Highgrounds Farm

In a country where over 60% of pork is imported, one South Island farm is quietly demonstrating how New Zealand agriculture can lead the world in animal welfare, environmental stewardship, and diversification. Hamish and Angela Cottle, owner-operators of Highgrounds Farming Company, didn’t set out to reinvent pig farming. They set out to get New Zealand asking: What if the future of farming isn’t producing more, but producing better?

On Highgrounds Farm, just south of Timaru, the Cottles prove that free-range isn’t just a label - it’s a complete ecosystem. The farm was first bought in the late 1980s by Hamish’s parents, with Hamish joining them in a farming partnership in 2007 after returning from overseas. The pigs were introduced to improve farm productivity, and since then the farm has expanded from 215 hectares to 370 hectares of productive land and is now New Zealand’s largest commercial free-range pig farm. “We’re in an area that’s typically dry, and irrigation wasn’t an option. You can continue farming pigs even when it turns dry, so it was a bit of a no-brainer for us,” Hamish explained. “To increase farm productivity, we had the knowledge about pigs that we needed to develop a complementary system to incorporate into our existing operation.”

Highgrounds Farming Company sells 140 pigs a week for meat, which is around 7,000 pigs annually, produced from the 280 to 300 sows on the farm at any given time. Alongside the pigs, they farm 1,500 breeding ewes, a pedigree Texel flock of 200 ewes, and sell stud Texel rams yearly. They also have around 80 Angus cross beef cows and calves, which they take through to finishing.

What sets this farm apart is that it is “completely free-range.” The pigs are born and raised outdoors, compared to free-farming operations that finish their piglets on deep straw litter. The pigs have access to sun, dirt and grass through their entire life cycle and can display natural behaviours, with space to run, roll, wallow and root. Each group of 200 plus pigs has around two hectares of pasture, or roughly 100m² per pig. Hamish said this is a key part of the farming philosophy at Highgrounds.

“We like to see the pigs display their natural behaviours. It’s great seeing the pigs happy, able to go and eat grass, root around in the dirt, lie in the shade, or choose to do whatever they like. It’s a very clean way of farming pigs. We don’t use antibiotics as we find they don’t need them; they don’t have any disease build up.”

Regarding biosecurity, there is a 48-hour stand down period for anyone coming to the farm who has recently been in contact with other pigs. To further minimise the risk of spreading disease, the feed truck drops feed into an area that staff and animals do not have access to.

The entire farm operates in a circular ecosystem, and farming pigs complements this. Each aspect of Highgrounds Farming Co. has a purpose that supports another facet of the farm, and each animal plays a part for the whole system to work.

“From a holistic point of view, farming pigs is a good way of complementing the rest of the farming operation. The pigs have become a part of our pasture renewal programme. When you have a sheep and beef farming operation, it’s good practice to renew your pastures, and ours are renewed every five or six years, to keep the pasture young and productive. We’ve incorporated the pigs into that system,” Hamish explained.

“The pigs will go over a paddock of older pasture, and they’re allowed to display their natural behaviours on that area. In the meantime, all the feed imported onto the farm goes through the pigs and onto that ground, where it’s boosting the fertility. Once the pigs have moved on, we’ll capitalise on that and utilise that fertility to grow crops, to finish lambs or finish the cattle. Once we’ve grown that crop, we’ll put down grass, which will be down for maybe five or six years. In the meantime, the pigs have done a full circuit of the farm, before they’re back there again.” The circular system offers a sustainable approach to farming, creating minimal waste and prioritising productivity.

Hamish emphasised that managing the environmental impact of free-range pigs is about balance. While pigs inherently disturb the ground – a part of their natural behaviour – Highgrounds Farm manages this by ensuring paddocks are large enough to prevent excessive damage, particularly in wet conditions. Like most farms, Highgrounds is challenged by weather events, however, farming pigs has created resilience to significant events like drought.

Highgrounds Farm also implements an alternative to farrowing crates: a modified version of a round farrowing hut first designed at Ruakura AgResearch Centre in the 1950s. Created with a central heat lamp for piglets, it has been adapted for free-range use by making a piglet safety zone, a hot box with a 10-litre warm water container placed in the hut’s centre when the piglets are first born. This reduces overlays as it draws the piglets inside the box and away from the sow, compared to conventional A-frame systems, where piglets seek warmth near the sow and risk being crushed. The round hut structure controls movement, making it safer for piglets and more farmer-friendly, maintaining a barrier between workers and the sow.

The farm sources pig genetics from PIC, using a composite breed designed for outdoor systems. The locally-imported sows primarily consist of Large White and Landrace genetics. Bred with selected boars, they produce “hardy, fast-growing pigs” suited to free-range conditions. The farm operates on a four-to five-month cycle, with gilts integrated into one of seven batches, each containing 38-40 sows farrowing every three weeks. Piglets are weaned at four weeks before the sows are re-mated. Male grower pigs are raised to approximately 80 to 90kg liveweight and female grower pigs around 100 to 110kg, taking four and nearly five months respectively, before being sold.

A significant challenge Highgrounds Farming Company and pork farmers nationwide face is the misleading labels on pork in supermarkets. Hamish explained that product is being imported into New Zealand from overseas, produced at a lower animal welfare and meat quality standard, making it cheaper. He said the current labelling regulations limit consumer awareness of what they buy.

“The consumer can’t pick it up and make an instant decision. The labelling is a bit misleading, in my opinion,” he said. “It’s in fine print on the back that it’s potentially from another country, but if you look at the product, it’s not clear straight away. I think it’s only fair for a consumer to make an informed decision by picking up the packet and being able to tell immediately. I think the future is bright for pig farmers, but we are up against this in terms of animal welfare standards and the challenge of competing against cheaper imports.”

Highgrounds Farm sells its pork through Harmony meats nationally, where all meat sold is New Zealand grown, through farms focused on sustainability and quality. They also sell locally through Chopped Butchery in Waimate.

With the family taking a hands-on role and a team of three full-time staff , managing morale and mental health is important for those at Highgrounds. “I probably don’t get off the farm enough, but we try to take the staff off-farm two or three times a year to relax and unwind. It’s important to do something different, because our farming system is so structured,” Hamish said. Last year, he said the team went to a Crusaders game in Christchurch, and took a trip to an escape room. They also went to Matt Chisholm’s Time Out Tour in early March to discuss mental health on farms through Rural Support Trust. Hamish’s mum also makes smoko on weighing days once a week and provides breakfast and lunch on weaning days once every three weeks. “Just little things like that help maintain good morale,” Hamish added.

Highgrounds Farming Company proves that ethical, sustainable pig farming is still a viable option for New Zealand. By prioritising animal welfare, environmental balance, and farm resilience, the Cottles have built a system that challenges industry norms. As imported pork dominates the market, their work emphasises the importance of sticking to our roots.