My Ossabaws Arrived! (pic heavy)

We had a crazy day yesterday, but so amazing.  I'm super happy to have the girls home now. I learned two things.  A dog kennel will fit an Ossabaw, but will not hold it if they don't want to be held.  And loose piggies in the same vehicle as you is not a good thing.  Oh, and ossabaws are not suitable as lap animals.  But it was an adventure for sure.  

Introducing Thelma:

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And here's Louise:

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Here's my transport vehicle (note - though Ossabaws will fit in a dog carrier, it will not "hold" them if they choose to get out...don't ask how I know!  Thank goodness my husband wasn't there to see either.

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And the girls enjoying the new digs:

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And the world was so excited about the Ossabaw arrival, that a tribute was given just as the piggies were released into the pasture:

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Now I need to find a boar, that's proving to be more difficult than I thought it would be!  Ah the joys of rare genetics.  I have some good leads, and if anyone knows of Ossabaw keepers please let me know.

Super excited to be owned by Ossabaws!

Razorbacks!

Those are very interesting looking pigs islandgirl. What are your plans with them?

Oh and thanks for the tip about the dog crating them - lol! I wonder how they'd fair in the back of a pick up with a canopy over them and straw underneath? Do you think they'd be capable of breaking the windows?

I do plan to breed them and preserve the breed, if I can find a boar. I have some good leads but nothing concrete yet, it's more difficult than I thought it would be which is making me even more determined to preserve this breed. If I can't find an ossabaw boar in the next few months, then I will consider another heritage breed boar as I don't want them to go too long without breeding.  In pigs it can potentially affect the re-productivity and litter size by waiting too long.

After seeing how amazingly easy it was for them to break out, I would hesitate on only a truck canopy to contain them unless they were really little. I will be planning on a two stage containment system next time.  lol. And I won't use a furarri kennel again, Vari kennels are more sturdy and harder to break out out, but I also may build something dedicated for them. I had to close up all my windows right away when she escaped because she went right for the windows.  I don't know what the pound per square in power of those noses are, but unless you had that canopy door and windows buttoned down right tight, they could likely easily push their way through. In a canopy you would want the vents to be open for air flow as it's important to keep them cool, so travelling with the air closed off wouldn't be good unless it's really cold out. And if they can get their head through, they will try to get the body through as I found on the final attempt, Thelma did get a couple of cuts on the last attempt of escaping. And the suggestion of containment isn't enough, if they want to get out they will keep trying.

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You might want to use AI than try and get a boar. Use different boars and you can get some variation quickly. What are they like as a meat animal?

HigginsRAT wrote:Info on the hogs:

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Seems this is the contact ALBC has...some place to start I suppose as it is a "registry!"

Ossabaw Island Hog

Ossabaw Island Hog Registry
PO Box 477
Pittsboro, NC 27312 USA
Office phone: 919-542-5704
Fax: 919-545-0022
Office email: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Very kewl piggers.  Congrats and I hope you have success finding a boy for those tenacious girls!  

Love animals with attitudes...wicked wee wee weenies--all the way to their new home!    

Tara

Thanks Tara for the links, this is a real nice quick read on the breed. Its funny as most of the other information on Ossabaws on the web is a copy of that information!  I love that they stay small but are large enough to eat so still useful.  And I didn't realize how rare they are in Canada, so I'm feeling even more privileged to own these two.

I have contacted the OIHR which is managed by the ALBC, and have been discussing the possibility of registering the girls.  The Ossabaws do have a very distinct appearance combined with the small size, so once they review the photos I hope it won't be too hard to register them though I may need to send DNA to verify.  There are no registered breeders of Ossabaws in Canada through them    I have also tracked down the fella who first imported the Ossabaws to Canada...he doesn't have any hogs anymore, but still has his old contacts so he is going to look and see if he can't find other existing breeders through his connections.  He seems very passionate about pigs, so hopefully that leads somewhere.  And I am in contact with someone in the states who is shipping 3 piggies to Canada this month, and will connect us up...and I can't wait to talk more with them about the costs and challenges of importing. I'm excited about the possibility of the new lines and may look at importing myself.  I am also going to send out letters to the zoos and such, as this is a breed that is popular in a petting zoo type of environment because of the small size, good nature and low inputs, and maybe there will be some will be hiding in a zoo. I've known for a while I was getting these girls so have been working on this for some time.

With all the work that goes into researching and then maintaining a rare breed, it almost seems as though one needs to pre-plan right at the start to pass them to someone who will also take care of the bloodlines and breed should disaster strike.  The lady who bred these two was the only breeder on the coast and the story goes when her health turned her herd was dispersed quickly.  The last of them were placed a year ago, these girls are from the last litter, and it seems as though all the others have all vanished.  

bckev, if I had a large animal livestock vet who was really good in AI, I might consider this. I think the closest one I would trust would be Mill Bay, which is a ferry ride and then an hour away, so I'm not sure if that would be too stressful or not when taking a girl to AI.  Our vets on the island are a real nice people, but generalists and for the expense and costs of IA, I would want a vet who specializes in this.  And I still need to find someone with a boar, and who is willing to do a collection.  I'm not sure how difficult it is to get semen across the border...with eggs it's virtually impossible to get them here viable, so I'm not sure I would trust customs to take good care of the semen to get it here.  Do any other hog farmers have experience with this?

As a meat animal the value is in the unique qualities of the meat.  I haven't found details yet on actually how much they dress out as, but the images I have found of the meat show a really meaty product with less fat, and a deeper red meat than normal pork.  They store the fat on the outer part of the body to allow quick utilization of fat in starvation periods (the spring was pretty rough on Ossabaw Island apparently) so the inner meat is quite lean and has a bit more of a wild taste.  The meat flavor is easily influenced by the diet also.  And the lard is a different texture than normal pigs, it maintains a liquid state at a colder temperature, so is great to use for specialty products like pate and higher value sausage as it doesn't leave that 'film' on the top of your mouth.  

I forgot one important point in selecting them...I got them not only because they are grazers and will help to manage the greens on the pastures and are said to eat different food-stuffs than the sheep, I also got them to eat up the excess sheep milk and whey when it starts flowing next year. That should be some tasty pork!

If I can't find an Ossabaw boar, the fella who imported them said he had ideas of what crosses work to maintain the unique characteristics of the breed so I'm curious to see what he says.  But I'm hoping I'll find an ossabaw.  And if I was going to utilize crosses, I would rather cross an Ossabaw boar with some other breed gilts, than to use the girls eggs up on crosses.

HigginsRAT wrote:

Very kewl piggers.  Congrats and I hope you have success finding a boy for those tenacious girls!  

Love animals with attitudes...wicked wee wee weenies--all the way to their new home!    

Tara

I was feeling like I jinxed myself by naming them Thelma and Louise before I brought them home.  

pigs are great will have them again some day, maybe you will have lots to sell by then.

bckev wrote:pigs are great will have them again some day, maybe you will have lots to sell by then.

I'll keep you posted...these ones don't take much space! You have no idea how excited I am.