Land put to good use as Benjamin Bridge takes estate grown to another level
Ah, the pastoral sounds of a valley vineyard in early summer: the leaves rustling in the breeze, water gently falling over the rounded rocks of the Gaspereau River, the snorting of the hogs.
Snorting?
Benjamin Bridge, a place highly regarded for some high falutin’ wines, also has a pigpen. It’s about a minute’s drive from the winery by four-wheeler, down a steep hill and through a row of trees.
Visiting customers can’t see or smell the pigs until charcuterie plates are served during wine tastings.
Vineyard manager Scott Savoy started the pig program when he arrived at Benjamin Bridge in 2015. He previously worked at the Pearl Morissette winery in Niagara, where they had a vibrant pig pro- gram.
Savoy has a degree in agriculture and his wife studied animal science.
“So we had the background, and the knowledge of how to intensively manage pasture systems, and so on,” said Savoy, whose hiring coincided with the Benjamin Bridge expansion that began with the acquisition of the adjoining Gertridge property. Part of that land was an old, abandoned pasture that was becoming overgrown with trees and wild rose bushes.
“There was a lot of land not fit for grapes,” he said. “So I pitched to the team that we could have a two-fold project, whereby we could help maintain these pastures and revitalize them, because they were pretty stagnant. And also have some really delicious by-product.”
Winery president Gerry McConnell and vice-president Devon McConnell- Gordon embraced Savoy’s proposal right away and added swineherd to his job description.
“Devon was quite keen on seeing diversification on the farm,” said Savoy. “So we started with just four pigs.”
One litter was born in 2016, three the next year and one this year. The first litter didn’t grow at the expected rate, so Savoy started planting crops in the eight acres of pasture where the pigs roam.
“They have a supplement of grain, a mix of corn with some soy and some barley,” he said, walking to a grassy area. “Right here, we have Austrian field peas, some buckwheat, some clover and some vetch as well. This is something that I seeded in the spring, it’s high protein and high nutritional value. What you see left over are the . . . grasses that they didn’t find palatable.”
There are nine pigs on the property. Savoy is about to switch them to another area of the pasture, and he’ll then cultivate the area they’re in now, and plant more of the same crops. The pasture rotation and a liberal application of pig manure also improves the soil.
“They’re Berkshires, they’re tremendous animals as far as foraging and surviving our climate yearround. These animals are born in a small building, with not even a door, winter-time and all, and they don’t go into another building until they go to slaughter. They have minimal huts, hay bale huts for the winter and basically shade for the summer,” Savoy said. “It takes about 14 months to raise them to this size, 220 pounds. What that (slow growth) does is provide optimal time for marbling, and slow fat development. Many hog growers that produce Berkshires, they’ll be this big at nine months.”
The pasture also includes an English walnut tree, and butternut trees along the river bank where the pigs graze. Pigs love the nuts.
“Everything is food to a pig,” Savoy said.
The animals are slaughtered at Reid’s Meats, just down the road, and the pork then goes to Ratinaud French Cuisine in Halifax for curing.
“We trust in their art, and their craft, and we’ve never been disappointed in what comes back. The pinnacle is the prosciutto ham, and the copa from the Berkshire shoulder, perfect marbling for that,” said Savoy. “If you send in a 200-pound pig, you might get 70 pounds of cured meat. We always tell people, when we’re serving our charcuterie, that it is estate raised.”