The Hogs

Your Local Source For Premium Farm Raised Pork

Known as our “part time” job, the hogs are actually the most labor-intensive component of our farm and ranch. We are grinding feed, cleaning pens, working piglets or researching genetics daily.

Our sows are predominantly high percentage Yorkshire, low percentage Chester White. We utilize both boars and AI (artificial Insemination), which allows us to introduce other breeds on occasion.

Sows are housed in an open face shed, and enter a heated farrowing barn to give birth in farrowing crates. The sow will spend approximately 25 days in the farrowing crate, then return to the open face shed for four months, or 120 days, until she delivers her next litter. Piglets will stay in the heated barn until they reach 80-100 pounds. At that point they are moved to our finishing setup, which consists of a 24’x48’ barn that is split in two, and has a large, dirt lot associated with each half. The barn has a concrete floor, and is bedded in straw. The large, dirt lots allow pigs to be pigs.

In the fall of 2013 we made the decision to revamp our hog program and focus on raising premium hogs that will yield a high-quality eating experience for every customer. To achieve this we began keeping more in-depth records, improved our feed plan in multiple ways, and found a vet that helped us reduce health issues and implement new health protocols. We also began raising all of our own replacement gilts and choosing them based on personal phenotype and growth as well as litter and sow performance.

Today, we are finishing the same number of pigs we did in 2013, but with 5-6 fewer sows. Our customer satisfaction has steadily increased, and we are seeing a variety of new opportunities with our pork. Participating in the Black Hills Farmers Market, working with area restaurants to provide local pork and providing roasting hogs for major Black Hills area events are a few examples.

Perhaps what is most exciting to us is that the hogs allow us to be solely self-employed, with our kids in tow. Heather, Lyle and Kennedy spend a lot of time in the farrowing barn working piglets, cleaning, and updating records. Charles grinds all the feed and AI’s a lot of sows. It is typically a family effort to clean the finishing barn or work and move larger groups of pigs.

Butcher Hogs

Our butcher hogs average 280-300 pounds and hang an approximately 70 percent of their live weight. If you buy a butcher hog from us, we will deliver it to the butcher shop of your choice. We work with numerous western South Dakota shops, including: Spearfish Butcher Shop, Sturgis Meats, Integrity Meats and Wall Meat Processing. We can often do halves upon request as well.

Show Pigs

Our live auction show pig sale is each April in Rapid City, South Dakota. Follow us on Facebook or contact us for additional information. Kids are allowed to bid on their pigs, lunch is provided, and Show-Rite feeds on site to answer feeding questions.

We work exclusively with Shipley Swine Genetics to produce the best possible show pigs for our young showmen. We take the time to visit with Shipley’s about their boars, and appreciate the fact that they will help us pinpoint which boar will work best on each sow we are breeding. The combination of high-powered show pig sires on our growth and meat quality-oriented sows has resulted in what is usually an above average gaining pig that maintains look and design.

Heather has also managed to slide a couple “mutts,” as Charles calls them, into the sow herd the last couple years to provide more color and show pig presence. Those Duroc x Chester White and Hampshire x Yorkshire sows still meet our general requirements to become a sow, meaning they’re larger framed, structurally sound, high growth and carcass-oriented females.

We have a lot of fun working with youth, and providing them show pigs each year. Hearing updates on their projects, and watching them meet personal goals is among the most fulfilling aspects of owning hogs for us.

Thank you for taking the time to read about our program.