“Maximum Pig Happiness” on Pasture with Nettle Valley Farm
How Dayna Burtness and Nick Nguyen bring new meaning to ethical meat with regenerative practices, commitment to community, and the love of pigs
Story + Photography by Sarah Carroll
Down a loose gravel road in the gently sloping landscape of Spring Grove, Minnesota rests Nettle Valley Farm where Dayna Burtness and Nick Nguyen are growing pastured heritage hogs- and the next wave of regenerative farmers- on their sustainable farm and farm incubator. With devotion to animal care, a vision of a just food system, and a breakout entrance into the foodie world, Dayna and Nick give new meaning to what it means to be raising delicious food ethically.
Each morning Dayna pats goodbye to their lovable dog Thor (“He’s on a diet! His job on his last farm was carcass disposal.”), puts on her boots and heads down to the pasture to check on the 50 heritage hogs that they sell directly to customers. While Nick does farm accounting and bookkeeping and works an off-farm job from home, Dayna manages the farm and cares for the livestock. “I love the basic day to day rhythm and chores of caring for livestock,” Dayna beams.
Nettle Valley Farm’s philosophy is to let animals be themselves. “Pigs need to root, they need to play with each other, they need variety, they need space to run. Especially on a fresh pasture or eating something, they need to run around and get the zoomies,” Dayna explains as her hogs root in the background. “I feel so much better about eating the pork we produce and selling it to other people because I know these pigs have had great lives. You can taste the happiness and quality of life in their meat.”
Nettle Valley Farm uses a rotational grazing system- this means pigs and chickens systematically rotate into new pasture, surrounded by mobile electrified fencing that Dayna checks and adjusts each day. This method is good for the land and the pigs alike. The pigs fertilize lush pasture (unlike confinement hog operations where liquid manure gathers in toxic pits). And, the pigs get to behave like pigs- building mud baths, seeking shelter from the sun in the cool woods. “We try to give them a nice mix of shady woods for comfort level. We always try to make sure they have a breezy shady spot and the diversity of the plants that grow in shade- like nettles and blackcap raspberry vines.”
Beneath the trees, pigs search for tasty fungi and the farm’s namesake plants. Dayna envisions having silvopasture - the practice of having trees, forage, and livestock integrated together in a way that benefits plants and animals alike - interspersed throughout all of their farmland. You can almost see the fruit and nut trees swaying in the light summer wind as she describes how she’d love to plant trees that drop delicious treats for the pigs to eat.
Dayna pauses from her egg collection to give a hen a friendly pat. On Nettle Valley Farm, hens are for more than eggs. The chickens are part of the regenerative cycle on the farm- a cycle that tries to restore and replenish the land to a healthy ecosystem.
Dayna purchased a flock of spent hens (hens who still lay eggs but whose egg production have slowed too much for tight-margin egg operations) for fifty cents per bird. The hens “follow” the pigs, with Dayna moving the chickens into the pasture that hogs have just left. Because hogs are somewhat inefficient digesters and pass lots of organic ground feed in their manure, the chickens eat the feed left behind by the pigs. The chicken manure then helps regrow pasture full of groundcover that builds soil, all while producing eggs for farm household- and the happy pigs.
“Egg time!” Dayna calls as pigs run eagerly, ears flopping, for a treat. While they munch on eggs, Dayna carefully walks through the pasture, paying close attention to the behavior of each pig. She’s a judicious example of responsible antibiotics use in livestock: this summer her hogs got a condition called erysipelas, caused by a common bacteria healthy pigs carry, which is treated with an antibiotic. Dayna followed the instructions of her veterinarian and treated the pigs with an antibiotic in their water, which avoided any casualties. She plans to vaccinate the next batch of pigs for erysipelas and many other diseases.
"Lesson learned," she reflects. "I treat my pigs like I treat myself when it comes to antibiotics. I focus on healthy living and preventative medicine first and foremost, but if I get something acute like an ear infection, I'll use antibiotics!" Dayna sprays a pink O for “observe” on any pigs who she still needs to keep a close eye on.
Dayna pauses to give a few eggs to Big Pig, the largest hog on the farm. Nettle Valley Farm’s pork is unlike anything customers usually find in the grocery store. In addition to eggs, she feeds her pigs certified organic blend of pea and barley feed from a local mill, apple cider vinegar, black walnuts, and loads of gleaned produce like apples, squash, and pumpkins from nearby farms. The result is an exceptional taste and terroir, an ability to literally taste the lush Minnesota land in the meat.
They’re not the only ones who think their meat is exceptional. After harvest, Big Pig was featured in the national heritage pork cooking competition Cochon555 in Chicago, an honor to Nettle Valley Farm hand-picked by Chef Scott Pampuch of restaurant 4 Bells in Loring Park, Minnesota. “We’re super excited,” Dayna beams. “I hope it helps us connect with more customers who might be excited about the way we raise pork. It would really help farmers like me to get people excited about whole-hog cooking.”
Nettle Valley Farm doesn’t just value community; they actively build it both in their home and in the next crop of beginning livestock farmers. Dayna and Nick founded a farm incubator to help other beginning sustainable farmers gain access to land and infrastructure. Sitting around the dinner table in the kitchen of their farmhouse, Dayna, Nick, incubatees Bailey of Listenmore Farm, and Heidi of Radicle Heart Farm talk about their days, their challenges, their hopes and plans. Each incubatee fills an important niche on the farm, like goats, sheep, chickens, and ducks.
A neighbor pops by and Dayna’s face breaks into a wide smile as she greets him and stops to catch up. Dayna’s presence in her community stretches far beyond the border of her farm; Dayna’s an inspiring advocate for sustainable agriculture and deeply engaged with Land Stewardship Project (LSP). Dayna, in coordination with LSP, helped lead a local fight to prevent a 5000 sow hog CAFO (a factory farm) in Fillmore County called Catalpa that threatened the area’s groundwater under the porous karst terrain.
“That was my trial by fire introduction to community organizing and supporting other lifelong residents who’ve been here. Clean drinking water really does unite everyone. In this day and age of division and polarization, it was really neat to work together,” Dayna reflects on her community’s victory in stopping the CAFO from being permitted. “The system is so stacked against citizens wanting to protect our drinking water that it really opened my eyes to how much more we have to do as a state to get regulatory agencies like the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency back to regulating and controlling pollution rather than being facilitators to industry.”
Dayna encourages grocery shoppers to buy as much as possible directly from a farmer. It’s a different way to buy and requires investing in a chest freezer, purchasing a whole or half hog that will last an entire year and save money in the long term, paying up front instead of weekly, choosing the cuts of meat, and learning to cook the entire animal. Buying whole and half animals gives farmers like Dayna more time to do the work and local organizing they need to. Trying out a new way of buying meat is worth it- Dayna avows the taste outstrips anything found in a grocery store.
But Dayna’s vision for a better food system doesn’t stop with her customers that can afford to pay for their meat. “We’d like this quality of pork to be available to a lot of people,” Dayna says. “We have to put our energy and organizing into the fixing wealth inequality and problems associated with capitalism in this country. My meat isn’t expensive- people don’t get paid enough and don’t have enough time and get [screwed] at their jobs. And the people who work the hardest get paid the least.”
Dayna and Nick’s customers have varied priorities for what they look for in pork, but all strokes find want they care about at Nettle Valley Farm. “Everyone’s got their different angle,” Dayna says. “Families who really care about what they feed their kids. We’ve got one customer who is obsessed with flavor and richness of terroir and she’s loved our pork so much. Some people are interested in the health angle of higher CLAs and better Omega 3:6 ratios of pigs raised on pasture. And then some people just really like us and what we’re doing and see it as a way to support our farm and goals and incubator farm. And for other people it’s the animal welfare. It’s that the pigs get maximum happiness.”
Dayna, finished with her morning chores, stands back and watches the pigs snort and root, a calm and contentment on her face. It’s clear she’s found her calling. “I need to be on land and growing food and caring for animals,” Dayna glows. “It really is where I’m the happiest.”
