Idaho Pasture

Gary and Shelly Farris of Rigby, Idaho bred the composite deliberately, and each foundation breed was chosen for something: the Kunekune for its temperament and the upturned snout that lets a pig graze rather than root, the Duroc for quicker growth and a longer body, and the Berkshire for marbled meat and mothering ability.

The registry exists because the breed nearly lost its paper trail. When the founders got out of pigs, buyers Jodi and Dave Cronauer, who had bought their first breeding trio in 2012, started the Idaho Pasture Pig Registry to keep the lineages from being lost.

A medium-sized pig. The standard puts sows at 250 to 350 pounds and boars at 350 to 450, with animals over 400 and 500 pounds respectively facing disqualification. The defining feature is the snout: medium length with an upturn or dish on the end, to allow grazing and discourage rooting; a long straight snout disqualifies. Ears can be erect or drooping, with erect preferred. Colors run from black and white through ginger, cream and tri-colored to solid black, and neither color nor the presence of wattles counts toward conformation.

The standard requires a friendly and curious disposition, and aggressive behavior disqualifies a pig from breed selection outright. Maternal protectiveness in sows is a valued trait.

Pasture pork. The brief was explicit: a pig that grazes like a Kunekune but grows and finishes like a commercial breed, so a herd can be rotated on pasture without destroying it, and finish on a much higher proportion of forage than a conventional pig.

Pasture and rotation. The upturned snout discourages rooting rather than preventing it, so ground management still matters, and the grazing is the economic argument for keeping them.

The trade is that the breed is young. The genetic base is narrow, the registry is small, performance data is limited, and claims about how much grain they save vary a great deal between sellers. Ask for actual feed records.

More than one organization now registers Idaho Pasture Pigs, so ask which registry the papers come from and whether the animal was scored against the breed standard, whose weight, snout and temperament rules carry disqualifications.

Recent sale prices on HoofnHorn, where there are any, are further down this page.