Our Producers

Located in the cool, temperate grassland plains of Western Victoria, 150 kilometers west of Melbourne between Ballarat and Geelong, Western Plains pigs live in an outdoor bred environment. The sows live outside in small paddocks with ample shelter, water and wallows. They give birth in insulated huts and the piglets are weaned into special straw based huts “eco shelters”

The pig site is relocated to fresh land in an adjacent location every two to three years. The old site – enriched with pig manure – is then cropped and allowed to renew itself to its natural balance. This land/crop rotation system helps reduce the incidence of disease and virtually eliminates environmental pollution.

Western Plains Pork source their breeding stock through the Pig Improvement Company (PIC Australia) – a worldwide pig breeding franchise that has developed a pig based on the Large White, Landrace and Duroc breeds. It is the quality of the pigs plus an ethical and humane farming program that forms the foundation stone of Western Plains Pork quality. The result? Western Plains pigs are among the healthiest pigs in Australia.

Western Plains Pork is produced completely free of artificial growth agents or stimulants. All stock is fed a diet comprising wheat and barley naturally grown in the immediate area. This scientifically balanced regime is designed to maintain the animals in excellent health and condition.

At Salt Kitchen Charcuterie the pig is king, or maybe queen as we only use female pigs to make our products.  We’ve worked with Western Plains Pork for the last 4 years to develop a system to grow their amazing pigs to a size that is suitable for charcuterie. Pigs from the farms breeding stock are selected to grow in a designated paddock for Salt Kitchen Charcuterie. We grow the animals to more than double the weight they would normally be processed to develop muscle structure and fat content. The pigs that are taken from Western Plains breeding stock are accredited as free range.