Paddock-to-plate pork at Glengarry

When sausage connoisseurs Oliver and Fiona Stocker could not find any locally that they liked, the next step was making their own.

Sausage fest: Oliver and Fiona Stocker, of Langdale Farm at Glengarry in Tasmania’s north, with their crossbreed pigs. Picture: Chris Kidd

WHEN sausage connoisseurs Oliver and Fiona Stocker could not find any gourmet snags locally that they liked, the next step was making their own.

Now the couple, originally from England, are running their own paddock-to-plate pork business, Langdale Farm at Glengarry.

The business is based at a small property near Glengarry, northwest of Launceston, where the Stockers breed their own free-range pigs.

“It all really started because Oliver wanted to make his own sausages,” Mrs Stocker said.

“We’re English and we just couldn’t find any of the traditional-style sausages with the right flavour and texture that we really liked.”

The couple breed cross-bred Berkshire and Saddleback pigs, which they said had good growth rates and not too much fat.

They have four sows and breed year round to ensure they have a steady supply of pigs throughout the year.

They process about one pig a week and said this could go up if demand for their products increased.

The piglets are weaned at about eight-weeks old and are grown out to about 60kg.

Mr Stocker has had a long interest in smoking his own meat products and has built a number of smokers himself.

The couple’s product range includes nitrate-free bacon and two different types of sausage, a pork sausage and a traditional breakfast sausage.

Their products are sold through eight specialist retail outlets. For the first time this year patrons at Agfest, Tasmania’s biggest rural event, at Carrick in the state’s north will be able to taste some of their delicious products.

The couple will sell their homemade sausages cooked in a smoker.

“There will be a lot of people there who haven’t heard of our products or tried them and we’ll be able to get some good feedback straight away,” Mrs Stocker said.