Correction: Rose Konold is the sole owner of Mason Creek Farm in Fayetteville. The farm's ownership was incorrectly described in this article. In addition, in one instance, the farm’s hog breed, the Boston Mountain hog, was misidentified as the Ozark Mountain hog.
FAYETTEVILLE --When Rose Konold, co-owner of Mason Creek Farm in Fayetteville, roams the farm's pastures in the early afternoon to check on her hogs, she knows her star sow will recognize her instantly.
She knows Ruby can hear her when she calls and can see Konold a good ways off -- and that's by design.
Ruby is one of the farm's Boston Mountain Hogs, a unique breed that Konold and her husband, Glenn Woelk, have worked nearly eight years to perfect.
While most pigs have panoramic vision of more than 300 degrees, they typically have very poor eyesight. Combined with ears that flop down, making it difficult to hear, and layers of thick neck fat making it difficult to even look up at the horizon, pigs are often prone to startling, making them both anxious and stubborn. When Konold and her husband decided to breed their own trait-specific hogs, they took that into account.
"We have minimal equipment on the farm," Konold said. "We move everything by hand. Them being able to see us and recognize us in the pasture is really important. It makes them very easy to deal with."
The fact that the hogs have better sensory perception of their surroundings means they're startled less often, ultimately making the hogs -- the sows, in particular -- less stressed, Konold said.
"If she's an easygoing, nice, happy, fat sow, she's going to have a lot of babies."
After years of work, Konold and Woelk are trying to propagate the Boston Mountain Hog throughout the region through the creation of a breeders association -- one of the requirements of getting a U.S. Department of Agriculture trademark on the pig.
Beginning in 2006 with several Tamworth and Berkshire hogs -- two of the most popular breeds in North America -- Konold and Woelk began selectively breeding hogs with the intention of producing the most consistently substantial flanks and loins, along with a high degree of fatty "marbling."
Konold said the Tamworth breed is known as "the bacon hog," with deep sides and lack of fat.
"The downside of that is that it's not a naturally marbled breed, so the loin is just meat with no marbling," Konold said. "People tend to overcook pork, so what we were finding with the Tamworths was, they were complaining that their pork was too dry, especially if they like a thick cut or chop."
Charles Maxwell, a professor of animal science at the University of Arkansas' Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, said that specified traits are typically bred into, or out of, animals using the same theory of genetics developed by Gregor Mendel in the mid-19th century.
While some traits, known as "single gene" traits, are relatively simple to breed in or out using the Mendelian method, other traits are more complex, Maxwell said, relying on a scale of "heritability." He said breeders run experiments to see what traits people want to be passed on to succeeding generations.
"How rapid a progress you can make toward getting a specific trait enhanced in the breed you're producing would depend upon the heritability of the trait, and the variability of that trait within the population of animals you're working with," Maxwell said. Most fertile sows typically produce two litters in an average year.
After eight years, Konold said she and her husband have now propagated three separate genetic lines, and are hoping to add a fourth, to continue propagating the breed indefinitely without risking the consequences of inbreeding.
Konold said the three existing lines were created using a "line breeding" technique, in which a boar is bred back to a daughter gilt, a young female pig that hasn't been bred, and again to a granddaughter gilt.
Further research led to a rotational breeding method popularized in Britain for the production of the Gloucester Old Spot breed of pig, which substantially reduces the probability of inbreeding depression, Konold said.
Earlier this year, Konold and Woelk applied to the USDA for a trademark on the Boston Mountain Hog. One requirement for trademarking a breed is establishing a breeders association, a 501(c)5 organization. While not tax-exempt, the incorporated association's structure allows it to be made up entirely of "managing members" without having to appoint a president, treasurer or other officers.
Konold held the first meeting of the Boston Mountain Hog Breeders Association on June 18 at the Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Center in Fayetteville. About 30 small-farm owners, including Katie Short, owner of Farm Girl Meats in Conway, attended to elect seven members to the board of directors.
Nicole Civita, a professor of law at UA specializing in food-related issues, said forming a breeders association helps producers of trademarked animal breeds maintain the quality of their brand.
"Trademarking a breed is obviously quite a bit different than trademarking your fast-food franchise, or another business, because what you're looking at is really a particular line of genetics that are going to be replicated, and are quite capable of being changed and altered through breeding," Civita said.
Most of Mason Creek Farm's 60 acres is pasture, consisting of fescue grass and clover, along with several moderately wooded areas. Although adult and adolescent hogs are separated by sex, they all have vast areas to roam, fenced in by single-strand low-voltage, electrified fences.
The pigs graze throughout the day and receive twice-daily feedings of grains and minerals from Konold. This differs significantly from feeding practices in concentrated animal feeding operations, in which animals are relatively confined and typically fed a steady diet of grain from weening to slaughter.
Over the past several years, Mason Creek has been selling Boston Mountain Hog pork to restaurants and other retailers throughout Arkansas and neighboring states. In 2013, Konold and Woelk began reaching out to other small farmers interested in propagating their own lines of the unique hog.
Short began working with Konold in late 2012, and is now propagating Ozark Mountain Hogs on her property.
Short said the Boston Mountain Hogs reach a target slaughter weight of 275-280 pounds within six months, putting them squarely between a Tamworth hog, which matures at about 5 months, and a Berkshire hog, which matures at 7 months. She said she looks for sows capable of raising large litters in relatively rugged environments.
"I jumped at the opportunity. They're fantastic pigs," Short said. "I favor a very naturalistic approach to farming in general, and especially with the pigs."
SundayMonday Business on 07/06/2014