Massinie Farm
UN ÉLEVAGE FAMILIAL 100% PLEIN-AIR
Gascon Black Pork
A little history...
The Gascon black pig is one of the oldest breeds established in France. It almost disappeared after the Second World War, in the 1960s. It was necessary to produce a lot and quickly, so everything was focused on pig breeds capable of being produced industrially.
Very poorly suited to this type of breeding, because it has always been selected for its hardiness and its adaptability to the outdoors, the Gascon pig, with its slow growth rate, almost disappeared.
By the 1980s, the breed was on the verge of extinction. We then miraculously found a few purebred sows.
It was at this time that conservation programs for hardy breeds were put in place, to urgently conserve the genetic heritage of the breed.
Saved by passionate breeders, the breed of black Gascon pig has found its letters of nobility thanks to its exceptional flesh, particularly valued in charcuterie.
Considered a variety of the Iberico breed, the Gascon black pork shares with it some of its qualities: bright red, powerful meat, finely marbled with fat.
Our breeding
Organic and 100% outdoors
THE ENVIRONMENT :
Our pigs live in a park of more than 5 hectares in complete freedom. They are between woods and plains and have straw-covered wooden cabins for the night.
FOOD:
The pigs are fed once a day with cereals ground into flour (organic Dordogne cereals), beer malt (Organic Brewery, Nové, Bergerac) and bran flour. In addition, they search and search the thickets, turning the earth to feed. The forest is made up of oaks and chestnut trees. Every two or three years, oak trees produce acorns. This allows the pigs to finish growing by feeding on acorns and/or chestnuts.
THIS NATURAL FOOD (acorns or chestnuts ) GIVES HAM A UNIQUE TASTE!
About Us
the origins of our project...
Jean Desmarest
Coming from the agricultural world, I always had the idea of launching into an agricultural project. I did a BTS at ESA in Angers on a work-study basis in a farm in Landes before turning to a business school in Paris, still on a work-study basis in a company in Rungis. In the meantime I spent a year in England where I managed a laying hen and pig farm. We then left for Normandy where I found a job as a fruit and vegetable buyer on the MIN in Rouen.
Sibylle Desmarest
After a master's degree in tourism/heritage, I joined the Tous au Château company in the wonderful setting of the Château de Beaumesnil (Normandy). I was in charge of opening to the public, events, communication... But also managing the reception room and the lodges.
After 6 years in Normandy and the expansion of our family (2 children), the need to return to the land and offer quality products pushed us, finally, to realize our project: creating a breeding of black Gascon pigs in respect for animals and offer quality products from our production.