I hate buying pork retail. Hog farms are some of the nastiest places I've ever been, eclipsed only by chicken houses.

On the other hand, we currently have nine pigs on our property. They're primarily raised for livestock shows. They're the happiest, friendliest, and healthiest animals you'll find anywhere - my kids are walk them around the property every day (excluding rain), their feed is tailored to each individual animal, and their pens are cleaned twice weekly. They get washed and groomed daily, rain or shine. At the end of the season we'll butcher them and the meat will feed my extended family for all of 2025.

I get that this isn't sustainable at anywhere near the scale of global meat production - but it shows me that quality and humane treatment go hand-in-hand. There is a huge difference between small farm operations and feedlots.