When linebreeding we try to build and build and build around proven individuals. Although it doesn’t happen overnight, when it does, we feel even more confident we have something to continue building upon. Resolution is tightly lining up two littermate sows that go back to the original Gigiwatt boar from Drakes. See his mother 64-7 and grandmother 35-6 pictured below. He is BIG and he is LONG and TALL – words that are not very popular in today’s show ring but given all of that, he has muscle and handles it with ease. He is a unique individual and while I would love to exhibit at a show, simply cannot afford to part with him. However, I’d love to show him off at the farm for those looking for a road trip. Limited Semen Available this fall.
Dino 11-1 is a two-year-old boar that is athletic as they come. He is built correctly and extremely good on his feet. He runs to the females when its time to go and yet still handles his muscle effortlessly as he moves. His mother has been a foundational sow we have built around and you can see the numerous sows and boars back through his pedigree that continue to breed on.
TNT 21-1 and his littermate DINOMITE 21-3 are boars that are built extremely similar and mirror each other in their design and structure. Both are flexible loose made yet have muscle in a balanced skeletal package. They are up on their pasterns with square toes and flat clean bone. Their sire Dino 11-1 is pictured below and is probably the most agile athletic boar we have raised. Their mother is a 10th parity sow that looks more like a Holstein dairy cow. She is big, long, and deep bodied -a description that isn’t “cool” terminology in today’s show ring, but describes her very well. When you look back through their extended pedigree, you will find many of the individuals on our website that have stood the test of time. Keeping boars like these out of sows that have proven themselves time and time again will allow our customers to continue to keep gilts and therefore keep them in the hog business time and time again.
The Unit 27-3 along with his brother The Unit 27-1 made significant strides for us several years ago. We often find out the true value of boars years after we no longer have them. These boars were prime examples as we farrow their daughters, they continue to show up in many of our pedigrees. He is a balanced flexible long level hipped boar, correct on his pasterns and extremely long bodied. He is the grandsire of Dino 11-1 and Great Grandsire of TNT 21-1 and DINMOMITE 21-3
UNIFY 50-2 is a boar that we raised and held onto for a year before we started to realize his true worth. Quite often breeders aren’t patient enough to understand the actual value of an individual until they are gone. We simply kept him around because of the females in his pedigree. His mother is carrying her 7th litter while his grandmother was 11th parity sow and her two littermate sisters were 8th parity sows. We now have farrowed five of his sisters and to say each has passed the test would be an understatement. As gilts they have averaged 11.3 weaned pigs per litter with an average weaning weight of 16.5lb pig.
Our breeding program has maintained our focus on longevity and production and UNIFY represents ALL of that. His true value you cannot view with the naked eye. Generations of patience and dedication for what the Yorkshire breed was built upon. Limited semen available.
UNITED 46-2 is a boar we raised and utilized as we continue to make Yorkshire females. Our breeding philosophy has focused on keeping boars from our elite sows that have proven themselves. UNITED’s mother is an eleventh parity sow that is exactly that. Her pedigree has several of our best sows lined up and goes back to boar name UNIT ONE 12-5 whom we sold to a commercial operation. He ranked in the top 1% of the Yorkshire breed for Maternal Line and Sow Productivity Index.
UNITED not only has a proven pedigree, but excels phenotypically. He is level, square, athletic and knows he’s a boar! Use him with confidence, limited semen available.
Teach Me 65-3 is no accidental mating. By design, he has several great sows behind him. His mother, Miss Turk 47-10 pictured below and on our website, is a 6th parity sow still in production. His grandmother was a 7th parity sow. His great-great grandmother, Miss Turk 18-8, also pictured on our website, was an 8th parity sow and is in his pedigree twice. See the trend? I can rant and rave describing him in every detail and feature using fancy word but view the hog for what he is. Know that there is SO much more behind him than what you simply see in this picture.
His sire, Moontime 25-3, also by design has several great sows behind him and comes from a breeder, Jerry Huffington, whom I have the utmost respect for not only as a hog breeder but as a person. His integrity, patience and dedication to his livelihood is second to none.
The first time I visited Quality Swine Farm, Jerry showed me a pen of boars and talked at quite length about a specific boar he was extremely high on and recently sold. He went on to describe him and the only reason he sold him was because the boar had a shorter inside rear toe. I asked him where the boar was now curious to know more about this hog he had elaborated about.
His reply, “I sold him.”
As we moved on to the next pen, I quickly asked him again for clarification to as where he sold the boar? His reply, “I sold him last week.”
I asked again, “I know but where did he go, who bought him.”
He responded again more sternly this time, “I shipped him!”
Wow, I was shocked. Here was a hog I could tell he thought a lot of but couldn’t come to terms with selling him to another breeder when he simply couldn’t endorse the hog himself. That conversation has stuck with me since that day. We need more breeders like Jerry.
We all want good looking livestock, but at what sacrifice? We should never be satisfied with mediocrity but also patient enough to evaluate and yet honest with ourselves.
This is what Teach Me 65-3 represents. Patience with the process in what we are doing and honesty with ourselves. He isn’t perfect but he is really good because of what he represents- a long term vision/plan without having to sacrifice anything the Yorkshire breed should exemplify.
Easy to say, hard to do.
Enough preaching.