In the first part of this series I provided a fictional story about an unfortunate but all too common experience that some people encounter when getting into the world of rare hogs. In the beginning I described the common perception:
“You’ve heard that the people raising these are making tons of money off of them, selling eight week old piglets for hundreds of dollars! …Sounds like easy money…”
This is the prevalent story that is heard and causes too much unhappiness when the reality is known.
The reality in the rare hog world is that, while there are many experienced hog breeders, there are a number of inexperienced folks that have started selling these breeds without having the skills and knowledge; they sell every piglet that hits the ground as if it were the champion of the breed. When their customers later become dissatisfied and disillusioned – all good breeders and the breeds themselves suffer.
As a registrar for heritage breeds I see the litter registrations that come in and it’s easy to discern the breeders that are only in it for the money. When a breeder has a litter that has ten piglets and they want to register all ten, well, that’s the guy I’m talking about. I have never had a litter where every single piglet would make a good breeding hog. I’m lucky to get eight out of ten; most often it’s six. The other piglets are runts, have physical traits that would cause problems when breeding or carrying a litter or just do not have the qualities that should be passed along to the next generation.
Although most any piglet can be used for pork a responsible breeder will only sell, as breeding stock, those that will improve the breed. Rare hogs are rare for a reason. They just can’t compete with modern strains and were therefore not selected over time resulting in fewer numbers of that breed. Many hog breeders share a common rule: “breed the best; eat the rest”. Breeding stock should be registered so that you can track their pedigree over time, recognizing and culling those bloodlines that do not produce better piglets. Since registration also adds to the cost why would anyone want to register piglets that don’t improve the herd?
The answer is to make money without concern for the health of the breed. Registered pigs sell for more than unregistered pigs from the same breed. So those people that register every piglet from a litter are only doing that to be able to sell them as registered stock. These people are the breeders that are doing their customers and the breed a disservice and should be avoided.
The other problem that is often seen is that some heritage hog breeders really do not understand what makes these breeds so special. “Heritage” simply means that a certain breed was set before the age of industrialized hog breeding when farmers moved their hogs indoors. They became “breeds” back when people raised hogs out on the pasture, or in the woods, in the heat of summer and the cold of winter. To survive, these hogs had to be able to get their nutrition from what was available and they had to withstand the hazards of rain, wind, snow, ice, extreme heat and bitter cold.
These traits are what makes heritage hogs special. In order for the breeds to retain these critically valuable traits they must be raised in the same environments where they acquired them. A responsible heritage hog breeder will raise their hogs where it’s cold or hot, where the hog must get most of its food from the ground and allow the piglets to be born and raised in the same environment. If we brought these breeds indoors we would, over time, breed out their ability to be “heritage” breeds resulting in hogs that will die if forced to leave the safety and warmth of the barn. That would be fine is everyone had a nice barn for their pigs.
But we are facing a crisis in America where small farms have slowly died away mostly because the costs of being a farmer are just too high. If we are ever going to revive our small farming heritage we have to create a market where a family can grow crops and livestock without having to compete with “Big Ag”; without having to invest in the tremendous capital cost of large buildings and expensive equipment. Part of this effort is to ensure that they have a choice of raising livestock that can look after themselves; that can live, breed and grow outside on a pasture where the only capital investment needed is a good fence. Heritage hogs provide this choice and it is the responsibility of every heritage hog breeder to keep these breeds capable of fulfilling this need.
When a rare hog breeder raises their stock in a barn, or a dirt pen, or uses farrowing crates, they are literally ruining the breed. Please don’t help them do that.
Choose a breeder that can explain why this matters. Ask how they raise their stock and have them tell you why. Ask how many piglets from each litter they register and how they choose which ones will make a good breeding hog. Can they tell you the detailed history of their breed? You might be surprised at the number of breeders that cannot.
Recently there has been a movement to make heritage hogs trendy. This has attracted celebrities, sports stars and politicians that are in the business for the promotion it affords to their persona. Often they don’t actually manage their farms; they have hired people to do that. Because they don’t need the income from their hogs they may offer them for very low prices or not require a deposit.
This may be okay if their farm managers are experienced enough to raise quality stock. But I have to question whether these farms will be there for me in the long term. You want your breeder available to answer questions and offer advice for the next several years while you become experienced. Personally I look for breeders that are in it because they like breeding pigs, not just because it makes an interesting story in People magazine.
Compare yourself against the good and bad breeders I have described. When it comes time for you to sell your litters, which type do you want to be? Do your research now. Visit some hog farms, good and bad. Talk to other breeders online in various forums and don’t be afraid to ask some simple questions. Doing this now will allow you to see the difference between people who are truly invested in improving heritage hogs and those that just see it as easy money.
Then when you start looking at advertisements and speaking with sellers you will be able to easily tell which ones to avoid.
In the last part of this series I will go through the scenario I provided in part one and show how our unfortunate person went wrong. Hopefully then you can avoid the same mistakes.
Buyer’s Guide
Part 2
