Monday, July 27, 2009

Acorn Harvesting

A number of Mangalitsa producers are interested in harvesting acorns and feeding them to their Mangalitsa pigs.

Something similar happens in Eurasia - people harvest acorns in Turkey and bring them to Spain, where they are fed to Iberico pigs to produce special pork which is eventually made into cured products.

Pecan harvesting equipment and methods might be useful in picking up acorns. Here's something on how to harvest pecans. Here's used pecan equipment.

2 comments:

MadMarty said...

Hey, great info. I am interested in information about acorn harvesting companies. Do you know of any (preferably in the U.S.)?

Heath Putnam said...

MadMarty -- I don't know of any set up that way. A few thoughts:

1) Landscapers might be able to get you acorns cheap. It is a waste product for them.

2) To really harvest acorns (as with any crop), people modify things to get the most yield. E.g. an almond orchard is set up to make it cheap to produce almonds. The trees are bunched the right distance apart and things are laid out so that people can use equipment to do the work.

3) If you can harvest, clean and shell acorns, you may be able to sell them for cash in Spain and Portugal. I've read about Turkish acorn meats being sold in Spain.