McIntyre Pastures

by Lex Nelson

The seeds for McIntyre Pastures were planted in 1909, when the McIntyre family first started working the land in Caldwell, Idaho. Today, the more than 1,000-acre plot is still a family business run by third-. fourth-, and fifth-generation farmers: Loren McIntyre; his sons, Ben and Brad; and their wives and kids.

The McIntyres raise chickens and ducks (for both meat and eggs), turkeys, pigs, and cattle, rotating them through their pastures to promote healthy soil and animals. They also practice no-till farming and grow their own animal feed. As Ben’s wife, Maria, puts it, when it comes to their hogs they’re “letting pigs be pigs.”

“When we were kids in the ‘80s and ‘90s there was a huge push for … ‘Pork, the other white meat.’ That was a big slogan back then, and we’re trying to get away from that slogan. To me, ‘pork, the other white meat’ is just a dry pork chop,” she said.

McIntyre offers farm tours and jumped at the chance to provide hogs for FARE Idaho’s “Learn the Art of Butchery” class.

“I think [butchering an animal] helps you so much. It helps you appreciate the animal more, and it helps you understand where all of the cuts are coming from. That’s a big thing too, because you have people who all they want to eat is bacon or a tenderloin. Well, there is only so much bacon and only two tenderloins per animal!” Maria said.

Maria is an advocate for food transparency, and said people deserve to see how their meat is produced so they can avoid greenwashing (misleading eco-friendly marketing) at the grocery store.

“[At our farm,] people have a chance to come out and connect with where their food is coming from and see how it's being raised,” she said.

To learn more about McIntyre Pastures and where to buy their meat, eggs, and more, visit McIntyreFamilyFarms.com.

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