On July 5th last year, we traveled to a farm in Iowa to check out their Guinea hogs and make new friends. We had contacted Sherri and John to ask about their pigs, and they invited us out to visit. We had more fun than we knew how to handle. Jackson got to bottle feed a calf, Comet rode bareback/hung on for dear life, and we got the chance to see Guinea hogs up close.

Guinea hogs are a critically endangered breed. They are smaller and more docile than modern pig breeds, which makes them very interesting to us. Guineas are incredibly difficult to find, but we recently made contact with someone in North Dakota who is selling off her herd. In a couple of weeks, we will have our own Guinea hogs. We won’t be renaming ourselves Black Pig Farms, but they’re sure to be a focal point for a long time.

This marks an important leap for us. Up until this point, we’ve only had poultry: chickens, turkeys, peafowl, guineas and ducks. Of course, we’ve kept dogs and cats, but this will be our first attempt at keeping mammals. Wish us luck!

-Brian