Three Suns Ranch has added wild hog meat to its ranch-raised bison and beef meat sales. Like the bison and beef, the wild hogs go straight from pasture to the Three Sun’s on-farm processing. Hogs are trapped on Three Suns 16,000 acres or purchased from local trappers.
“Depending on the season, we process about 60 to 70 head per week,” says Dee Sieg, Three Suns Ranch. “Everything is USDA inspected on-site.”
Three Suns Ranch owner Keith Mann started the ranch in 2012, initially to sell grassfed cattle and later adding bison to the mix. When the USDA approved treating wild hogs as domestic hogs, Mann saw an opportunity and started trapping hogs on ranch property and offering to buy hogs from others. With an estimated 500,000 in the state, the supply isn’t going to dry up any time soon.
“We have plenty of wild hogs in the area,” says Sieg. “Most of them come from trappers operating within 100 miles of the ranch.”
Originally, their on-farm processing plant was a mobile unit. Mann strapped it down to a concrete pad and added on as the business grew.
“It comes down to flavor and the fact that it is leaner than domestic pork,” says Sieg. “Because it is so lean, we advise against cooking it at high temperatures. You want to follow instructions for cooking commercial lean pork, not heirloom hogs.”
Currently Three Suns markets its products under the label RealMeats.
“We sell to consumers in Florida through our online business, but most of our meat, including the wild hog, is sold to restaurants in the state,” says Sieg.
Current prices for the Florida Wild Hog meat varies from $6 per pound for ham to $17 per pound for the French cut, 10-rib rack.
For more info, visit the website at www.ThreeSunsRanch.com
Reprinted with permission from FARM SHOW Magazine.
