The Drift Oak Ranch Breeding Herd
We have bought breeding stock from all over the United States, focusing on breed conformation and diversity of lines. Our goal is to provide diversity and options here in Texas!
The Idaho Pasture Pig is a relatively new breed and selecting only the best breeding stock is of utmost importance. We want to select traits that complement the breed standard and ensure a healthy and beautiful specimin of the breed.
We choose our farm breeding stock carefully and breed to enhance the IPP traits. We only sell piglets that exceed the breed standard. We will have options for piglets, but will never register a piglet we wouldn't buy for ourselves. Male piglets that do not meet or exceed breed standard will be castrated and sold as feeders. We do not sell female feeder piglets and will grow those out here on our farm and sold as pork shares (halves/wholes) at butcher time.
Conformation
Both the Idaho Pasture Pig Registry and the Idaho Pasture Pig Breed Association clearly define breed standards and provide excellent examples of the qualities you want to see in your piglets and adult pigs. We do our best to strictly evaluate each piglet to ensure they meet or exceed breed standards before we send them home. We wean at six to eight weeks. As piglets continue to grow, however, things change. Please see our conformation guarantee below.
1Disposition
Idaho Pasture Pigs are genuinely friendly and have the disposition of a pet. This is a huge part of what makes them special. We want your children to grow up with these sweet pigs. We want you to be able to handle their piglets and assist with births if needed without fear of injury. We don't tolerate a mean pig here at Drift Oak Ranch. We will cull any pig we consider "mean" or who don't represent the best of personalities.
2Head
Idaho Pasture Pigs are grazing pigs. Their head structure should facilitate this. The snout should be medium in length. Their snout should be upturned at the tip and should complement the shape of the head. We do look very closely at the snout when we evaluate, and snout wrinkles are important to us.
3Body
There are so many things to look at when choosing a breed quality body. Teat structure is important to us (as these pigs have large litters) and we don't register any gilt with less than 12 teats. We look for a good growth rate, straight back and legs, high tail set, sound reproductive structure free of defects, and overall outstanding body structure.
Our Boars
At Drift Oak Ranch, we love our boars! We consider boars the foundation of any good litter. We pair our boars with gilts/sows that compliment their structure and have a low coefficient of inbreeding (COI). We currently have the Rex, Max, Sam, Bandit and Snickers lines.
