The story of Chunk and Chunkette
By 2009, all of the piglets we produce will be sired by “Chunk”, a purebred mulefoot boar. And “Chunkette” will provide us with purebred mulefoot piglets. This is no small matter, as the mulefoot breed dang near went extinct. It’s nearly a miracle that we have them. We had to pick them up at the airport in Syracuse after they got off of a plane from South Dakota (in a dog crate - they don’t let pigs use the seats, which I think is kind of mean).
Why did we go through all of this effort to get a couple pigs? We certainly like the idea of helping to preserve a rare breed and therefore biodiversity in pig genetics. And clearly, raising heritage pig breeds gives us a marketing edge. And mulefoots do great on pasture, foraging for a good chunk of their diets. We love that mulefoots are incredibly cold tolerant and can often be found digging in a snowbank somewhere while the other pigs huddle in their shelters on a cold, wintery day. And mulefoots are totally adapted to living outdoors in simple shelters with few health problems. But you could make those same arguments about a handful of other heritage breeds.
What sets mulefoot hogs apart from all the other American pigs is their type. You see, back in the day pigs were classified by their type - rangy, meat type or lard type. Rangy pigs were long and lean with long legs and were specialized for the production of bacon. They had relatively small shoulders and hams and their long lengths meant they would have lots of belly, aka bacon. Lard type or “chuffy” pigs had short legs and short bodies and could be made incredibly fat, back when lard was still used for all sorts of industrial processes as well as being the dominant cooking oil. Meat type hogs fell somewhere in the middle and were selected for large hams and shoulders.
As time went on, lard was replaced by vegetable oil, bacon became incredibly popular and Americans became incredibly paranoid about consumption of lard even while it apparently still formed the backbone of the Mediterranean diet. And so the lard and meat type hogs went the way of the dodo. Decades of selection turned even old lard type hogs such as the Berkshire into long, lean rangy hogs. This selection seemingly happened to every American breed of any commercial importance. Which brings us back to the unique history of the breed.
Like I say, the Mulefoot breed was nearly extinct, with literally one known breeder left, Mr. R.M. Holliday of Louisiana, Missouri. For four decades he kept his Mulefoot herd going while all of the others vanished. Since the breed was of no commercial significance to anyone else and since Mr. Holliday liked them the way they were, the Mulefoot breed is the only full size American lard type hog left.
So why do we want chuffy hogs? Quite simply, pork fat rules. Pork backfat is a unique cut of meat that can be heated without all of the fat rendering out. It is what allows a sausage to retain it’s juiciness when cooked. It is what allows a pate to be creamy but not oily. Modern breeds of pig have been bred specifically not to produce this cut of pork which is so crucial to great charcuterie. When fed a full grain ration they will very efficiently convert it to lean meat. The mulefoot hogs will grow lean meat when fed a low calorie diet of pasture with some whey and when fed liberally will easily put on backfat, so they allow us to have it either way.
I’m pleased to report that Chunk and Chunkette are doing well. Chunk is an incredibly good natured boar who loves to be scratched behind his ears. Chunkette is large, lovely, chuffy and grumpy. Very, very grumpy. We hope that Chunk can see through her grumpiness because we’d love some little mulefoots.