The People behind the Pork

Jimmy Butler, with the support of his wife Pauline, took the concept of free range pig farming and made it into a business.

Having a passion for pigs was not enough, he wanted consumers to have a choice and for consumers to be able to choose free range it needed to be readily available.

Jimmy is a larger than life character who is well known and liked within the pig industry and his local community in Suffolk. His free range pig farming journey has seen him work with the Hairy Bikers, named the first ever Farmer’s Weekly ‘Pig Farmer of the Year’, win the coveted British pig industry’s ‘Chris Brant Award’ and crowned the East Anglian Daily Times ‘Suffolk Food Hero’.

“Father created this incredible business from scratch.  He showed incredible drive and vision to start a venture like this, he had to be a great pig farmer whilst also understanding the importance of developing a brand, he is truly somebody I look up to” Alastair Butler

Stuart and Alastair Butler are second generation free range pig farmers with families of their own.  With four boys between them, who may become the third generation, they both have fond memories of a childhood on a pig farm.

Stuart has probably spent more hours working on a free range pig farm than anybody in the whole of Britain.  With this unrivalled experience and a lead by example attitude he heads up the day to day running of the farm.

Alastair takes over from his brother when the pigs are ready to leave the farm.  His core role is to build partnerships and develop supply chains with businesses that share a similar philosophy on ethics, quality and care.

“To be able to work closely with both my sons is possibly my greatest achievement, we have up to 24,000 pigs on the farm at any one time and we supply over 100 butcher shops with free range pork every week, I wouldn’t have been able to do all this by myself” Jimmy Butler