Idaho Pasture Pigs

Idaho Pasture Pigs

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Gary & Shelly Farris own a small, family farm located in Idaho. Their goal is to bring back the "pig" to family farms. To that end, they’ve developed a unique breed of pig that is loveable, pasture based, and it’s an all natural meat hog. Idaho Pasture Pigs, Ipp's for short, were designed specifically for pasture based systems. They were designed with the small farmer, homesteader and hobby farmer in mind. Through selective and unique breeding, IPP’s have been developed as friendly, pasture based, meat hogs. The Farris’s have selected breeds known for excellent, red marbled meat and have thrown in an extremely gentle pasture based pig along with it. The sows have better dispositions at farrowing time. The boars are gentle to handle. The piglets crawl into our laps instead of being so flighty, like other domestic pigs. Ipp's reach butcher weight in 180 days as do traditional hogs, but do not get as big at maturity. Idaho Pasture Pigs at maturity are around 350 lbs; compare that to 750 lbs on other breeds. Ipp's have short, upturned, snouts. These snouts set them apart from other breeds and allow them to graze the grass instead of rooting it up. They come in a variety of colors including red, red and black, black and white, tri-colored; ginger, and black and white. The have wattles or tassels under their chin. Very few pig breeds have the waddles. They have great conformation, with nice well rounded hams. See them at IdahoPasturePigs.com
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