hogs used to get milk. People kept a little jersy or a guernsey for milk. Those two breeds don't produce a lot of volume like a modern Holstein but fed corn silage their milk is 1/3 cream. Whatever didn't get used that day got "slopped" to the hogs along with any kitchen scraps the chickens or dogs didn't get. Butcher hogs also got a diet of cracked corn. All they wanted. Last few weeks before butchering they got penned up and no more running around the hog lot (pasture).

We used to raise our own,buy them in the spring and butcher in the fall.They were fed commercial feed,table scraps and when we could get it fast food,We had a relative who worked at a fast food joint at the time and when he came thru we would get a HUGE box of burgers/cheese burgers,french fries,apple pies,you name it.That was the most delicious pork we ever ate.We'd have the hams smoked for the holidays.You get asked alot,wouldn't it be cheaper to buy it in the store?Yeah it would but it sure wouldn't taste the same.We bought a hog off a family friend this fall and don't regret paying the extra bit at all.Some of the bacon you buy in the store today is as thin as a sheet of paper,not this stuff.Hope we're able to get back to raising our own again soon.

had a buddy whose girl friend worked at russel stover. she could buy broken chocolate rabbits and stuff by the ton. he supplement fed his hogs chocolate. they were sure tasty.

If anything confinement would increase fat. No that they're really confined now, they're just inside to minimize sickness. It's a combination of genetics, and time on feed. Mostly genetics.
And no one feeding out steers is feeding just silage. Small time feeders are still feeding the same way as always. Larger feed lots feed a very precisely mixed ration of roughage and grain. The goal is still the same, get the steer to butcher weight quickly. That's not possible on silage.

Best pork sausage ever

Let the milk clabber and they love it.

Modern breeds have been bred to have much less fat, larger loin eyes and longer bodies to yield more high value cuts. That makes the pork meat drier with less marbling, but that is only one aspect. Diet is a huge change. Today most commercially raised pork is corn and soybeans. Hogs being omnivores in the past were fed a whole host of items that would and could also give the meat different flavors. Grazed hogs eating roots, plants along with a whole host of other food items taste far different. Also with the newer systems hogs are butchered about 2-3 months younger than 30-50 years ago and as hogs age they take on more hormonal changes and some meat flavor changes.
We raised our own hogs in a semi grazing situation and various feed including corn etc. for 10 years and the pork was far different. I did not this year with my surgery but our son wants to get back to doing this again.
There are some breeds like Berkshire etc. that have maintained some of their older genetics longer which is one reason they are not as popular in the mainstream hog industry.
Bryce

I hate to even bring it up but the reason I raise my own is because I went in a commercial hog barn once...the pigs are in pens so small they can't even turn around and we're so bored or nuts that they were chewing on the metal bars, I found it pretty disgusting and I grew up on a commercial poultry operation.

Home grown (mostly grain fed) & processed my own pork for + 15 yrs. Was told early on as soon as the meat was cool, cutup & package etc. Pork will pickup other smells like a magnet. Live & Learn, Thru Hindsight. Tut

I don't know why, but I think pork tastes different from different places. We've tried it from some stores and it was bland, strong, or not good at all. We finally found a store owned by a casino, of all things, that has what good pork used to taste like. That's the only place we buy pork from now.

We have a friend butcher a couple of hog for us every year corn fed free range. Big difference in flavor from some of the store bought. Not sure what breed but I think yorkshire
J

I raised 5 pigs one time. Got them in early September and killed them in April. I feed every coon and muskrat I skinned to then, any protein I could give them they ate. I even picked up 2 fresh road kill deer and feed it to them. A month before they were ready to butcher I toned it down to just normal feed and corn. That was the best pork I have ever had I sold 3 of the 5 pigs to friends or family and they all asked me to do it the next year.

I agree with you,,i buy pork loin in a big loaf type package and its awesome.
Would never raise them again for what I buy it for(again,i dont eat much pork)mostly fish.