Welcome to Glenbrook Farm
Peter is the third generation of his family to run the farm, near Whites cross just outside of Cork city. starting back in 2001 with just 25 cows. He now currently has seventy cows and keeps twenty free-range sows, with their produce sold through a local butcher.
The pigs originally started as a hobby, with two weaners, and then Peter bought a sow eleven years ago for his daughter and have since increased from two weaners to 20 breeding sows. In the beginning the two weaners were used to fill their freezer and give away any surplus to family and friends. There was no preference on breed, but they had to be colourful!
In 2017 Peter purchased 4 pregnant sows ( from their
wedding present money) and began the journey of
breeding pigs! What could possibly go wrong?
His love for pigs was stronger than the market for their
offspring and was left with pigs with nowhere to
go…NIGHTMARE!
In 2018, Peter advertised his four sows on Donedeal to sell them on.
It was at that time that Peter was fortuitous enough to meet up with the Irish Pig society the same month at the ploughing and found a network of like-minded people who also loved pigs. It was at that point that Peter decided to remove his Donedeal advert and set about finding markets for his pork. Word soon began to reach out to the public…the word was organically spreading!
In 2020 I teamed up with Ballymaloe farm. There herd mixed with mine and we started supplying them with weaners. We were now up to 11 sows and 2 boars. In 2021 we started supplying Byrnes butchers in Ballyvolane (approx. 1 mile from our farm) and Fitzgerald’s butchers in Fermoy. In 2022 we increased to 25 sows and 3 boars with our pork now available for nationwide delivery in a 5kg box. In 2022 our pork was also on the menu of O’Mahoney’s restaurant in Watergrasshill and The Cove restaurant in Fota Hotel. Our pork is now also part of the Irish Pig Society Cooperative which supplies O’Mahoney’s butchers in the English Market. Christmas 2022 saw our supply of free-range pork boxes and hams sell out.
We hope to open a shop here on the farm in February 2023 to sell our pork in smaller quantities direct to our customers. Its exciting times to be a free-range pig farmer! Sharing our passion for ethical and sustainable food for the table!
