Anna’ s Happy Trotters
Hot to trot with Anna’ s pulled ham!
Chris Berry talks with Anna Longthorp at Kilpin
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THERE ARE THOSE WHO never stop complaining; there are those who just accept everything thrown their way; and there are those who stand up and do something. Anna Longthorp of Kilpin near Howden definitely falls into the latter camp and in the wake of yet another low for pig prices in February, she set about launching pulled ham, a brand new product for the market place.
Anna runs her own farming operation, Anna’ s Happy Trotters, which was also borne out of harder times for her parents’ family farming business. She is clearly not one for letting the world pass her by.
“ I’ ve come up with pulled ham on the back of how well pulled pork has been going and because we’ ve been getting rubbish money for our shoulders,” she explained.“ Most of the hams that are sold are legs and we can shift those all day every day, but as many pig farmers know, it is the shoulder that contains the most flavour. There’ s great taste in there.
“ I’ ve Googled pulled ham and I can’ t see anyone else doing it so I could be the first- and
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Anna’ s Happy Trotters could be a trend setter. We’ ve put posters and flyers around all our butchers telling them what we’ re doing and encouraging them to get on the bandwagon. It’ s pretty much what I do constantly, trying to find better ways to get value out of cuts that aren’ t too popular. Last time we did the same with pork bellies when the butchery team came up with our Yorkshire free range pancetta that won an award from Deliciously Yorkshire.
“ Pork has had a bad rap over the years, particularly when the push was for no fat in pork and the industry got rid of it- to its own detriment. Pork lost its flavour. It has come back but there are those who now don’ t know how to cook it- so things such as pulled pork and pulled ham are great for everyone because they can pop it into the oven on low and slow- and come back when it’ s ready. Personally, I think it’ s a travesty that restaurant menus don’ t have a lot of pork on them- especially as it is cheaper than both beef and lamb.”
Anna started Anna’ s Happy Trotters eight years ago.
“ Mum and dad always used to have outdoor pigs and fattened them indoors on straw yards. The supermarket they were supplying at the time then asked them to go fully free range saying they would pay a premium, but shortly into the contract they decided there wasn’ t a market for it and pulled the plug. My parents had invested a considerable amount into going free range. I was working on the farm at the time and after having seen us going through hard times in the past I came up with Anna’ s Happy Trotters.
“ I decided that rather than selling pigs to supermarkets I’ d try to create more value by going direct to butchers and farm shops. I did a lot of marketing, produced brochures and I went independent as a separate business. I fatten pigs on my two outdoor fattening units. They’ re spread out because of the land situation. It’ s difficult to come by and I need big enough patches of sandy, free-draining land. They
56 Apr / May 2016 www. farmers-mart. co. uk