Waddle hogs

Red Wattles are a uniquely American hog. In the early 1970's Mr. H.C. Wenglar set out to breed hogs like he remembered from his youth in Texas. While on a hunting trip, he found a couple of large red wattled sows similar to the hogs he remembered from his boyhood on a farm. He bred these sows to a Duroc boar. Only offspring that carried the wattle gene were retained for breeding. Through careful selection Wenglar stabilized the breed over several generations. His hogs became known as Wenglar Red Waddles and Mr. Wenglar maintained the breed registry himself. Later, Mr. Robert Prentice located another herd of red wattled hogs in east Texas. Prentice's breeding became known as the Timberline Red Wattles and later formed part of the Endow Farm Red Wattle Hog line.

But where did the wattled hogs come from originally? This is a mystery. One theory holds that they are of European origin, arriving with the French in Louisiana and migrating west with settlers to Texas. The French know good pork when they taste it so of course they brought their prized hogs with them.

Another story holds that in the late 1800s a wealthy Texan traveled the globe hunting big game to add to his collection. While in Australia, he heard feverish tales of a giant beast that lived only on the island of Esperontu Santo. Intrigued, he traveled there to find a giant hog—by his account as large as a rhinoceros—that sported wattles instead of horns on its large and frightening head. He captured specimens and brought them to Texas where they escaped into the wild and formed feral herds. Following this lead we found no evidence of such an animal ever existing on the island.

What we do know is during the 1980s, a boom time in the hog market, RW hogs brought a premium. Crosses with the Red Wattle inherited a leaner carcass and showed good hybrid vigor. There were three registries for Red Wattle hogs and over 100 breeders. A crash in the hog market and the lack of a single centralized registry and breed association led to the near extinction of this breed. In late 1999, Jerry Russell began to search for Red Wattle hogs and found only 42 breeding animals belonging to six breeders. None of the three registries had registered stock in years. At the breeders' request, ALBC maintained a pedigree registry for the breed and provided technical support to the Red Wattle Hog Association. The RWHA now maintains the registry. The recovery of the Red Wattle Hog is now in the hands of devoted RW breeders.

The story of the Red Wattle illustrates the problems associated with conservation of regional and local populations. Breeds can be rapidly lost when no formal network exists to document, conserve and promote them. With every breed that is lost we lose part of the genetic diversity that sustains our food web. Diversity is the key to sustainability. Diverse populations show a resilience to disease and environmental pressures that homogenous populations cannot equal.

Here at Hood's Heritage Hogs we are working to preserve the breed and bring delicious Red Wattle Pork back to the table.