HISTORIC Hogs

The Hereford breed has a bright future.

- SAMANTHA JOHNSON

Ninety years ago, a group of farmers came together to form a new organization that would record the pedigrees of a relatively new breed of hog, developed in the first part of the 20th century. The new hogs were red, with white heads, white ears and white legs. In fact, the hogs were marked remarkably like Hereford cattle, which had long been an established fixture in United States cattle breeding. They called these colorful new swine Hereford hogs.

AN ACHIEVABLE DREAM

The story of Hereford hogs begins in La Plata, Missouri, some say as early as 1902. At that time, a man named Rutherford Ulysses Webber decided to develop a breed of hog that would look like Hereford cattle. He used Durac hogs, Chester hogs and Ohio Improved Chesters to achieve his breeding goals, and it’s believed he even began his own registry. Despite his efforts, his strain of hogs ultimately didn’t catch on, and it’s understood that none of today’s Hereford hogs descend from those early Webber hogs.

Meanwhile, 175 miles away in Norway, Iowa, John C. Schulte was also dreaming of developing a Hereford hog. As the story goes, Schulte loved polled Hereford cattle and wanted to see if he could achieve the same color and markings in a new breed of swine.

Schulte began breeding in 1917 with a goal of developing a hog with Hereford coloring, and he used Poland Chinas and Durocs. He chose the Durocs for their color and their reputation of producing large litters, but he also liked the quality of the Poland Chinas and prized those for their white markings.