Farmer's Art | Heritage pork: Not so lean cuisine

Missouri farmers and butchers are supplying the nation's top chefs with tasty heritage pork breeds... read more here

By JILL WENDHOLT SILVA
The Kansas City Star

Article from The News
Salem, Arkansas ~ Tuesday, July 8, 2008

"That amazing ... pork..." read more

Thursday, June 26, 2008
Jody Shackelford, Staff Writer

"Newman University"

This past week The Newmans, our Heritage Berkshire Pork farmers, along with Paradise Locker Meats and Heritage Foods USA, hosted 5 great chefs from New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas at our first-ever "Newman University" in Missouri.

Newman University is an agri-tourism program that invites professional and hobby chefs to the Ozarks of Missouri to learn about the intricacies of traditional pork production, humane slaughter and custom butchering of an historic breed of livestock: the Six-spotted Berkshire pig. Students are able to enjoy the pristine cold springs, open pastures and outdoor life typical of southern Missouri and get a better understanding of the Berkshire's "circle of life," the special relationships responsible for getting excellent quality Berkshire pork to market.

The pleasant environment on Newman Farm and the collective knowledge of members of the Newman Family and the Fantasma Family of Paradise Locker Meats make this program as much an education as a vacation.

The students who participated in the "dress rehearsal" of the "New U" arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, and right away began feasting on fried chicken and saucy BBQ from the area, then dropped in at the legendary Sun Studio where artists like Elvis and Johnny Cash recorded their first hits. Then it was on to Myrtle, Missouri where the class embarked on the Newman Heritage Berkshire Farm tour and sat through pork lessons led by David Newman, a meat science professor. After a delicious pig roast social, the Newman University class moved on to Paradise Locker Meats located outside of Kansas City in Missouri and toured the independent, custom USDA-certified abattoir where the students witnessed a humane slaughter and explored the art of butchering, pork fabrication techniques as well as new pork cuts that make use of all parts of the animal.

The experience provided invaluable insight into how the Newman University should be organized in the future. We will keep you posted in the coming weeks about the details, schedule and price of the next school session. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the photos from our trip!

Wurstfest 2008
1st place on our Whole Muscle Beef Jerky

President Bush & Congressman Graves
have some of Paradise Meats' roasted hog.

President Bush was in Kansas City on the 25th of January for a fund raiser for Congressman Sam Graves. Paradise Meats supplied a roasted hog for the event, and it was a HUGE SUCCESS! The hog became the hit of the party, and was enjoyed by all.

Paradise Meat Locker's Kielbasa
wins Champion award at Wurstfest

For the owners of Paradise Meat Locker, one of their first times out of the gate for competitions went surprisingly well and earned the business top honors at one of the most prestigious events in the country.

Paradise Meat Locker recently attended a two day celebration, Wurstfest in Hermann, where the owners entered several of their signature sausages for judging.

For more of this story....click here

Attending our annual Missouri Assoc. of Meat Processors Convention held the first weekend in March.
Held at The Holiday Inn Select in Columbia.