Finding a Hog Market Niche

A string of disasters – two severe farm fires, drought and historically low hog prices – knocked George Scott to his knees. The Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, farmer struggled to keep his small crop and farrow-to-finish hog farm solvent. He decided the only thing left to do was pray. 

“We really didn’t know what to do because it was a bad situation,” George says. “We wanted to work together as a family on the farm. Then one night  I prayed and the next day, the lightbulb came on. The Lord wanted me to go into pig roasting, and that’s how we got started.”

It was 1994 and George built his own steel pig roaster for the family’s new business they named Scott’s Roasting. They pulled the roaster around to local events and sold pork sandwiches. 

“Our local fair was our first big event, and it was well received,” George says. “After that summer, we bought our first concession trailer, and we’ve been running to fairs, arts and crafts festivals, tractor supply stores and car shows ever since.”

Farm, concessions work together
Thirty years later, Scott’s Roasting has grown enough to keep four concession trailers and a food truck busy selling roasted pork and sausage sandwiches. George and his wife, Brenda, operate the business with their son, Jason, and his wife, Amanda. 

In an eight-month season, they cook meat from 250 hogs raised on their farm. About 150 hogs are roasted and the rest are used for sausage. 

A local, USDA-inspected meat shop processes the hogs, and the Scotts do the roasting at their farm. The sausage hogs are processed into seasoned, whole-hog sausage ready for cooking.

“The finished product is about 50 pounds of roasted pork from one pig, which isn’t nearly as much as you’d think,” Jason says. “We get more out of a pig for sausage, about 120 pounds of loose ground sausage.”

The hog farm is still the same size it was in 1994 with 150 sows, but marketing is vastly different. While some of the hogs are sold via sandwiches, the rest of the hogs are sold privately either to the meat market or individuals. 

“When people realize we grow our own hogs, they will either buy a roasting pig for themselves or process one for their freezer,” Jason explains. “To a certain point, we control our own market. And the two businesses feed off each other.”

The perfect pig
Over the years, Jason has learned what type of hog makes a good roasting and sausage pig. He likes a crossbred with Yorkshire, Berkshire and Duroc that weighs between 240 and 250 pounds.

“The traits we like are a bigger ham and a good fat layer,” he says. “A good amount of fat makes for nice roasting with moist meat. Plus, crossbred sows have good ease of farrowing.”

The family’s 400-acre crop operation fits well into the business by producing the corn to feed their hogs and beef cattle. They also grow soybeans, wheat and hay. Grains not used on the farm are sold through a local grain broker, and the hay is sold to local Amish customers for their horses.

Big events
The biggest event for Scott’s Roasting continues to be their local Centre County Grange Fair, which runs for nine days. “We will go through 42 roasted hogs and 1,500 pounds of sausage during the fair,” Jason says. 

Otherwise, their schedule shows a mix of summer festivals, fairs and special events where they set up concessions. 

In 2022, the business reached a new audience with a coveted booth at Penn State’s football stadium. The Scotts were back at the stadium selling pork for the 2023 season. 

New Holland sponsored Scott’s Roasting for the booth as part of their “Farm to Stadium” program that recognizes locally sourced food from area farms.

Variety of customers
The Scotts have served a lot of different customers. The most unique was during the COVID-19 pandemic when they were called by two large state correctional institutions. 

“We set up a stand in the parking lot to serve the guards,” Jason says. “They had three shifts because someone has to be there 24 hours a day.”

The pandemic boosted their business in other ways, too. “We set up at tractor supply stores following health guidelines, and it was absolute pandemonium,” he adds.

6,000+ Facebook followers 
Over their three decades in business, the Scotts have made drastic changes in the way they reach customers.

“Back in the ’90s when we parked in a spot, my grandfather made signs and set them up around the area,” Jason recalls. “We also used a local paper for advertising.”

Today, a robust social media marketing program run by Amanda reaches customers. The company’s Facebook page has 6,400 followers. 

“We’ve developed a very loyal, local customer base,” Jason says. “When Amanda puts up a Facebook post on where we are going to be, 6,000 people get the message instantly.” 

They also post an updated list of events they will attend on their website at scottsroasting.com.

The website and Facebook are used to build interest in new menu items like their latest creation, the Mashed Piggie, made with mashed potatoes, pork, BBQ sauce, cheese and fried onions. They also just added deep-fried sausage burritos and an open-face sandwich with homemade sausage gravy. 

Brenda makes most of the decisions about the menu, which includes only homemade items and is generally sandwich focused. She also makes the BBQ sauce used for the roasted pork, a secret recipe developed years ago by Jason’s grandmother, Joanne Scott.

“We usually hire six part-time employees, mostly family, to help out since most events are on weekends,” Jason says. “We close our trailers at the end of October as the weather changes, which is also when we gear up for harvest. In the winter, we still get some orders for roast pork and do some light catering.”

The Scotts use New Holland equipment for their concession business as well as for the hog operation and farm. They rely heavily on their skid steers loaders to handle all the daily jobs related to pigs and roasting.

“Our New Holland skid steer is like a hired man around here,” George says. “We’ve tried other brands, but we are just stuck on New Holland.”

Jason adds, “You can go to the shed and hop into any of them and know they will work.”

The Scotts are quick to point out the reliability of one unique piece of equipment: a New Holland grinder-mixer they use to make hog feed. The product was discontinued years ago but the Scotts recently were able to purchase a replacement that hadn’t been used for 30 years. 

Advice for diversifying
The message George received 30 years ago to diversify into pig roasting saved the farm. The Scotts believe diversification can help other farmers survive, too. 
 
“If you are a small family farm, you have to be able to diversify and figure out your niche,” Jason says. “Find something that fits into your operation. And if you want to grow a business, devote yourself to it.”
 
The time also may be right for small farms to start a business that directly reaches consumers. “What’s happening now is the public is looking for what’s fresh from the farm,” he adds. “It’s a good time to start small and work into it.”

Jason also advises anyone trying to reach consumers to take advantage of social media. “When we started our business, it was by word of mouth. But now with social media, word can spread a lot quicker. You are foolish if you don’t use it.”