Spirit of Hope Farm is proud to announce that, due to the increasing demand for high-quality, humanely-raised pig products, we have expanded our farrow-to-finish hog production from two to four sows!  We retained our best gilts to add to our breeding stock to help us meet the increasing demand for fast-growing, superior-carcassed pigs!


The Boars


(Boofus in his pen with his pony-friend Sarah hanging out, enjoying a beautiful day.

He's got it rough, huh?)


Boofus is a 100% Duroc boar, weighing approximately 700lbs.  He is an excellent example of his breed with fantastic depth of ham and shoulder, and a nice, long body that is highly desirable for bacon production.  As a breed, Durocs are well-known for their rapid growth to market weight, which means greater feed efficiency.  When cross-bred with other hog breeds, the producer gains hybrid vigor that results in lower piglet mortality and greater carcass yield, which increases profit potential on a higher quality product. Boofus is a prepotent sire whose numerous offspring have embodied these traits even when crossed with lesser-quality sows.  We will be using him as our herd foundation sire. His first litter with Buella sold out before they were even born and we have retained three of his daughters and one of his sons as second-generation producers due to their exceptional quality! 


Bubba Duke, born here on the farm in December 2012, is a 75% Duroc boar and son of Boofus, our senior herd sire. Bubba Duke is quite laid back, content to hang with the girls, no drama.  He has been bred to our three gilts who are expecting their first litters this winter/spring. We are anxious to see what kind of quality these matings will produce for us!



The Sows


Buella was born in February 2011. We purchased her in April 2011 along with 4 of her litter mates.  The boys raised up to about 250lbs market weight at 5 months old.  Buella, a Landrace cross, has a nice build and a sweet temperment so she was kept for our breeding herd and has turned out to be an awesome mother.  Her first litter, born in February 2012, was 13 live-born pigs. One was crushed early on but 12 survived (a fantastic survival rate for a first litter!) and were phenomenally structured, well muscled, and quite cute!  Buella has been bred back to Boofus for a spring 2014 litter, her fourth litter for us. 


Buella close to farrowing in 2012




We also have three gilts, Daisy Mae, Chloe Mae, and Ellie Mae, daughters of Buella and Boofus, that we have retained for our breeding herd.  They will be bred to our young 75% Duroc boar, Bubba Duke, that we retained from a breeding between April and Boofus.  The resulting offspring should be exceptional offspring with strong Duroc genetics and hybrid vigor. 



We are currently adding names to our waiting list for late winter (March) and spring 2014 piglets.  To get your name on the list, contact Jen with your name, address, and phone number as well as how many piglets you'd like to order.  Orders are limited to the number of piglets we get to weaning.  2014 Piglets are $100 each. All piglets will receive an iron shot, males will be castrated (with analgesia) unless the purchaser indicates otherwise, and all piglets will be ear-tagged for identification purposes. Piglets are also de-wormed prior to sale.


Summer 2013 Duroc x Landrace cross piglets (Boofus x Buella) pictured next to Boofus, their sire.

 

 


The same 2013 a little more grown up!