Posted: 17 February 2009
Wild pork to tempt field days visitors
Wild pork meatballs will be the latest pest food tempting visitors to the Northland Regional Council’s stand at the upcoming Northland Agricultural Field Days.
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Craig Brown, Chairman of the NRC’s Environmental Management Committee, taste tests wild pork meatballs.
Last year the Council gave away 2000 barbecue bunny bangers in a bid to attract visitors to its marquee – possum and goat meat pies and possum pate have all been previous tastebud tempters.
At this year’s Thursday 26 February to Saturday 28 February Dargaville Field Days the Council plans to make 40kg of wild pork into 2000 meatballs to be handed out from the Council’s site – site 251.
Regional Council Events Co-ordinator Liz Woodward says the Council’s pest food theme has proved particularly popular in recent years and she hopes the new offering will again boost visitor numbers to its marquee.
“The wild pork is from Northland and is processed to national food standards and has been inspected by MAF,” she says. “Wild pork tastes slightly more ‘gamey’ than farmed pork and is a more commonly eaten pest animal than most of the treats we’ve had on offer in the past.”
Regional Council encourages people to hunt wild pigs - they can carry Bovine Tuberculosis, damage pasture, and impact on native forests.
Regional Council staff will be on hand at the field days to chat about the more serious aspects of the NRC’s work from sustainable land use to water quality and weed and pest control.