We are John and Sarah Gilbert, fifth generation farmers on Gibralter Farms, located in North Central Iowa. We are excited to provide delicious pork for you and your family.
With so many sources of information and misinformation out there today, it can be challenging to feel confident about the food you choose to feed your family. We provide food you can know everything about, from how it was raised and processed to the qualities that can improve your eating experience and well-being.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about our farm and our pork.
Below are answers to a number of questions about our pork. Have other questions you want answered? Send us an email or contact us through social media:
How are your pigs raised?
We have raised pigs on our farm for many decades. In 1998, we started selling our pigs to Niman Ranch.
Niman Ranch partners with family farms to provide humanely-raised and great-tasting meats. Their pork is featured in many high-end restaurants across the country.
We raise our pigs in deep bedded hoop buildings and pens that give the pigs the opportunity to root and socialize, while having access to fresh air and being protected from the sun (pigs have sensitive skin), similar to their natural forest habitat.
Sows (mother pigs) are raised on pasture during the warmer months of the year and farrow (give birth) in the spring and fall. They have their pigs in huts on the pasture that keep the baby pigs warm and protected.
We follow the Niman Ranch protocols which include the following conditions:
- Have never been given antibiotics of any kind – ever
- Have never been given added hormones or artificial growth promotants – ever
- Have been fed all-vegetarian diets
- Have been raised to the highest care standards, and according to Niman Ranch’s Pig Husbandry Protocols
- Meet or exceed high pork and carcass quality standards
Working with Niman Ranch has been a great partnership for our farm and we are honored to have been recognized with multiple Top 10 pork quality awards and named the 2021 Sustainable Farm of the Year.
While we continue to sell the majority of our pigs through Niman Ranch, we are excited to start sharing our great tasting pork directly with you!
How is the pork different from what you get in the grocery store?
We feel that our pigs and how we raise them produces a high-quality and great tasting pork that is beyond comparison to what you can get in the grocery store.
In addition, we provide unique products such as ground pork and bone-in pork chops without any brines or injections, which can be common in conventional meat found at the grocery store.
Is the pork frozen?
Yes, the pork is frozen shortly after being cut or ground to lock in the quality. As a small farm, this is the best way to preserve freshness and allow for distribution to you the customer.
Learn everything you would want to know about frozen meat in this blog post.
Where is your meat processed?
One of the biggest hurdles in providing meat to a local community is the lack of available processing. We have been blessed with the opportunity to partner with Nimrod Meats in nearby Iowa Falls, which constructed and opened a new facility in 2022.
With a focus on traditional butchery and honoring the animal, we are excited to provide high quality meat for you from a local processor.
Is your pork Organic Certified?
The meat we offer is not certified organic. We follow the Niman Ranch protocols that require a vegetarian diet, no antibiotics or artificial hormones, and being humanely raised on deep bedding or outside.
What breed of pigs do you raise?
We use a variety of breeds with a focus on selection for meat quality. Traditional breeds such as Berkshire, Hampshire, Duroc, Chester White, and others have been used to create hybrid crosses that work in our system to produce high quality pork.
What do your pigs eat?
Our pigs are raised on a diet of non-GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) ground corn and oats grown on our farm mixed with purchased soybean meal and vitamins/minerals. We continue to search for non-GMO alternatives to the purchased soybean meal, but have not found a practical option at this time.