Mulberry Creek Farm CSA
Locally Grown Farm Fresh
Mulefoots on Mulberry Creek
Our goal is to be truly sustainable - and in our mind that means that we can sustain ourselves mostly with what we have on the farm, much like our ancestors of the not so very distant past did. The new web design with the cute little piggy inspired us to land on a breed of choice. The critically rare Mulefoot Pig is (like our goat and sheep and many of our poultry choices) also listed on the Slow Food Ark of Taste.
Here's a real "right place at the right time" story. The farm we sent our questions to recently made the tough decision to sell all their livestock and we happened to be the people who inquired about hogs right then. We have now added Alfred the boar and sows Luna and Nova to our family. You can see older photos and videos of the hogs at PB&J Farm where they came from, and I will be posting photos as I get the chance.
For more breed info, we encourage you to visit the American Mulefoot Hog Association as well as exploring information on this page and in our links.
About Mulefoot Hogs - ABLC description
from Productive Swine Husbandry by George E. Day (c1915)
from Swine in America by F. D. Coburn (1916)
from Types and Breeds of Farm Animals by C. S. Plumb (1920)
See also the Oklahoma State University Animal Science Breeds of Livestock project Mulefoot page.
The Homestead Hog (leaves this site)
Getting Started Raising Mulefoot Pigs (leaves this site)
For more about why heritage breeds are important, please visit the Oklahoma State University Animal Science Breeds of Livestock project.
Mulefoot December Farrowing
Registered Mulefoot sow Luna(below) farrowed 8 healthy piglets in the early hours of December 8 and her sister Nova (left) followed suit with 6 healthy piglets December 9. Both litters were sired by registered Mulefoot boar Jamie Hunter Cartwright AKA Alfred. Our piglets are available for pick-up eight weeks after farrowing on a first deposit basis as either registered breeding stock or as non-registered feeder hogs.
All piglets from the December farrowing are spoken for. We are building a list of contacts for the Spring/Summer farrowing so if you are interested, please contact us. We will make offers in the order names are placed on the list.
We love our trio! For 500+- pounds, they are so gentle! Their main interest is in whether or not we have cookies in our pockets. Mulefoot would be a great addition to any small farm or petting zoo.
We understand that Mulefoot meat is superb (see below) and we look forward to offering hog shares and freezer pork.
At right, Alfred enjoys the sun.
About Mulefoot Hogs
From the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
The Mulefoot is an American hog breed that is named for its most distinctive feature, the solid, non-cloven hoof which looks like the hoof of a mule. This characteristic will occasionally occur as a single gene mutation, producing occasional “mulefooted” pigs within a variety of other breeds. In contrast, the Mulefoot breed is consistent in appearance and behavior, with qualities that have made it valuable in American history and a conservation priority today.
Luna and Nova out for a stroll
The origin of the Mulefoot is unclear, and many theories have arisen about its links with mulefooted stocks in Asia and Europe. The breed is more likely to have descended from the Spanish hogs brought to the Americas beginning in the 1500s. It shares some attributes with the Choctaw hog, and the two breeds likely come from the same ancestral stock, which was loosely selected and managed until the late 1800s.
By 1900, the Mulefoot had become a standardized breed. It was valued for ease of -fattening and production of meat, lard, and especially hams. Mulefoot hogs were distributed throughout the Corn Belt. They were also common along the Mississippi River Valley, where farmers ranged their hogs on the islands in the river, putting them out to forage in the spring and collecting them in the fall. In the early 1900s there were two Mulefoot breed associations and over 200 herds registering purebred stock.
Mulefoot hogs are compact in appearance and weigh 400–600 pounds. They are solid black with white points occurring rarely. The ears are pricked forward. Some pigs have wattles on either side of the neck, though this is not common. The breed forages well and thrives under extensive husbandry. They have litters of 5-6 piglets but may have as many as 12. The sows make excellent and calm mothers.
The Mulefoot breed is critically rare. As of 2006 there are fewer than 200 purebred hogs documented. Most of these originated in the Holliday herd of Missouri, which is believed to be the last purebred herd in existence.
Status: Critical
from Productive Swine Husbandry by George E. Day (c1915)
CHAPTER XVII. - THREE MINOR BREEDS.
Three breeds of minor importance in America are the Mule-foot hog, Large Black Pig, and the Middle White or Middle Yorkshire.
MULE-FOOT HOG.
Description.—A marked peculiarity of the Mule-foot hog is its solid hoof, and from this peculiar feature the breed takes its name. In general conformation, it is claimed that the Mule-foot hog is between the fat type and the bacon type, but it is not noted for great length of side.
The color is black, but white points are admissible. More white than black is a disqualification, and any considerable amount of white is regarded as objectionable.
Origin and History.—The National Mule-foot Hog Record Association, which has its office in Indianapolis, has issued the following statement: "Up to the present date, the Mulefoot hog is a hog without an authentic history. Rumors and reports offer Denmark, Holland, South Africa, Mexico, South America, and the Sandwich Islands as the country of his birth. . . . Reports are so contradictory that this Association cannot, without further research, endorse any of them. Every effort will be made by the Association to discover the origin of the Mule-foot hog, and to furnish its friends with a true and complete history."
Distribution.—So far, animals of this breed are not numerous nor widely distributed. Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana are probably the principal states for the breed, but the breed is not Largely represented in any state as yet.
Utility.—The National Mule-foot Hog Record Association makes the following claims for the breed:
" As to the special qualifications and fine points of the Mule-foot hog, we know it to have greater vitality than any other breed in the United States. We have never known a full-blood Mule-foot hog to have hog cholera. It is an easy feeder, develops early and rapidly, is in strong demand on the market at a premium. . . . The sows are good, gentle mothers and raise large litters of pigs, which, if turned out, will hustle for a living, or they will grow fat and thrive, paying big returns, under good care and attention."
It must be remembered that the claims set forth above are made by admirers of the breed. So far as can be learned, these claims have not been tested by independent investigators.
from Swine in America by F. D. Coburn (1916)
from CHAPTER III. Breeds, Popularity and Distribution
MISCELLANEOUS SORTS
Aside from the distinct breeds, a few miscellaneous sorts are known in America, but they are without standing. These are: The Razor-Back, as the wild or semiwild hog of the more southern or Gulf states and Mexico is called; the Guinea; the Mule-Foot or solid-hoofed; and the Cuino. Domesticated swine have been traced back in origin to the wild hog, and remarkable changes have been observed of the manner in which wild specimens kept in confinement will take on the appearance and flesh of those that are the product of man's improvement. On the other hand, improved varieties turned out to shift for themselves have assumed all the characteristics of wild hogs, although observations in New Zealand have shown that animals once domesticated do not revert to as wild or solitary a disposition as is noticeable in the undomesticated types. Experiments in confining wild animals have shown that advantages attained through years of domestication are valuable because they have been secured and made permanent by very slow processes, and that the opinion sometimes advanced that crosses with the Razor-Back or other untamed stock will give a much hardier and "choleraproof" constitution is without substantial foundation.
MULE-FOOT HOGS
The Mule-Foot or solid-hoofed hog is reared, but to an extent scarcely appreciable, in the southwestern part of the United States, and is said to be common in some portions of Old Mexico in considerable numbers. There are some in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, and a few have found their way to Missouri and Indiana. There was organized at Indianapolis, Indiana, in January, 1908, "The National Mule-Foot Hog Record Association," composed of Indiana breeders, which is to record and publish pedigrees and promote the dissemination of these solid-hoofed swine, which are claimed by their admirers to be in all respects equal to those of other breeds, besides having a vitality that makes them strangers to ordinary diseases, and "cholera-proof"!
Hogs of this family are mainly black, with more or less white points or markings, have coats of soft hair, fairly gentle dispositions, fatten quite easily, and can be made to weigh at two years or more from 400 to 600 pounds, and sometimes heavier. As a matter of fact they have no particular merits not possessed by other breeds, but their having solid instead of cleft hoofs makes them, as freaks, objects of curiosity to most persons, and the type, regardless of merit, will not be without admirers for this one feature, if for no other. At the first auction sale of these hogs, in Johnson county, Indiana, in the autumn of 1908, twenty-three sows brought an average of $32.50 each and six boars $20.10 each. One sow sold for $60.
Many of these hogs have wattles on their lower jaws. These consist of a round or teatlike piece of skin or tissue hanging on each side of the lower jaw, covered with hair, and on a full-grown hog are from three to four inches long.
In southern Missouri and northern Arkansas these swine are designated as "Ozark hogs." Various statements of their origin are extant, but no one knows definitely about it, which is of little consequence, although they are well enough in their way.
from Types and Breeds of Farm Animals by C. S. Plumb (1920)
from: Part IV Swine
CHAPTER LXXI - THE MULE-FOOT
The name " Mule-Foot" is given this breed for the reason that it has a solid hoof, suggestive of the narrow foot of the mule, instead of the cloven one common with swine.
The native home of Mule-Foot swine is not satisfactorily established. Various claims have been made on this point, but it is generally admitted that the evidence is very superficial. They have been bred in Sweden and Norway for a century or more, it is said, and Kreglow states1 that Linnaeus, the noted Swedish scientist, classified this type in 1735. He also states that mulefoot swine were extensively bred in England by Lord Reagh as far back as about 1810.
The introduction of Mule-Foot swine to America is of uncertain date. It is not a native breed, and no doubt was brought here long ago, possibly from northern Europe. J. H. Dunlap, a noted breeder, has stated that these hogs have been known in America for a hundred years2 and refers to the fact that for many years they have been bred by members of the Dunkard Church, although he does not mention the locality. The claim has also been made that these pigs were brought from the South Sea Islands about 1850.
The characteristics of Mule-Foot swine, as seen in the improved form of to-day, suggest the Poland-China, excepting for the ear and single hoof. The head is short, very nearly straight of face or quite so, and the cars are of medium size and incline forward, rather than stand erect or break over. The general conformation is typical of the lard type, with a fairly wide back and wide, deep, full ham. A slight arch of back is sought. As already noted, the hoofs arc of one piece instead of cloven. The color of the Mule-Foot, including the feet, is a pronounced black, but white spots sometimes occur and are admissible.
The size of the Mule-Foot places it in the medium class, although on the basis of some claims it might be regarded as a large breed. Dunlap states that the Mule-Foot equals the Poland-China and Duroc-Jersey in size, easily attaining weights from 600 to 800 pounds, while Kreglow places the weight for the sows at 400 to 500 pounds at maturity, with 100 pounds more for the boar. "Some of our brood sows," he writes, "could be fattened to weigh 700 and one of our herd boars will weigh 1000 pounds." By the standard a boar two years old should weigh 500 pounds, a sow of the same age 450, and a twelve-months boar or sow 300 pounds.
The feeding qualities of Mule-Foot swine are said to rank very well. In recent years they show much sign of improvement and without doubt will fatten satisfactorily.
The quality of meat of the Mule-Foot ordinarily shows superior mingling of lean and fat and is more comparable with the Berkshire than the Poland-China. Dunlap regards the bacon of this breed as an intermediate between the lard and bacon type. In the more improved form it suggests the lard type.
The prolificacy of the Mule-Foot swine is of moderate degree. The average size of two hundred litters reported by Kreglow was eight plus, and these included ninety-one gilts with their first litters.
The prepotency of the Mule-Foot is a pronounced characteristic. Not only is the general conformation and color transmitted but in crossbreeding it is said that the solid hoof is reproduced to "a remarkable degree."
The immunity of Mule-Foot swine to cholera has been claimed on various occasions, and early in the present century, prior to 1910, much publicity was given to this statement. As a fair sample of the claims made in behalf of the breed, the following by R. G. Long is quoted :3 "Mule-Foot breeders do claim that their hogs will not take the cholera from being confined with cholera infected hogs, and I believe that their animals have made good on that claim." In 1910 J. H. Dunlap published this statement:4
I have a list of two hundred and forty-five Mule-Foot breeders in twenty-five states, furnished me by C. E. Quinn of the United States Department of Agriculture, and have written to a great many of them regarding the immunity of the Mule-Foot hog. They have all replied that they have never known a full-blood Mule-Foot to die with cholera. Mr. Quinn also wrote me that he was unable to learn of Mule-Foot hogs dying with cholera in the thirteen states in which he investigated the claim of immunity. These statements, however, are not supported by veterinarians, and the author is informed by an official of the Ohio State Veterinarians' office that in 1914 hog cholera was brought to the Ohio State Fair by a herd of Mule-Foot hogs exhibited the previous week at the Forest City Fair at North Randall. It is not regarded as impossible for herds of these hogs, under certain conditions, to contract cholera. The distribution of Mule-Foot swine is quite widespread at the present time. There are many breeders in the corn belt, especially in Ohio and Indiana. Messrs. J. H. Dunlap of Pickaway County, Ohio, and C. G. Kreglow of Hardin County have long been prominent improvers and active exhibitors and promoters of the breed and have interested many persons in establishing herds. The promotion of Mule-Foot swine has been taken up by two registry associations — the National Mule-Foot Association, organized in 1908 at Indianapolis, and the American Mule-Foot Record Association, with headquarters at Columbus, Ohio.
1 C. G. Kreglow, The Mule-Foot hog. A pamphlet.
2 American Agriculturist, March 10, 1910.
3 Ohio Farmer, July 8, 1911.
4 National Stockman and Farmer, March 3, 1910.
Gourmet Pork
(Portions of this section come from the AMHA.)
One of the reasons we selected the Mulefoot Hog over other heritage breeds is that it is listed on the Slow Food Ark of Taste as among the best tasting hogs out there. We want the breeds we preserve to be useful, not just maintained for the sake of maintenance. As one anonymous farmer has stated, "Farmers aren't interested in raising zoo animals." We don't keep livestock as pets. We raise them because they're useful, either by being edible or by otherwise providing a product (milk, hair, honey) or service.
It may seem odd to use rare heritage breed pigs for pork, but these breeds simply will not survive unless a market for these animals can be created. Already 6 of the 15 breeds of pigs raised in the
“If you treat them like a zoo animal they’ll become zoo animals,” says Linda Derrickson of Hillspring Eco Farm in Blanchardville, Wisconsin. “That won’t be enough to really keep the genetics and the vitality of the breed. Farmers aren’t going to raise zoo animals. There’s enough zoos. And farmers have to be able to get some income from them, and that means putting them in the food stream.”
To foster the animal's genetic vitality, you actually should eat them. (Of course, at Mulberry Creek Farm we don’t eat our breeding stock. And our policy is to never eat an animal that has a name. The trick is to keep Maggie from naming every one!)
The other white meat? That's not the way we think of pork, and after you taste Mulefoot pork, you won't either. Heritage pork is, "darker, more heavily marbled with fat, juicier and richer-tasting than most pork, and perfect for grilling." (Florence Fabricant of the New York Times, did say this - I've been in touch with her - however it was in refrence to a Japanese breed of heritage hog, not heritage hog in general.) The Slow Food Ark of Taste states: "Because of the high fat content, this breed is particularly good for high quality ham." Here's one place you can find a few heritage pork recipes.
The meat is a rich, beefy color, unlike the anemic color of factory farmed pork. Factory farms breed pigs to produce the greatest amount of meat for the lowest cost, regardless of the need for genetic diversity or the quality of the meat. The resulting product is a standard size, color, and flavor, however dull that may be.
Pork from heritage breeds is more moist and has a better flavor and texture than the pork from conventional hybrids. When pasture-raised meat is good, it's unforgettable. Mulefoot pork is freckled with marbling and is red like beef. The meat is dense but not tough and the fat melts slowly, so when you're braising, it takes hours for it to soften, and as it cooks, the fat keeps bathing the meat, making it silky. You can also cook this pork simply--grilling or roasting it, for instance. It melts in your mouth like butter. There's no need to infuse it with extra fat and flavor, which is necessary with commercial pork. Here's a taste test between Mulefoot and factory pork.
It usually does cost a bit more to buy meat from heritage breeds, but there are good reasons for the higher price tag: Heritage breeds take longer to reach market weight than conventional breeds. With hogs, because they also produce a higher percentage of body fat, fewer of those pounds consist of marketable cuts. The high quality and great flavor of the meat nevertheless creates steady demand from customers willing to pay the premium.
"At last, pork that doesn't taste as though it has been on a low-fat diet!"
There simply is no comparison... it tastes marvelous! Heritage pork has such good flavor it is being offered in many restaurants across the country. Demand for this high quality pork far outweighs supply when marketed properly. Back in 2008, Mike Sula of the Chicago Reader embarked on a project, called The Whole Hog Project, that followed three mulefoot pigs (Edna, Erma, and Endive) from birth (on a Wisconsin farm) to death (at a slaughterhouse) to an afterlife (at
Reservation Form
Reservation Form and Purchase Agreement
Reservations are filled in the order in which they are received. Please contact Mulberry Creek Farm prior to sending a deposit to determine purchase price and availability. A deposit of $100 per pig or $250 per trio is to be remitted with this contract. Make checks payable to: Gail Stevens Shourds and put "Mulefoot Hogs" in the memo line.
All of our pigs are registered with the American Mulefoot Hog Association in
For pigs being shipped/delivered, full payment must be received by six weeks of age or 10 days prior to the animals leaving the farm if purchasing older animals. If you are picking up your pigs, you may pay the balance in cash at the time of pickup. Pickup may not be made prior to 8 weeks of age.
Veterinary health papers are required to transport pigs across State lines. Most states require health papers only, though some require specific blood or fecal tests. Our veterinarian, Arcanum Veterinary Service handles all health papers and contacts the receiving State for any permits or required tests. MCF makes all arrangements for veterinary inspections. For health papers only, the cost is $16.45. Any additional blood tests will be charged at the same rate that our veterinarian bills us. All veterinary costs are the sole responsibility of the purchaser and should be included in payment to Mulberry Creek Farm.
Pigs leave our farm healthy and sound. Mulberry Creek Farm is not liable for any injury sustained by a pig during travel. Once the pig is released to the purchaser or the transporter, Mulberry Creek Farm is not liable for any injury, illness, death or veterinarian fees due to improper handling, feeding, medication, misc. ailments, etc, as we cannot guarantee proper care of the pig after purchase. It is the purchaser's responsibility to gain the knowledge necessary to properly care for the pig. Mulberry Creek Farm will answer any questions to the best of our knowledge regarding the care of pigs prior to purchase.
A visit to the farm and self-pick up of your pigs is always encouraged and is, in fact, preferred.
We do not currently offer shipping, however we will consider delivering them to you, expenses paid by the purchaser 10 days before your pig(s) leave Mulberry Creek Farm. All transportation and crate charges are the sole responsibility of the purchaser. Mulberry Creek Farm arranges delivery, when applicable, promptly when pigs are paid in full.
Complete payment for the pigs, crate, veterinarian and administration must be received prior to any pigs leaving the farm.
If Purchaser decides not to complete this transaction, Purchaser will forfeit any deposit. Purchaser has the opportunity to visit Seller to visually inspect said pigs or is accepting pigs "as is" if delivered. In the event that the reserved pig is not available due to illness or death, Purchaser's deposit will be refunded, or another pig will be made available.
Please print out and mail the reservation form or contact us for more information.
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