Looking Ahead

We’re a month into 2026, and deep in planning mode for our goals and projects for the next year. As a farm, we are always looking to improve the lives and welfare of our Meishan pigs, sustain and grow our pasture ecosystems, and consistently improve the quality of our pork. Projects and improvements towards these areas are always ongoing: fencing to increase our pasture access, building shelters or expanding watering systems to make our workflows more efficient and make sure our pigs are well cared for in every pasture.

But what we’re MOST excited about in 2026 is to get out into our communities, meet the fantastic people supporting ours and other local farms, and bringing, local, healthy, and delicious food to your tables. We’re excited to keep our partnerships with Yellowstone Valley Food Hub (Billings) and Fat Toads Farm Pantry (Bozeman), and you will also see us at some of the area farmers markets this summer! Whole and half shares are available year-round, for processing dates in spring, summer, and midwinter. We hope to see you there and share our pork with you!

We’re also excited to bring a brand new product to JCF in 2026: all-natural, single ingredient dog treats.

These represent another step towards full sustainability on our farm, utilizing boar and organ meat that would otherwise be difficult to sell or use. We are dedicated to “nose-to-tail'“ butchering that honors the lives of our pigs and minimizes waste, and this project is a huge step in utilizing all cuts from our pork.

Our resident chocolate lab, Queenie, is already enthusiastically signed up to be our official pup tester and will report back soon.

And finally, we’ll continue to build and expand our herd, contributing to the effort to restore the Meishan breed. We love these gentle, wrinkly pigs, and want to ensure they have a long successful future, in Montana and the US. We currently have four new gilts registered with the American Meishan Breeders Association that will join our core herd this year, along with a new boar arriving from Elemental Acres in Oregon at the end of February.

All in all, we’re busy in a beautifully chaotic way. Lots of projects, lots of goals, lots of ideas. We’re excited to see what 2026 brings.