Crack Willow Farm's free range pigs are tickled pink

He stops near the first paddock, but before he can tip the rich mixture over the fence, he can hear them.

Trotting out from under the branching gum trees, ears flapping, the pigs hurry towards him across the pasture with the sun bouncing off their backs.

They jostle and snort at each other, and squealing, tuck into the feed. Then it’s time to amble off for a drink, a nice big wallow in the mud and then, en masse, flop down for a long nap in the shade in one big happy pile of pig.

This is the only life the free range pigs at Crack Willow Farm near Oberon know, and they are simply loving it.

But they aren’t the only ones. Mr Kelly, his wife Bernice and their children, Audrey, 4, and Joe, 2, have dedicated all their time to raising free range pigs on their 40-hectare Central Tablelands property, and they are happy as pigs in mud.

Seeing the Kellys feeding and patting their pigs, telling fond stories about this one and that, it’s hard to believe this care and experience hasn’t come from a lifetime of pig farming.

Up until only four years ago, their lives were very different. Mr Kelly worked in real estate and Mrs Kelly was a journalist.

“We just wanted a complete change. We wanted to do something different,” Mrs Kelly said. “We had often heard about the demand for free range pork. And one day we decided we should seriously look into it.”

At Christmas time in 2013, the Kellys visited a free range pig farm at Dorrigo and this sealed the deal.

“Just seeing them running around was great. I remember the first time we went out feeding them, and they came out of the trees with their ears flapping. I just started laughing,” Mrs Kelly said. “We just loved the lifestyle.”

The Kellys now lease land from Mrs Kelly’s parents, which is perfect for the pigs.

They started with four Duroc sows and a Large White boar, which had been bought from an indoor pig farm.

Today they run 20 predominately Hamroc (Hampshire Duroc-cross) sows and two very handsome boars, a Large White named Rodney Hogg and a Landrace named Bradley Hogg, named after Australian cricketers.

Their pigs live the sweet life in the natural bushland and pasture paddocks, which are joined by fenced laneways. The paddocks have troughs as well as wallows, which are filled with water regularly, where the pigs can enjoy a mud bath.

The sows are provided with hutches where they can give birth if they wish.

It is no accident that pork from Crack Willow Farm is turning heads, but for Chris and Bernice Kelly, it is about going back to basics.

Right from the start, the pigs grown on the Oberon farm are free to do what comes naturally.

Mr Kelly said most sows, which can weigh a whopping 250 kilograms, will have eight piglets, which are then weaned at four to six weeks old. The sows will have around two litters per year.

The pigs spend their days foraging in the bush, eating grass and bark, and digging holes.

They are also fed once a day. The growers are given a rich blend of mixed grains, bone and meat meal, blood meal, sugars and enzymes and vegetable oil. The sows have a similar breakfast, but with no blood meal.

Around 400 growers are finished each year, weighing around 75 to 80kg live weight.

Each Monday Mr Kelly takes the pigs to the abattoir, where they dress out at around 55 to 60kg.

When the Kellys first began producing pork, they sold pork packs through their website and at local farmers’ markets.

They also supplied restaurants and some local butcher shops. But they found that this wasn’t ideal.

“There was such wastage. Often restaurants only wanted certain cuts,” Mr Kelly said.

“We also found some butcher shops considered us competition and worked against us,” Mrs Kelly said.

And why is there such a demand for their pork?

“It’s the flavour. It’s stronger. People just can’t get over it,” Mr Kelly said. “The meat is a darker colour, and when it is cooked it’s not that grey colour, there is pink through it.

“The flavour of the pork – you just can’t explain it.”

Mrs Kelly said the best part was the reaction of some older customers. “Elderly people say to us it tastes like pork did when they were kids,” she said. “We are not doing anything clever – we are just going back to basics, the way it used to be done.”

And their pork is definitely in hot demand. They supply direct to six butchers, five in Sydney and one in Dubbo.

Their pork has also been featured at dinners in Sydney, which has caught the eye of several restaurateurs. “We keep in contact with the industry. We would really like to supply restaurants in the future,” Mrs Kelly said.