('COUNTRY CALENDAR' THEME) - The best of New Zealand's rural heartland ` (PIGS SQUEAL) - They started out as a sideline... - With a pig, if you can give attention to detail and care, she will reward you in terms of production. - You can see they're just happy. - ...but now the free-range pigs are a key part of the whole farming operation. - They're the bread and butter. The pigs are propping everything else up. (PIGLETS SQUEAL) (BIRDS TWITTER) (GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC) www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2025 Hey, girls. Pig, pig. How you goin' today? Come on. How you goin', big girl? Eh? You all right? - Every three weeks, this is the routine on Hamish and Angela Cottle's farm south of Timaru. - Has she farrowed? - Yeah, but I couldn't get a count. Eight and six ` that's 14. (PIGLETS SQUEAL) - The whole year is planned out. - Hey, girl. No piglets yet? - The 280 breeding sows are divided into groups and artificially inseminated. Every third week, another 450 piglets are born. - We run what's called a batch farrow system. That means all of our groups of sows are broken down into seven different batches, and every three weeks, one of those batches is coming into farrow, or have their piglets, and then three weeks later, another batch is coming in. This is a bit of extra calcium that we give just to assist them with farrowing ` just a calcium prill. All the ones in the round huts, they're farrowing this weekend. They'll farrow within the space of three days, maybe, especially Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The gestation period of a pig is three months, three weeks, three days, and it's pretty accurate within a day. Hey, big girl. Hey? Pig, pig, pig. Here you go. 'So over the space of a year, we farrow 17 times. 'It gives us about 7500 piglets in the space of 12 months.' - Inside is a special feature to prevent sows from accidentally crushing piglets when they lie down. - So, what I've done is put hot water in the centre of what we call a hot-box area. That hot water container just gently warms up all that straw, and that encourages the piglets in there. They like to snuggle in. Then we also open this hatch here and what that does is creates a bit of a draught, which doesn't bother the sow, cos she prefers it a bit cooler, but the piglets at a real young age are quite sensitive to it, so it makes them seek out that warmth. Another advantage with these huts, too ` there's always something between me and the sow, so they're quite farmer-friendly in that respect. You go on back in. - Hamish reckons on average the roundhouses improve survival rates by a piglet every litter. - For us, they've been hugely important. I always remember my father saying ` with a pig, if you can give attention to detail and care, she will reward you in terms of production. So she'll give more back. - How many have you got, Hamish? - It's green tag 84. - Hut 21? - Yup. Uh, 13 alive. - 13 alive. (SOW GRUNTS) - You still get mishaps and overlays and` and things like that. The challenge for a farmer is to reduce that. And that's why conventional pig farming has gone to crates inside, because it does save piglets. - The heating system isn't a new idea. Hamish's father, John, came across it years ago. - When I went to college, I took agriculture. And the Department of Agriculture put out a lot of bulletins, and I picked up one for the round farrowing house. (PULLEY SQUEALS) Just let it come a bit. Yep. Keep going. Keep going. - When they introduced pigs to the farm, John remembered the leaflet. - All right? - Yep. - 'I liked the idea of it. I thought we'd give it a try.' - Once we've started, it sort of holds its own shape and we can carry on. So, what we're aiming to do now is just screw this plywood that we've kerfed, which has all the lines in it ` that enables us to bend it round. (DRILL WHINES) I think this is number 31. There's been a lot of huts come and go through this workshop. We've made just about all the huts on the farm ` A-frames, round huts, grower huts, dry sow huts. Been a lot of time spent in this workshop, a lot of hours. Oh, there's still 200 there. The first one we built took a long time, cos we were trying to nut things out as we went, and I think it took a month to build the first four. (SAW WHINES) Now we've sort of developed a bit of a process, and we've got all these little extra instruments that help the job along, so now it's a lot easier than it used to be. Right. So that's that done. (GRUNTS) Then we just got the one up there. We actually need another eight after this one, and then we'll be quite happy. - I think they've worked very well. I'm quite happy with them. Often newborn piglets like to get under straw, a bit like pulling the blankets up when it's cold. Once the litter goes in there, their own body heat keeps it warm. They think, 'Oh, this is us,' you know? 'We'll stay here.' (PIGLETS GRUNT, SQUEAL) - Back in the farrowing paddock, sleeping arrangements have changed for the slightly older piglets. - So, these guys here, they're now in A-frames. They're 3 weeks old, but as they grow, they do outgrow that hot box, and it gets a bit restricted. But by that stage, those piglets are, you know, quite fit and big and mobile and fast and can get away from Mum as she's lying down. - They'll be weaned in a week and have the run of the place. - They get into little gangs, and some days you turn up here and there'll be 40 or 50, and they'll be way across the other side of the paddock. They stop what they're doing, they look up, and they go, 'Woof, woof, woof, woof!' And they all just seem to know where Mum is, and they all run back into their own individual huts, and they're lovin' life, yeah. (SOWS GRUNT, PIGLETS SQUEAL) - You can see in both the sows and also the piglets ` they're just happy. It's a different way of doing things, and... sure, it takes a bit more time and a lot more effort; seeing that result, it makes it all worth it at the end of the day. - The couple reckons going free range was the only option. - Today we're going to let these guys out. These are the females. There's around about 200 in here. When we first let them out, they are a bit tentative. They can be at the start. - The pigs come and go as they please, and as they grow, more feeders and huts are brought in. - I wouldn't farm pigs any other way now. And it's something... It was probably an idea, really, that Dad had had, and we've just put our minds together and just slowly developed the system you can see now. I just love the way the pigs are able to express themselves. And it's a clean environment. It's healthy. We don't have to use antibiotics because they've got so much space. - Originally a sideline, the pigs are now crucial to the success of the whole farm. (GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC) (PIGS GRUNT) On Hamish and Angela Cottle's 370ha farm near Timaru, pigs are now a big part of the business. - They were a bit of a sideline when we started out, cos the main income at that time was the sheep and beef. And when we started out with the pigs, we only had 12 or 15 for sale each week. It's steadily grown now, and it's become a huge, huge cog in the system. They're the bread and butter. The pigs are just about propping everything else up. - There's no shortage of rain today, but the farm is drought prone in summer. - The pigs are great in a drought, because a lot of their feed is imported onto the farm, so they're on a specially formulated diet. So in a drought, we can just carry on. We don't have to destock with the pigs. They really make the whole business resilient so that we've still got that cash flow coming in all the time. - The pigs eat about 35 tons of pellets a week. - The system's still working with the pigs. It doesn't slow down just because it's dry, or your farrowing percentage isn't affected like a lambing percentage would be when it's dry. (PIGS GRUNT) Right, we're gonna do these females this morning, guys, so we'll just quietly bring them around and let them drift around that way. So... I see there's a couple up there behind the tractor, Ben, so if you and Cia go up there with the scrim... (GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC CONTINUES) (PIGS GRUNT) They're not too bad to get in. They generally respond to the scrim. Maybe a plastic bag on a stick, just to make a bit of noise that they're not familiar with. On you go, girls. Up-up. - The pigs are now so successful the Cottles employ three staff to help. - Without the people we have, we wouldn't be able to do it on our own. It's important to find people that share the same passion, that turn up every day to help Hamish with his dream and his operations. These guys are passionate about what they do. Their standards are high. - They show care. - They show care. - Yeah, they're genuinely interested. Genuinely interested in the farming system, genuinely interested in pigs ` which is not always easy to find, someone with a real passion for pig farming. Hoosh-hoosh-hoosh-hoosh-hoosh. Hoosh-hoosh. - The males go to market at about 80kg. These females are slightly heavier. - At the moment, we're weighing off females anything over a hundred kilos. 100 to 110 kilo female will generally give us a carcass weight of 75 to 85 kilos. - They sell about 140 pigs a week. - Set pretty high standards of myself, and really proud of anything we send off the farm. And, you know, there's a lot of hard work goes on behind the scenes to get it to that point, and it's great to see it come to fruition as the truck does go each time. (UPBEAT COUNTRY MUSIC) Today we're heading up to Christchurch, and we're going up there to see the Harmony distribution plant. We supply probably 98% of our pork to them. - We haven't been there before. I actually haven't met the team, so... it'll be quite nice to actually put that part of the whole cycle, from the paddock right through to where the product ends up processed, before it ends up in the restaurants. - Come on in, guys. Just in time. Hey, Ross. Hey, mate. - Hey, Ross. - Hamish and Ange are just coming to see the pork get processed this morning. - Their pork is sold under the Harmony label, and it's a chance for Simon Eriksen to show how the meat is prepared for restaurants. - What's their favourite cut? - This time of the year, pork belly's always gonna be a crowd favourite. You can see the pork belly ` it's perfect, right? It's a nice amount of fat, and the meat's a beautiful colour. - I'm actually super proud to see this at this stage. Just as Ross is cutting it... It's nice and easy to cut, so that tells me it's nice and tender as well. - When you're at home, behind the farm gate, you don't often get to see the finished product and have an appreciation that on the days where it's hard work, you're like, 'Actually, wow, this is worth it.' - Most of the fresh pork goes to restaurants and hotels, where free range is in demand. - Hugely popular. The challenge we have now is keeping up. And the other challenge is making sure as we grow, we manage the whole carcass and we don't have any waste. - Any meat left over is made into sausages and sold in supermarkets. The ethos is much the same at Riverstone, near Oamaru. Some of their meat ends up here, and slow-cooked roast pork is on the menu. - How's it goin'? - Hello. - Hey, Nick. How are you? - Good, good. - Good to see you. - Good to see you. - Yeah. - Chef Nick Raymond says customers these days are more discerning. - They like to know that we're using products that are local. Would you like to try some? - Yeah, lovely. - Yeah, I'd love to. And how's the feedback been? - Yeah, it's been good. - Great. - Very positive, so... - Good. That's awesome. Thank you. - Fork there. - Fork there. I'll get that big bit there. - That's so good. - It's good, eh? - Mmm. - The flavour is just amazing, Nick. It's really good. And the meat is just lovely and tender, so for me, it's a real privilege, and I get a bit of a buzz out of it. - I always say that feedback is a gift, and if you don't have a customer, you don't have a product. So we absolutely want to know if what we're doing is great but also if there are some slight tweaks. - The success of the free-range pigs was a welcome surprise. - They've ticked a lot of boxes, and what I mean by that is they've helped us negotiate the start of farm succession, which is a drawn-out process, and it's gonna take time to implement, but without the pigs, it would be nigh on impossible. They've also helped with the purchase of another farm in the last five years. - It's a massive part of the business in terms of production ` meat production, the farming side of it ` but also the financial input as well. Especially in the last year, the pigs have been really coming into their own, and... the bank manager's happy, so that's always a good sign. (CHUCKLES) - (WHISTLES) Away! (SHEEP BLEAT) - There's a traditional sheep and beef side to the Cottles' farm, and with the pigs doing well, Hamish can pursue his other interests. - Always had a passion for sheep, ever since I was a wee boy. I started this Texel stud in 2007, when I came home from overseas, and it's just sort of slowly grown. (SHEEP BLEAT) - Rams are looking good. - Yeah, thanks. Yeah, yeah. Pretty happy with what we got here. - As well as running 1500 ewes, he also sells stud rams. And the Texels are proving popular with Matt McKelvie and Mark Bryson from Southland. - Look how` Grunt on him. - He is. I use 'em for a terminal sire. I'm looking for meat and growth rate. Also, I find with the Texels down home, we get quite wet springs and lambings, so survivability of the Texels I find very good. - Righty-ho. I'll get some paperwork, and we'll have a good thorough look. - I'm looking for a good meaty animal that's got good constitution and stands on its feet, cos we really want early-maturing lambs. (DEVICE BEEPS) - 502. It's good to hear from these guys here that have come up from a really wet Southland that they're holding their own down there as well. So... Yeah, they certainly tick a lot of boxes. (PIGS SNUFFLE) - But the pigs are the real stars, bringing in the money and improving the soil. (GENTLE PIANO MUSIC) (BELLBIRDS SING) (QUAD BIKE ENGINE RUMBLES) When Hamish Cottle came back from overseas to help on his dad's property near Timaru, it was a traditional sheep and beef farm. (CATTLE MOO) - Today we're moving the cattle that have been down on the bottom flat to a new paddock up the top. Our system ` we have three main species, being the cattle, the sheep and the pigs, and they all contribute or complement each other in one way or the other. We've had it dry this year, and ironically, it's wet today, but the pigs ` it creates a bit of excitement again for them too, cos the ground's softened up again and they can have a bit of a root around and a bit of a play in the mud, and they just love it. They love it when it's wet. - The pigs are rotated around most of the farm, and all the digging and the manure have turned out to be beneficial. During the week, Angela works for PGG Wrightson, advising staff and farmers on how to improve soil. It's expertise which comes in handy at home as well. - Every time the feed truck turns up to deliver feed and then that feed is sent out around the farm for the pigs, essentially that's fertiliser, because you're feeding the pigs; the pigs take what they need from that feed and excrete the remainder. So I take a slice off the side of my whole, and I can see a worm in there, which is quite good ` couple of worms, actually ` and then I just snap it like this. For me, that's a really good example of structure in some soil. And when I break it open, that's the time I smell it. It smells great. (SNIFFS) Smells delicious. (CHUCKLES) We are growing around about 40% more grass, more dry matter than what we were growing before the pigs went over those areas. - The pigs now, the way the system works, have effectively become part of our pasture renewal programme. So if you get a runout paddock of pasture that's been down for four or five years, the pigs will go over that, and they do tend to root around and go for grubs and things like that. Cos once those pigs have moved off that area, they've left it fertilised with their manure, and then we come in and cultivate, utilise that fertility through growing crops to fatten lambs, or winter feed, or catch crops to put in the silage pit to feed the other stock. So they're contributing. Everything's working together. (INDISTINCT CHATTER) - # She's my sister from another mister, # and when I'm feeling down, I need just her. # She gets my crazy... - While most of their meat goes to restaurants and supermarkets around the country, Hamish and Angela also like to support local businesses. - Could we have the diced pork as well? - Yeah, 'course you can. - Adam Rivett from Chopped Butchery is a regular at the Timaru Market. He too supports local. - We've been going a couple of years now. Um, totally mobile. Two brothers ` one a butcher, one a farmer. We have a small butchery on our farm, and we service this whole area with this mobile shop. We drive here, there and everywhere, and we do all the markets, and we stop at all the little towns, and, yeah, that's what we do. Good to see you, Hamish. - Yeah, good to see you. - It's a chance to find out what's selling. - It's been really good this year. We've tripled the amount of ham we sent out from last year. - Oh, great. - Yeah. So that's good. I think New Zealanders are opening their eyes. I mean, if you look at the back of a lot of packets from supermarkets, you don't even know the country of origin ` it lists, you know, 10 countries that the pig could possibly come from. And I think people are saying, 'Well, hang on a minute. 'I actually want to know what I'm eating, and I really want to know that it's been farmed well.' Thank you very much. - With the pork industry, there's such a huge percentage of the product that comes from overseas that countries still use a lot of the practices that are completely banned here. So why would you buy a product where you know the welfare is to such a low standard where you can pick a product here and know that it's been raised to the best possible standard? - A simple solution at the moment is just make the packaging and the labelling clearer. Why can't you just have a big paint stamp on it saying 'imported' on the front rather than misleading fine print on the back? - They'd like an even playing field where pork is only imported from countries with similar rules to ours. - They should have to meet the same animal welfare standards. It's only fair, I would've thought. (PIGLETS GRUNT, SQUEAL) - Right now, they're focused on doing their best and leaving a legacy they're proud of. - Hamish and I talk about Kaizen, which is Japanese for 'continuous improvement', and I think we have a great mindset in that. How do we do better? How do we want to leave things so that someone gets a really good feeling when they walk through that farm gate? - I've got ideas of what I want to do on the farm and still strive to farm better each day, but really, I'd like to leave the farm in a better state than when we got it and leave a positive legacy. And if Fergus, my son, wants to carry on, that'd be` you know, that'd make me really happy, if we can leave him something that he can be proud of as well. (GENTLE PIANO MUSIC) (PIGS GRUNT) - Next time ` she's teaching people about nature and how to catch food in the wild. - This is an experience they won't forget. What did you think of that? - Oh, that was mean, Auntie. - You gathered all this yourselves? - BOYS: Yeah. - Not many people give up their best spots and their best tips. She does it for everyone. - Most of them want to come back down here and live. (CHUCKLES) - That's next time on Hyundai Country Calendar.