What are the things dangling underneath our pigs' necks?
These are called wattles. There is one on each side of their neck. Wattles on pigs don't serve a known purpose, it is simply a finger of skin that grows below the neck. There are certain heritage breeds of hogs that carry this dominant trait.
What is a heritage breed then?
Heritage hogs are those that have been around for a long time and haven't been bred for certain qualities or commercial production. Their genes remain the same and haven't been adapted for commercial characteristics. These breeds also happen to thrive better on a pasture based system because they are meant to forage and eat grass.
The heritage breeds we raise here at Spring Creek Meats include Large Blacks, Hereford, and Red Wattle hogs. Since the wattle trait is dominant, many of the piglets are born with wattles when the sow or boar have wattles as well. All of these pigs are colored, instead of being pink, which helps to prevent sunburn when they are on pasture. We are transitioning to raising solely heritage breeds because not only do they do well on pasture, but we also like that they haven't been bred for large-scale production. Many heritage breeds are also in danger of going extinct, so we think it's important to help keep them around. The quality and flavor of meat from heritage hogs is also like no other. We don't think there is anything more delicious!
