Alexandra Hicks loves her pigs for their character, individuality and intelligence.

And now that she and her husband can process them at home, she says the animals never need to leave the farm, and their lives are as calm and peaceful as she can make them.

Ms Hicks has loved pigs since she was a child.

When she married a farmer and they were deciding what sort of farm enterprise they would embark on, pig farming seemed to be the obvious choice.

And so their business, Extraordinary Pork, was born.

Ms Hicks and her husband Michael run their stock in natural pastures near Dubbo, in the New South Wales central-west.

Michael and Alexandra Hicks run their farm on regenerative principles and their pigs are pasture-fed. ( ABC Rural: Sally Bryant )

"My pigs have a great life," Ms Hicks said.

"They are relaxed and content. They have shade when it's hot and they have shelter when it's cold.

"They can wallow when they want to, and they get supplementary feed, but they can also graze.

"They're literally pigs in mud."

Mr and Ms Hicks control their pigs with movable electric fences, so the herd is regularly rotated to fresh pastures.

Their farming objective is to make money but also improve the biodynamics of their land, to run the operation as ethically and as sustainably as they can, and to offer the animals they breed the best life they can.

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They said they had always felt a bit uncomfortable putting their pigs on a truck for the two and a half hour ride to the nearest abattoir.

Mr Hicks said they managed it as carefully as they could, handling the pigs calmly and quietly, and making sure the animals did not travel in the heat of the day.

But even so, he said, his carefully nurtured pigs were still going from a place where they had been all their lives, to being confronted by sights, sounds and smells that would have been strange, and stressful.

Pigs are 'chilled' says farmer

As producers, Mr and Ms Hicks were already able to slaughter and process pigs on-farm for their own consumption, but the rules around commercial meat processing are rigorous.

However, as the old saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat.

This retired shipping container has been given a new life as a mobile abattoir, with insulation provided by panels recycled from a Sydney casino. ( Supplied )

Together, they went looking for a solution and after 12 months of research, development and building, Mr and Ms Hicks are now the proud owners of their own pig processing facility.

It is a mobile abattoir which they said allowed them to fulfil their promise to give their pigs a good life, without stress and fear.

The pigs relax in a yard at the back of the abattoir.

Each in turn is gently taken into the concrete gauzed area where they are knocked unconscious and their heart is stopped with a jolt of electricity.

One moment they are standing quietly, the next they are dead.

The whole process is so quick and quiet that the remaining pigs do not turn a hair.

"Those pigs are chilled; they are not concerned, they're not stressed," Mr Hicks said.

"This is all stuff they are familiar with. There is nothing here to make them upset or worried.

"It's very different from loading them on a truck and taking them to the abattoir."

Mr Hicks can now process his pigs in the mobile abattoir on his farm, saving the pigs a stressful journey. ( ABC Rural: Sally Bryant )

Recycled panels from casino keep it cool

The carcass of the pig then makes its way through to the refrigerated processing space — formerly a shipping container but now fitted out with smaller versions of the equipment found in a bigger abattoir.

There are elements of quirkiness too. The insulated panels they used to turn the shipping container into a cold room are recycled from a well-known Sydney casino.

The panels feature images of playing cards, attractive women, and printed statements about responsible gambling.

The Hicks's abattoir is a professional outfit made with a budget in mind.

Some of the machinery was custom-built in Germany, as it is so much smaller than the industry standard. ( ABC Rural: Sally Bryant )

Standards are just as strict as any big commercial operation — uniforms, hairnets and sterilising footbaths have to be used each time a staff member goes in.

And to add to the operation's professionalism, Mr Hicks is a fully trained and registered meat inspector, carrying out all the usual tasks a meat inspector has in a big commercial abattoir.

Saving money, keeping control

Sydney butcher and provedore Grant Hilliard, a long-term customer of the Hicks operation, said Mr Hicks's training was what made Extraordinary Pork's mobile abattoir feasible.

"It would cost a fortune to employ an outside meat inspector," he said.

"This way there are savings all round. They are saving on the transport of the pigs to the abattoir and they are saving on the slaughter and processing costs.

Butcher Grant Hilliard believes in ethical, sustainable and regenerative food production. ( ABC: Cherie von Hörchner )

"But the really exciting thing is, they have control over their entire production cycle.

"They are able to manage all the factors that might impact on the pig's quality of life, and also on the quality of the meat they produce.

"We now know from meat science that stress levels have an enormous impact on the quality of the meat, so keeping animals calm has an enormous impact not only on animal welfare, but also on the quality of the final product.

"Michael and Alex are managing their country in a regenerative way, they are producing a product that is sustainable and traceable, and they are in control of their system."

Start-up grants available for innovative business ideas

Chris Celovic, Ag-Tech Cluster Champion for Jobs for NSW, based at the University of New England in Armidale, said the abattoir concept was a very worthy recipient of a $25,000 Minimum Viable Product grant from the NSW Government.

"It's great that Michael and Alex's innovation will allow farmers to process their own livestock," he said.

"This will bring more employment into small rural areas, and it gives farmers control over their product, so they can become price-setters, rather than just having to take the price that the market decrees."

Mr Celovic encouraged other rural business owners with innovative ideas who need a bit of funding to get their ideas off the ground to check the Jobs NSW website.

"We try to have funding that follows the start-up journey, so the funding [Mr and Ms Hicks] received made it possible for them to establish their abattoir as a prototype.

"There is a great network of support out there to help businesses in regional NSW achieve their dreams."

