Frequently Asked Questions

Can you provide breeding pairs?

Absolutely! This is our specialty. We have numerous unrelated boars and sows and can provide piglets with low inbreeding and good conformance to standards.

How do you choose which piglets to sell as breeding stock?

Our standards are based on our experience breeding piglets that make good adult breeders or pork hogs. We focus on the ability of a hog to breed, carry a litter to farrowing and raise the litter to weaning without needing human intervention. The things we look for are listed in our Piglet Standards.

Do you charge extra for certain traits?

No, our prices are the same regardless of bloodline or trait. We don't try to make more money for extra teats, which bloodline the parents come from, based on how large the litter was or how friendly their mom was.

We also don't charge more for breeding pairs. Some breeders do simply because they don't have much breeding stock. We have lots of unrelated boars and sows and providing breeding pairs is our specialty!

Some breeders increase their prices for piglets that come from sows that have had large litters. You may think that, if their mom had large litters, they will too. The truth is that the number of piglets born in a litter has very low heritability; any breeder that uses that for marketing is just trying to take advantage of inexperienced customers. We also know that the temperament of any pig is determined by how it is raised. Just because a sow is nice doesn't mean that her offspring will be; they will be raised in a completely different environment. If a breeder says that the piglets will be well mannered because mom is, walk away.

Although some rare bloodlines are in higher demand we have not found any significant difference between bloodlines and therefore won't try to make money off of people's naivety. If someone tells you that one of their pigs "looks like a XXXX bloodline", ask them how many of that bloodline and others they have seen? We've seen hundreds of GOS and Large Black hogs and cannot identify any trait that distinguishes one bloodline from another. There has never been a statistically significant study of rare hog bloodlines and any one breeder cannot possibly know whether their hogs match what a certain bloodline looks like. That is all just a bunch of, well, "hogwash". Besides, all of the GOS and Large Black hogs in the United States came from a relatively few imported foundation stock; look at any of their pedigrees and you will see a number of different bloodlines in their ancestors. Anyone that is worried about creating a "mishmash" of bloodlines through control of inbreeding versus breeding by bloodline simply doesn't understand the reality of the condition of the U.S. herds. Breeding by bloodlines or the GOS "color groups" is like alchemy; calculating inbreeding and using that as a guide is science.

Numerous studies have shown that the higher inbreeding in a herd the lower the herd performs (makes lots of good babies...) Our primary focus is on providing low inbred piglets that meet breed standards. Of all of the traits that people say make a good breeding hog, inbreeding is the one thing that you can control. We never mate hogs unless their piglets will have low Coefficients of Inbreeding. However we do have numerous bloodlines and you can order piglets from certain lines if you wish. Contact us for details of our breeding plan. If you really want to compare one of our pigs against your own to see if it would make a good mate, send us your hog's pedigree and we'll run the numbers for you.

Why is low inbreeding so important? Isn't a good looking pig with high inbreeding still a good choice?

Multiple large scale studies have shown that herds with high inbreeding have lower performance; they have fewer piglets and their piglets have less desirable traits (size, growth, etc.) While a high inbred hog may look good it carries the very great potential to harm future generations.

We have written an article that covers inbreeding and management more in depth (click here to read it).

Let me be very frank. A rare hog breeder that tries to justify creating high inbred litters or sells highly inbred hogs as breeding stock is probably harming the breed. They either have not done the research and don't understand the harm or they are deceptively trying to sell their hogs because they can't create low inbred litters. They are choosing personal profit over the health of the larger herd.

We often hear some breeders say they are "linebreeding" their herds. Don't be fooled; linebreeding is inbreeding and simply cannot be done effectively in any one small farm's herd of rare hogs. Effective linebreeding requires the use of a large population of animals and a study of the effects of linebreeding over a long period of time. You must be able to identify heritable traits over several generations to determine whether they are fixed and beneficial or detrimental. Only then can one make a intelligent decision about what actions to take. This simply can't be done with the small individual herds we now have in the U.S.

We think it is very dangerous for new breeders to get an unrealistic idea about linebreeding their small herds. Linebreeding done improperly can result in the opposite effect than what is desired, passing along latent, damaging traits. Linebreeding will lead to a narrowing of the genetic base of a breed and will reduce its flexibility and ability to adapt to changing circumstances in the future including ability of its immune system. These dangers have been recognized even by those who manage the largest breeds and they pose a much greater threat to rare breeds. Linebreeding can also result in loss of vigor whereas mating of unrelated bloodlines often results in greater vigor (hybrid vigor within a breed).

When you are looking at buying rare hogs be very selective. Do your research. Ask lots of questions. Make sure that your choice is helping to improve the herd (not just your herd but the larger U.S. herd). Avoid breeders that don't make you feel comfortable; they may just be trying to dump their problems on to you.

I've heard that Gloucestershire Old Spots should be bred by the "color" bloodline system. Doesn't that work well to control inbreeding without needing to actually calculate the amount of inbreeding?

The GOS "color" system was developed in the U.K. in the 1960's by a person who had 80 percent of the U.K. GOS herd on his farm and knew that inbreeding was detrimental to the continued improvement of the herd. At that time the standard method of controlling inbreeding in a livestock population was through calculation of inbreeding. However, the calculation is very complex; any person raising hogs in the 1960s would see that as much harder to do than just breeding according to bloodlines. So the GOS "color" system probably made a lot of sense then as it allowed a fair control of inbreeding in a relatively simple manner.

However, that was 50 years ago and use of the system never provided anyone with truly knowing the amount of inbreeding in any GOS. We now have computers that can do the calculation for us and there is no good reason to use the old system. There are many software programs and websites where any person can calculate the resultant inbreeding in a breeding pair; the HHBC will do it for its members.

Additionally there are simply not enough representatives of each color group in the U.S. for the "color" system to be effective. Any GOS breeder that is truly interested in controlling inbreeding will provide you the exact amount of inbreeding in any piglet or breeding pair that they offer for sale. If you are speaking with breeders to find good pigs to add to your herd, either ask the breeder to calculate the resulting inbreeding between your hogs and theirs or ask for a copy of the pedigree of their hog and have the calculation done yourself.

If a GOS breeder tells you that inbreeding doesn't matter or that the old "color" system is fine, walk away...

Can you ship the piglets to me?

We can ship piglets via American Airlines from Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA).  They connect through Dallas to just about everywhere in the world.  You can get estimates of their rates at their website. We have shipped many piglets successfully all over the United States and highly recommend shipping by air. The main advantage is that the piglets get to you the same day. American Airlines has very good standards and processes for handling animals to ensure they stay safe during transport. We do add a transportation charge to cover our cost and you will need to provide a crate (or we can get it and charge it back to you).

Ground shipping may also be available but we do not recommend that. The cost is usually much more than shipping by air. Additionally they use trailers that contain many animals and this will allow any bacteria and viruses to be passed to your piglets. Think about this: You have a biosecurity plan on your farm and are very careful to not mix animals from different farms or let visitors into your livestock areas to prevent cross-contamination. Well, guess what happens in that trailer? Now not only could your pigs be infected but they could carry any disease to your farm...

Can I come to your farm to pick up my piglets?

Really? You wanna pick up your pig? ;)

Seriously, most customers come to the farm to get their piglets. Not only is this the safest method but it also lets you give your family a great road trip! If you are going to pick up your pig you will need appropriate transportation. All this really means is something that will keep the pig healthy until you get it back to your farm. Most people use large dog crates. You can easily transport several piglets this way as long as they have room to move around. You must also keep the pigs hydrated and warm. You can provide them with a bowl of water (heavy dog bowls work well) or offer them water every few hours but the easiest way to keep your pigs hydrated is to just give them a few apples during the trip! To keep them from becoming too hot or cold most people place the dog crate in the back of their SUV or wagon. We do not recommend transporting them in a trailer unless you are sure that the temperature within the trailer will not become less than 40 degrees or more than 80 degrees fahrenheit. Remember that they need clean airflow and the airflow and sunlight can significantly alter the temperature within the trailer from that outside. If you must stop overnight the pigs should be fine as long as the temperature remains within the parameters above (or you could try to sneak them into your hotel...)

Can I choose the "pick of the litter"?

All of the piglets that we offer for breeding stock have the same qualities and are all the best "picks". They all meet the Breed and our standards and there is really no significant difference. When we have litters on the ground we choose the ones that meet standards and then mark them accordingly for registration. Then we assign them to each customer based on priority. We average about eight out of ten that meet breeding standards and sell the rest as unregistered stock.

Who are your hogs registered with?

Our Large Black hogs are registered with the Large Black Hog Association (LBHA) and our GOS are registered with the Heritage Hog Breeders Club (HHBC).