About Us
Founded in 1848, Hunt Family Farm, LLC is a family farm located in Amboy, IN. Owned by Jack and Kathy Hunt and their youngest son and his wife Nathan and Sommer Hunt, the farm has been owned and worked by the family for seven generations. Three generations of the Hunt family currently operate and run the farm, growing corn, soybeans, and wheat as well as raising and selling hogs. The youngest generation, Nathan and Sommer’s daughters Lilly, Savannah, and Caroline operate a farm fresh egg business called Hunt Sister’s Egg Farm. Many of our products are sold in and consumed by the local community and throughout Indiana, offering consumers legitimate local farm-to-table options.
Our Crops
We grow corn, soybeans, and wheat on approximately 730 acres of land in Miami and Grant Counties, which sits in north central Indiana. We sell our corn and wheat to Kokomo Grain in Amboy and CIE in Marion, with a large portion of our soybean harvest being grown specifically for seed and sold to Legg Seeds in Windfall, IN. The remainder of our commercial soybean yield is also sold to Kokomo Grain.
Our Hogs
We raise heritage breed (half Duroc, quarter Landrace, quarter York) hogs chosen for their muscular body type and the quality of their meat. Our hogs are pasture-raised and fed a mixture corn grown in our fields, Indiana-sourced soybean meal, and non-GMO sunflower meal. We use those ingredients as well as an age/size specific nutritional supplement to create an extremely unique feed ration that we grind and blend on our farm year round. We store some corn from our fields in storage bins on the farm and create the feed on an as-needed basis weekly. The sunflower meal is sourced from nearby Healthy Hoosier Oil as a byproduct of their cold pressed sunflower oil operation.
Our Community
Located in southeast Miami County in north central Indiana, our farm sits just on the edge of the town of Amboy. We are actively involved with our local community, from contributing to local food banks to the service that Jack and Nathan provide as volunteer firefighters with Amboy Volunteer Fire Company and Nathan’s career as Captain of Training/EMT for the City of Peru Fire Department. We have a strong rooted Christian faith and are generational members of Amboy Friends Church. We’re proud to be part of such a close community and to be able to help feed it directly through our participation in farm-to-table practices and initiatives.
Farm-to-Table
We are proud members of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture’s Indiana Grown program, a statewide-initiative that encourages and supports the local sales and consumption of Indiana-sourced goods and products. As members of the Indiana Grown program we are networked with partners and businesses throughout Indiana that helps local goods be sold in Indiana stores and restaurants. This is especially important for smaller family farm operations and small business owners in how it supports local economies as well as the general Indiana economy. It also means that as part of the farm-to-table culture, consumers can purchase locally sourced goods and can often directly contact or visit where those products originated.
Click on the Indiana Grown logo to watch a short video about the impact of the program on some of our past business partners and our local economy.
Partnerships
We work directly with several partners and clients both locally and across Indiana, who in turn sell or serve our pasture-raised pork in their businesses and restaurants. We also sell hogs direct to private customers.
Our clients include Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis, Rachel’s Taste of Indiana in Converse, Plevna Country Market in rural Kokomo, IN, Encounter Cafe in Converse, IN, and This Old Farm in Colfax, IN. Fisher Meats in Portland, IN butchers, processes, and packages the pork for Eskenazi Health, and Rachel’s Taste of Indiana, as well as for personal individual orders. This Old Farm handles the butchering, processing, and packaging themselves for on-site sales as well as sales to various local restaurants in their area. We’re partnered with Piazza Produce to handle deliveries of our pork from Fisher Meats to Eskenazi.
We offer whole hog and half hog sales direct to consumer. It can average about a month from the time you order until the pork is ready for pick up at Fisher Meats. Individuals interested in purchasing a hog from us can contact us directly.
Our Future
For more than 170 years our family has farmed land in north central Indiana. In the 21st century we’re looking to continue and build on our family’s strong tradition and heritage by continuing to educate and encourage younger generations in family farming operations. Development and implementation of sustainable practices is important to us in maintaining that legacy for future farming generations and continuing to be part of the circle of life for our local communities and our state. We are actively working to expand our hog herd and operations as well as our crop acreage.
As we look ahead to the future of Hunt Family Farm, one of our core goals is to continue to be part of the long and proud tradition and heritage of family farming that helped build our nation, and we’re hopeful that generations to come will build on what we’re doing now. Family farming is part of our country’s bedrock, and we’re proud to be part of continuing that in the 21st century and beyond.
FAQs
Do you sell hogs to individuals?
YES! We sell hogs for freezer meat (half or whole hog) or hog roasts year round. We are 100% independent and are happy to work with individuals to get you a quality product for your family. We take hogs to Fisher Packing and This Old Farm on a regular basis and would be happy to schedule a hog for you at either facility, depending on your preferences.
How does buying a hog for my freezer work?
First of all, don’t be intimidated. The businesses we use for our processing are extremely knowledgeable and will walk you through the different options for how to cut and package your pork over the phone. Call or text us (765-669-0738) or email (huntfarm1848@gmail.com) with your information and we’ll take it from there.
Once we deliver your hog to the preferred processor, you will need to call them and go through the cutting instructions. The meat will take approximately 3 weeks to be complete, then the processor will call you and arrange a pick up date. Your meat will be frozen and vacuum sealed however you requested when you pick it up.
Normal cuts available for a whole hog include: Bacon, Hams, ham steaks, shoulder roasts, ribs, loin, pork chops, and sausage. There are many variations of most cuts, and for example if you do not want any ham, those cuts would be added to your sausage. For a whole hog, you can also mix and match your sausage options and also make brats or brat patties, for example. You can also keep lard, ears, hocks, liver, tongue, and more by request.
What does a freezer hog cost?
Our cost for a roughly 300 pound (live weight) whole hog is $240, payable to Hunt Family Farm when we deliver the hog to the processor. (A half is $120) The processing costs can vary quite a bit, depending on how you have it cut and packaged. A hog will usually dress out at 72% of live weight, so a 300 pound live animal will yield a little over 200 pounds of meat. The processor will require payment when you pick up your meat. If you budget $500-$600 for the final product it should cover everything. All in all, you should have roughly $2-$3.50 per pound in the finished product.
Are your hogs organic or non GMO?
Our hogs are neither organic or non-gmo. We use traditional chemicals on our crops and can’t verify the types of soybeans in the meal we purchase, so we do not claim either of those labels. We do use antibiotics when the animals are in need, but do not medicate any unless there is a medical necessity. We work closely with our veterinarian Dr. Justin Bricker to ensure we are raising a quality animal while giving it the best quality of life we can provide. We also utilize farrowing crates for the sows when they deliver their piglets. This has been statistically proven to be safer for the sow, her piglets, and the farmers caring for the animals versus pens or outside farrowing. The farrowing barn and nursery are heated to allow us to have piglets year-round as well. Once the piglets have been weaned from the sow, we walk her back into the pasture as a free-range animal. The total time a sow and her piglets are in farrowing crates is roughly 4 weeks. We like to equate it to being in a hospital - nobody loves it, but when you need that level of care, you’re willing to be flexible.
Why do you still raise hogs outside?
Most generally, production hog farms today are all 100% confinement operations. We have decided to still utilize the same barns our ancestors built (some over 100 years ago) on our farm, and allow our animals to live outside (once the piglets are around 40 pounds) because that’s how we feel hogs are best raised. They grow a little slower this way and we believe the quality of our pork is partially due to that fact. Although we do not raise our hogs in confinement barns, we are very supportive of modern hog farms and understand that they are absolutely necessary to provide the amounts of pork the world has come to expect from farmers. We know several local farmers that utilize confinement style barns and know that they care just as much about their animals’ welfare as anyone.
How many hogs do you sell per year?
Things can fluctuate year to year, but we usually sell around 500. We have room for expansion but need the market opportunity before we grow our production.