Weed-fed hogs

May 16, 2013

Washington State pot legalization prompts butcher to feed marijuana to pigs

Since Washington State passed legalization of marijuana last year, cannabis growers have been searching for ways to market the unused bits of the plant that you otherwise cannot sell. A butcher has come up with a solution for the plant waste – feeding the rest of the plant to hogs. The pigs are feed the leftover stems, leaves and root bulbs.

The butcher, William Von Schneidau paired up a medical marijuana co-op - Top Shelf Organic and a hog farmer to work together and create controlled-substance pork. According to Von Scheidau, adding weed to feed increases the fiber content of a pig’s diet, encouraging weight gain. Reports say that the pork has a savory taste. Von Scheidau calls the marijuana-fed hogs “pot pigs”.

Von Schneidau, owner of BB Ranch located in Seattle, specializes in organic and grass-fed meats including pork. The pot pork isn’t the first unique product that BB Ranch has had on the menu. In addition to Bucking Boar Farms feeding marijuana to hogs, they’ve also tried feeding vodka grains to pigs.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.