Growing up on a small family farm in rural Kentucky, David Belcher learned that a free ranging hog can provide many benefits on a farm.  Such benefits include grazing pastures, tearing up roots in the soil, and depositing manure on crop lands.  Once a hog was matured, David’s family and neighbors enjoyed homegrown sausage and bacon.  David’s background in livestock differs greatly from most livestock farmers.  Instead of viewing livestock solely as a means of income, David learned how diversified, sustainable farming operations rely on livestock for food, power, land clearing, and fertilizer.
 
Twelve years ago David and Katina created KB Farms which is located outside Asheboro, North Carolina.  Just as David’s family had once done on their farm in Kentucky, David wanted to raise free-ranging hogs on his land in Asheboro.  At first, David and Katina had little interest in marketing the hogs.  They simply raised 10-15 piglets to graze pastures, and deposit fertilizer via manure on their hay fields.  At maturity, David and Katina would slaughter the hog and distribute the meat amongst friends and neighbors.  Later, KB Farms sold piglets to local families to raise on their own land.
 
Later, KB Farms raised a small number of hogs on 5 acres of pastured land to sell as market hogs.  At most conventional stockyard markets that David sold to, there was no value-added for free-range or naturally raised meats.  David had never thought that his product could be valued at a higher price than conventional, facilitated hogs.  To David, a hog simply provided great benefits for the farm.  A hog never received anti-biotic supplements and never lived in a stall.  Any other model of farming hogs was foreign to David’s objectives.  In turn, the pork produced from David’s animals was leaner and superior in taste to conventional hogs but the stockyard market value did not reflect these traits.
It was not until David had a conversation with Diane Osmolski of Green Acres Ranch, (a grass-fed cattle operation that partners with Papa Spud’s), did David hear about alternative niche markets in which his superior product could be appreciated.  Currently, David processes his meat for retail at Key Packaging (featured in last week’s newsletter) and sells his meats directly to Papa Spud’s as well as locally throughout the Asheboro area.  His wife, Katina, and three children: Brittany, Savannah, and David III all chip in and help run their small farm operation.  David believes that children who work on the farm have the opportunity to learn about work ethic while being outdoors and away from the television, which he believes is “junk.”
 
Currently, David and his brother raise a small number of goats, chickens, cows, and pigs.  Most of David’s animals are sold locally to families and neighbors.  He claims he always wants to tinker around with agriculture and enjoys watching the animals live on his land.  For David and Katina, the supplemental income they receive from their animals is secondary to the joy of the small farm lifestyle.