... you might be a Guinea Hog. Welcome to the incestuous world of bringing a species back from the brink of extinction. Never mind that Trudy and Buttercup did come from the Ozarks, line-breeding, the purposefully close breeding for predictable characteristics, is a necessary tool. The breed had been reduced to only a few animals before efforts to revive it were underway. There are three separate "lines" of Guinea hogs now. My breeding stock is firmly in the "Setty" line from Ohio. The general wisdom among breeders seems to be to maintain these three lines separately through line-breeding and then start crossing them back to each other. Here are the known pedigrees for Trudy and Buttercup:
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| Biggers Arthur |
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| DNC George |
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| Celesky's Tulip |
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| BRO Fred |
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| Setty Houdini |
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| DNC Gabby |
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| Celesky's Tulip |
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| Trudy |
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| Biggers Arthur |
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| DNC George |
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| Celesky's Tulip |
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| BRO Homer |
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| Biggers Arthur |
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| DNC Chunky |
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| 714 Sky Daisy |
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| Setty Rose |
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| Biggers Arthur |
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| DNC George |
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| BRO Kelsy McGee |
| Celesky's Tulip |
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| Setty Houdini |
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| DNC Gabby |
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| Celesky's Tulip |
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| Setty Houdini |
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| DNC Buttercup |
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| Setty Rose |
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I know... It seems a little bizarre. I'm more a fan of cross-breeding for hybrid vigor, but in this case I understand what the breed association is trying to do. Still, I could see crossing buttercup with a sow of a different breed now and then for feeder pigs. It would have to be a small, young sow that he could reach to service.
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