Red Wattle Hogs at Falster Farm

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Falster Farm is a member of the Red Wattle Hog Association

Falster Farm's Red Wattle hog is a large, red hog with a fleshy, decorative, wattle attached to each side of its neck (click on photos to enlarge) that has no known function. We like their docile and inquisitive nature. I'm told they were quite popular in the US in the 1700s, but as settlers moved west, the breed began to fall out of favor because settlers came into contact with breeds that boasted a higher fat content (lard.) Lard was the basis of soap and soap is the basis of grease that lubricates wagon wheels. Red Wattle hogs are known for their hardiness, foraging activity, and rapid growth rate. As you will see in the photos ours are pastured and love it. Red Wattles adapt well to a wide range of climates, making them a good choice for consideration in outdoor or pasture-based swine production. Red Wattle pork is exceptionally lean and juicy with a rich beef-like taste and texture.

See this article from The Ethicurean about Red Wattle pigs.

The History of the Red Wattle hog is not clear. There are several different views I've found on the possibilities as to who, what, where, and when. What is clear however is that H.C.Wengler of East Texas found a few and started redeveloping the breed in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. He founded the “Wengler Red Waddle Hog”. Notice the spelling with “dd” instead of “tt” he did that so his line could be kept separate from the rest. Mr. Wengler is credited with starting the Red Wattle movement.

When the hog market went crazy in the early 1980’s another line of Red Wattle’s emerged. The Timberline. Robert Prentice found this herd in East Texas as well and named it as such because of the woods there. During this time the Red Wattles were used on lots of farms as crosses. Providing bigger, leaner  hogs. At one point there were over 100 people involved with Red Wattles. The American Livestock Breed Conservancy held a meeting in the mid 1980’s to help unify the breeders, but most did not see the reason. In 1990 the ALBC’s report showed 272 purebred offspring. In 1999 however there were only 42 breeding animals left belonging to 6 breeders. Jump to Hog Pricing

Since that time there have been a few more people involved but the Red Wattle’s numbers have not really increased very much. Now is the time to change that.

                   

Taste Tests:

So what are Red Wattle hogs good for? They taste good for one thing.

St. Louis chef Julie Ridlon (owner of Chanterelle Catering, co-founder of Clayton Farmer’s Market, and founder of Missouri Chef’s Collaborative) reported the following:

“On Oct. 24, 2006, I hosted an industry pork butchering and blind tasting, which included around 20 cooks, interns and chefs (including St. Louis area’s Andy White and Ed Neil). We compared water content, fat color, what the pigs were fed, varieties of heritage breeds….and of course a loin from Sam’s wholesale just to contrast.

We had 7 samples, all from small family pork farmers except for Sam’s :

1) Berkshire fed Jersey whey, Rolla, MO.
2) Berkshire not fed Jersey whey, Cape Girardeau, MO
3) Duroc, Oklahoma
4) RED WATTLE, Kansas
5) Chester/Tamworth, Cape Girardeau, MO
6) Ossabaw, Chapel Hill, NC
7) Sam’s wholesale loin…

The RED WATTLE entry won 1st place in the blind taste test.

We are waiting for a time when it is feasible to buy RED WATTLE wholesale for our restaurants and catering businesses.”

Editor’s note: Julie told us after the taste test that most of the pork samples were fresh slabs of meat, whereas the RED WATTLE meat came to them frozen.1

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1 Reprint from the web site of the Red Wattle Hog Association taste test pages.