Our current Large Black Hog breeding stock include a boar from the Noble Sam bloodline and four sows from the Warbler bloodline. 

One of the key factors when raising breeding stock is learning not to feed them like we would a feeder pig and, instead, keep them in "fighting trim".  We don't want excessive jowls, flappy hindquarters, or sagging bellies on breeding stock...fat pigs won't breed.

These hogs have a definite personality.

 

Spring and early Summer can be rough, with nonstop rain and cooler temperatures.  These pigs don't root much because being Large Black Hogs, they'd much rather eat the pasture than dig it up, however with the rains they can tear a section of the pasture up pretty bad just by walking on it.  This is why we do a rotational grazing program on our farm and move them frequently to minimize the damage to the pasture while maximizing the fresh greens.

Absolutely no aggression allowed from any of them, even the boar. Aggressive animals quickly find themselves on the cull list.

Here they are in one of the hog pastures, getting a morning skritch from my daughter with a couple jealous, fence jumping, goats looking on.

 

Piglets on their first morning, scooting around looking for that very important first drink of colostrum.

 

2 days later and they've already grown in leaps and bounds.  This breed is amazing.

 

Buddy piled in their hoop house, it was a whopping 32 degrees when I took this picture.  Seeing them laid out evenly without actually being in a pile tells me the hoop house is doing its job of keeping them warm.  We also insulated the back of the hoop house with some subprime hay to keep the North wind from billowing the tarp and sucking the heat out.

 

 As you can see in this picture, this breed is solid, even as piglets they're built like little tanks and our far Northern weather doesn't seem to bother them at all.