are all going to have to look to in the future. People ask when they can expect to see our product in the supermarket and I say ‘not when I draw breath’. I take so much pride in our product and we work very, very hard to get it into the best condition and I don’t want to have anyone else messing around with it.”