Round Butte Kunekune Ranch

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Round Butte Kunekune Ranch We are a small family farm that encourages others to become more self sustainable with their food.

10/23/2026

Say goodbye to seed oils!

Dicing up backfat from our kunekune hog to render down our own lard.

Do you render your own cooking fats?




PORKTOBER & A TASTE OF MY ITALIAN HERITAGE! Look at that beautiful, red, well-marbled kunekune pork collar, home-process...
10/12/2026

PORKTOBER & A TASTE OF MY ITALIAN HERITAGE!

Look at that beautiful, red, well-marbled kunekune pork collar, home-processed by Brett and I right here at Round Butte Kunekune Ranch! This is one of the most underutilized cuts of pork, and it deserves a place at the table.

My great-grandparents, Micheal and Vienna Scarpelli, immigrated from Southern Italy. Their daughter, my grandmother, Yolanda Victoria Scarpelli Clark, just celebrated her 99th birthday! Growing up as a first-generation Italian American during the Great Depression, she learned the value of making every ingredient count.

My grandma's influence helped shape my love of cooking from scratch, canning, and preserving food. In traditional Southern Italian cooking, a little meat went a long way. Pork neck simmered into a rich gravy, served with dried beans and plenty of vegetables, could turn simple fresh ingredients into an incredible meal.

Somewhere along the way, we've become focused on bigger portions of meat instead of appreciating the flavor and versatility of the whole animal.

That's one thing I love about raising kunekunes! Beautiful marbling, incredible flavor, and the opportunity to carry on the old-world traditions of using what we raise and wasting less.

Good food, family heritage, and traditions worth passing down. God is good, and I’m grateful for the blessings of family, food, and the opportunity to share both with others. That's what it's all about!





Introducing PSP Tapeka 28+ (Shortcake 4-7)We have been patiently waiting for the right gilt to add to our breeding progr...
10/04/2026

Introducing PSP Tapeka 28+ (Shortcake 4-7)

We have been patiently waiting for the right gilt to add to our breeding program since last year, and I’ll admit, it has definitely tested my patience!

When Mitchell at Puget Sound Pastures graciously offered us the chance to add this girl to our herd, I didn’t hesitate. After her 12-month ultrasound, she measured an impressive 4.54 LEA on her carcass merit and weighed over 200 pounds. She also received a + on her herd evaluation.

Shortcake’s dam is IKHR 41172 PSP Tapeka 14++, AKA Pralines 'N Cream 22-2, and her sire is AKPR 16275 ILF Tuahuru 6+, AKA Tecumseh.

We are absolutely elated to add Shortcake to our herd here at Round Butte Kunekune Ranch. She is also bred, and we are thrilled to see her litter.

Along with her LEA data, what really impressed me about Shortcake, along with her two littermates who will remain as replacement gilts at Puget Sound Pastures, was the body style. These girls are wide, boxy, and built with the kind of structure we look for in replacement gilts.

We are so thankful and blessed for the relationships God has given us with great pork producers over the years. Working with Mitchell Eastwood and Puget Sound Pastures has been such a blessing, and we are grateful for the trust, friendship, knowledge, and genetics we have been able to share.

Sometimes patience really does pay off. We believe Shortcake was worth the wait, and we are excited to see what God has in store for her and her future litters here at Round Butte Kunekune Ranch.





09/30/2026

Nothing beats homemade bacon! We're curing our beautiful kunekune pig belly with salt and brown sugar before it gets double-smoked. Stay tuned to see how it turns out! What’s your favorite way to home process bacon?




09/23/2026

It’s never too early to start training! We are officially practicing for the IKHR 2026 Royal Christmas Show. How do you think this young piglet is doing so far?





09/15/2026

To reduce microplastics we are removing plastic guard in the vegetable garden. One of our new trials: cardboard layered with alfalfa flakes. It holds moisture great, but might harbor some slugs.
What is your favorite way to keep weeds at bay?





09/11/2026

A Little Bit of the Round Butte Kunekune Ranch Story

We thought we’d take a moment to share a little more about who we are and why we do what we do.

Brett and I began raising and home-butchering kunekune pigs in 2014 as a way to provide our family with a larger source of clean, home-raised protein. This became especially important to us after our youngest child was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at just 14 months old in September of 2000.

In late 2020, both of our adult children moved out of our family home, beginning a new chapter for us as empty nesters. We decided it was time to focus on becoming debt-free, living healthier, and becoming more sustainable with the food we raise and the feed we provide for our animals.

In 2021, we moved our farmstead to Ronan, Montana, a small agricultural community in Northwest Montana. We are so thankful that we were welcomed into this old homesteading area known as the Round Butte Community.

We are still working toward becoming debt-free, but what we have gained here is worth far more than money can measure. The relationships we’ve made, the support we’ve received, the stories we’ve been blessed to hear, and the knowledge and tips shared with us have been priceless.

We truly believe God has a purpose for each season of our lives. Looking back, we can see His hand in so many of the doors He has opened, the people He has placed in our path, and the strength He has given us to keep moving forward.

Now, we want to pay it forward.

I have felt compelled to start a YouTube channel since 2019, and my hope is that what we share will encourage someone else—to try a new meal, preserve some food, harvest meat at home, plant a garden, move forward on a goal, or finally start that project they’ve been thinking about.

Follow along on our YouTube journey:
"Round Butte Montana on YouTube"

Brett and I also volunteer at our local food bank, Ronan Bread Basket, because we believe in helping make nutritious food more obtainable for others and giving back to the community that has given so much to us.

We don’t have everything figured out, and we’re still very much a work in progress. But we are grateful for this life, grateful for our family, grateful for our community, and most of all, grateful for a faithful God who continues to guide our steps.

Thank you to all of you who follow along, encourage us, share our posts, and support what we’re doing. It truly means more than you know.

Thanks for taking the time to read a little bit of our story.

With gratitude,
Brett & Emily Peterson
Round Butte Kunekune Ranch







https://youtube.com/

Captain
09/06/2026

Captain

09/03/2026

Garden harvest 2026 continues. We continue to pick beans about every two days and we're getting six to seven tomatoes every two days as well. Emily has really worked hard to make this a successful season for us. We've had plenty of challenges this year, but we continue to persevere. God continues to bless us.

08/27/2026

Community is the backbone of everything we do. A huge thank you to everyone who helped us stock up on livestock feed this week! We truly couldn't do it without you.
~ Brett and Emily




Address

45162 Round Butte Road
Ronan, MT

Telephone

+14068330484

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