BLACK GUINEA HOGS
Also Known as American Guinea Hogs
Small, Black
American Swine
The Black Guinea Hog is a small, black swine unique to the United States. It has
also been called Pineywoods Guinea, Guinea Forest Hog, Acorn Eater, and Yard Pig.
It was once the most common pig breed found on homesteads in the 1800s in the
southeastern USA. They almost went extinct. But during the 1980s, new herds of
Guinea Hogs were established, partly in response to the pet pig market. Today
there are less than 200. The American Livestock
Breeds Conservancy classifies Guinea Hogs as critical on their Conservation
Priority List.
They were expected to forage for their own food, eat
rodents and other small animals, eat grass, roots and nuts, and root through garden
beds. The hogs ate snakes helping to keep it safer around the house. These Guineas
were hardy and efficient, gaining well on the roughest of forage and producing
ham, bacon and lard essential for subsistence farming.
Common Homestead Pigs
Generally, these common Guinea Hogs were small, weighing 100-300 pounds, with
black or bluish-black hair. They had upright ears, a hairy coat, and a curly tail.
Conformation varied since hogs could have short or long noses and be big, medium
or fine boned. Probably many strains of Guinea Hogs existed. Most are now extinct,
so it is impossible to determine the exact heritage of the pigs today. As small
self-sustaining homesteads went out of existence, so did the Guineas.
These pigs are great for diversified, sustainable, small farms. They are an excellent
choice where pigs are needed for grazing, rooting, tilling compost and garden
soil, and pest control.
Care
of the Pigs
American Guinea Hogs do better than most breeds on low grade forage but they prefer
lush pastures with clover along with free-choice minerals, kitchen scraps, and
good hay in the winter. A small amount of grain can help. They need clean water
to drink, access to a muddy wallow in hot weather, shelter from bad weather and
wind with dry bedding. They thrive on open pasture where they get a lot of exercise.
They don't root too much when they have good grazing and adequate feed. The expected
life span of the American Guinea Hog is 10-15 years. Life
Cycle of the Guinea Hog.
The Guinea Hog is exceptionally calm
and friendly making it great for the family farm. They are good around children
and other farm animals. (From personal experience they will eat a chicken if it
flies into their pen.) They have great mothering skills and are good natured even
when they have piglets. Males are easily managed too. If you treat them with kindness,
they have good behavorial traits.
Lard versus Meat Type Swine
Guinea Hogs are a lard-type breed as opposed to a meat-type. Guinea hogs do not
produce a conventional market carcass, since they are smaller and more fatty than
commercial hogs today. Lard-type pigs have more marbling, flavor and juiciness;
have low feed demands; grow slowly; convert feed inefficiently; have lighter,
less saturated fat; have more fat in carcass; take longer to mature, have fewer
piglets; and are extremely disease and stress resistant. Meat-type pigs have less
marbling, flavor and juiciness; easily gain muscle; grow quickly; convert feed
efficiently; have heavier, more saturated fat; not much fat in carcass; mature
quickly, have big litters; and are less disease and stress resistant.
For
subsistence and self-sustaining farming lard pigs are extremely valuable. At six
months, Guinea Hogs provide a nicely marbled carcass of up to 75 pounds hanging
weight of gourmet-quality highly-flavored meat. Fat peels easily from the meat.
You do not need to castrate young male hogs intended for slaughter at six months
of age.
American Guinea History
Guinea hogs were imported from West Africa and the Canary Islands to America in
the 1800s. There are records from as early as 1804 by Thomas Jefferson and other
Virginia farmers. These large, square swine were called Red Guineas because they
had red or sandy hair. Common throughout the mid-Atlantic during the 1800s, the
breed disappeared as a distinct population in the 1880s. At that time most of
the red breeds in the eastern United States were combined into the new Jersey-Duroc
breed.
Although extremely rare, Guinea hog breeders of today can find
red highlights in the hair or even a completely red piglet is born. The name Guinea
occurs again a few decades later in the southeast of the USA, though it describes
a different animal– a small, black hog common on homesteads.
The relationship
between the historic Red Guinea and the Guinea Hog may simply be the common use
of the word “guinea” to refer to an animal from Africa. “Guinea” may also refer
to the small size of the hogs just as miniature Florida Cracker and Pineywoods
cattle as are called “guinea cows.” The Guinea Hog may or may not be related to
the Essex, a small, black English breed imported to the USA about 1820 and used
in the development of the Hampshire pig. Essex hogs existed in the Southeast until
about 1900. The Black Guinea Hog is a distinct breed over 200 years old.
Breed Characteristics
The American Guinea Hog Association
lists these as the characteristics:
Height: Adult American Guinea
Hogs (at 2 years of age) range from 22 to 27 inches tall, adult males sometimes
averaging one or two inches taller than females. Older animals may grow larger.
Body/Length: Fully grown adult American Guinea Hogs range from 46
to 56 inches, measured from a point between the ears to the base of the tail.
They have a straight to slightly arched back. From a side view, they should present
a long, rectangular appearance (with flat sides and rounded corners). As a landrace
breed, variations are common. Some hogs will be taller and broader at the shoulders
with slightly lower and narrower hips.
Weight: Well-conditioned,
fully adult American Guinea Hogs range from 150 pounds to 300 pounds, depending
on sex, frame-size, and body condition. Because American Guinea Hogs easily fatten,
care should be taken to NOT overfeed, especially with grain. Excess weight will
likely lead to fertility problems.
Head/Face/Ears/Tail: American
Guinea Hogs have medium-small sized, upright ears (sometimes slight bent at the
tips in adults). They have slightly dished faces with snouts that vary from rather
short to medium-long. The tail has a single curl. Slightly forward facing eyes
are common.
Color: Most American Guinea Hogs are solid black.
A common variation due to a widely spread recessive gene, is solid black with
minimal white points at the feet and tip of nose. Excess white (beyond the feet
and the end of the snout) is discouraged. An extremely rare recessive red gene
exists in the breed, and may rarely exhibit.
Hair: Adult American
Guinea Hogs typically have medium to long, coarse, bristled, black hair, some
tinged in reddish-brown tones or bluish-black tones.
Hogs at Nantahala Farm
We
have one male and one female American Guinea hog. The male is 3/4 Nebraska Celesky
line and 1/4 Ohio Setty line. His father is SCZ Rocky #0015 and the mother is
DNC Gabriella #0006. AGHA
Registration for this hog.
The female hog is 5/8 Nebraska Celesky,
1/4 Virginia and 1/8 Ohio Setty. Her father is SCZ Rocky #0015 and her mother
is Brothers Mama Cass #0013. AGHA
Registration for this hog.
If you are interested in buying piglets,
please contact us. See the home page for what's available now and the price. Ask
to be put on a waiting list.
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