\u201cWe can also keep more of the fat on the bacon as people now appreciate its role in flavour and texture.\u201d<\/p>\n
The award-winning bacon was made using pork from the Cottle family\u2019s 370ha Highgrounds farm near Timaru, where Hamish and Angela Cottle have integrated free-range pigs into the sheep and beef operation started by Hamish\u2019s parents, John and Cheryl.<\/p>\n
With around 300 breeding sows and about 150 pigs going to market each week, the Cottles have spent 14 years developing a system they say is good for the animals, the land and the wider farm business.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really delighted that it\u2019s our pork Reuben has chosen to use,\u201d Angela said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes us feel proud of the journey we\u2019ve gone on and the effort everyone makes to deliver the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Highgrounds, the pigs move around the farm over a five- to six-year rotation.<\/p>\n
They are on each area for several months before being shifted to fresh ground, leaving behind fertility that helps grow catch crops and, later, pasture for sheep and beef cattle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pigs deliver nutrients into paddocks through their manure, urine and what they\u2019re fed,\u201d Hamish said. <\/p>\n
The approach has lifted productivity across the whole farming system, while supporting animal health by ensuring pigs are regularly moved on to clean ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good for the farm, and it\u2019s good for the pigs,\u201d Hamish said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are always going into clean ground, which minimises the risk of disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re active and content, and we reckon that has a bearing on the flavour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reuben Sharples won the Supreme Bacon Award at the 2026 100% New Zealand Bacon & Ham Awards using pork from Highgrounds.<\/p>\n
The Cottles have also developed a free-range farrowing system using transportable heated huts.<\/p>\n
Inside each hut, a hot-water-heated stand draws piglets towards the warmth after feeding, reducing the risk of them lying too close to the sow.<\/p>\n
The Cottles have supplied free-range pork through Neat Meat\u2019s Harmony brand for 14 years, providing a consistent farm-to-butcher supply chain.<\/p>\n
Dave Porter, of Neat Meat, said Sharples was committed to using high-quality ingredients.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t make a fine wine with sour grapes, and that\u2019s what Reuben prides himself on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo taste very, very good, you have to start with the very, very best raw product.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe can also keep more of the fat on the bacon as people now appreciate its role in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1443,2851,2546,44403,4057,74026,8126,144238,50605,3233,263535,5511,117,111,43,139,69,384,13136,44408,220944,294399,1240,19862,4412,223,3010,2963],"class_list":["post-597367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-about","tag-also","tag-awardwinning","tag-bacon","tag-behind","tag-butcher","tag-canterbury","tag-craftsmanship","tag-creating","tag-farm","tag-freerange","tag-just","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-people","tag-pig","tag-pork","tag-reuben","tag-sharples","tag-south","tag-supply","tag-teams","tag-the","tag-top","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}