Located on Hardiston farm near Cleish our aim is to produce high quality, ethically reared meat
Our Story
The Pigs
The pigs arrived on the farm in 2017 and right from the start we had an interest in rare breeds with our starting herd consisting of two British Saddleback sows and two Gloucester Old Spot boars. We now have 6 breeding sows consisting of 3 Saddlebacks, a Tamworth and 2 home bred Saddleback x Gloucester Old Spot sows. They go to our Tamworth and Saddleback boars.
All the pigs are kept outside all year round apart form in the winter where we bring the sows in to farrow. The pigs all have arks all year round to keep them warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Along with this in the summer we make them wallows daily to keep them all cool as pigs don’t sweat.
We grow all the barley we feed the pigs on the farm and only have to buy in a small amount of protein. They also get fed lots of apples in the autumn!
In the last year we have started a pedigree herd of British Saddlebacks with some rare bloodlines with the aim of supporting the breed best we can and ensuring their survival.
We are very passionate about our pigs and the taste and texture of the rare breed meat is far superior to that of commercial pork partly because it is slow grown and also because they are free to roam and use their muscles, eating whatever they find in the ground along the way!.
The cows (Dexters)
Although the farm has always had a herd of Aberdeen Angus cross cows we have only had the Dexters since 2020.
The Dexter is the smallest native breed of cattle in the UK and originated in Ireland. They are only about hip hight and because of this they are well suited to our slightly wetter farm and can be kept outside for longer over the winter.
All our Dexter beef is grass fed and kept till the age of 30 months, far older than commercial beef cattle. This gives it a far greater depth of taste and marbling of fat.
Our aim is to eventually have a large herd of them supplying the beef all year round but its a long term project.
In February 2023 the farm welcomed a small herd of Kerry cattle, a breed closely related to the Dexters. We are looking forward to seeing how this breeds works for us and the quality of the beef they produce.
The Farm
Rootin’ and Roamin’ is based on Hardiston farm owned by the Buchanan family. Its a 300 acre mixed farm with 40 cows, 400 sheep, 80 pigs and about 50 acres of arable crops. Its located 2 miles west of Cleish and overlooked by Dumglow Hill.
Us
Rootin’ and Roamin’ is run by Ian and Kerry with lots of help from both families. The business was established in 2018 while both Ian and Kerry were still studying for their agricultural degrees at SRUC Aberdeen. After graduating in 2019 the two decided to continue to grow the business with the aim of remaining on Ian’s family farm.
Ian now works full time looking after the pigs, doing all the butchery with the rest of his time helping his Dad, John, on the farm with other sheep, cattle and other farm work.
Kerry works full time as a rural business consultant and helps at the weekends by attending markets and packing in the butchery. When we are at hog roast events its very common for us to have extra help from both families (John, Helen, Ian, Allyson, Robert and Callum), we certainly couldn’t do it without them!
In 2022 we took the big leap to take on all our own butchery to try make the business a full time job for Ian. It has been a huge learning curve but its starting to take shape with plans already for a bigger butchery unit and to take on private butchery clients.
The business continues to evolve and we hope that you will support us along the way
