Unraveling the Legacy: A Dive into the History of the Mulfoot Hog Breed
The American Mulefoot, one of North America’s oldest and rarest swine breeds, faces critical endangerment with fewer than 200 annual breed registrations. In the face of competition from large-scale factory farms, it’s crucial for consumers and farmers to collaborate in creating a market for these remarkable creatures, rescuing them from the brink of extinction. Notably selected as one of Slow Food’s “Ark of Taste” animals, the Mulefoot boasts exceptional taste and warrants conservation efforts. This breed earns its name from its defining feature: a solid, non-cloven hoof reminiscent of a mule’s. While this trait sporadically arises through gene mutation in other breeds, the Mulefoot breed maintains consistent appearance and behavior, valued throughout American history and now prioritized for conservation.
While the Mulefoot’s origins remain unclear, theories suggest ties to mulefooted stocks in Asia and Europe, though it likely descended from Spanish hogs introduced to the Americas in the 1500s. Sharing similarities with the Choctaw hog, both likely trace back to a common ancestral stock, loosely managed until the late 1800s.
By 1900, the Mulefoot had standardized as a breed, prized for its ease of fattening and meat, lard, and ham production. Once widespread across the Corn Belt and Mississippi River Valley, they were managed extensively, foraging in spring and returning in fall. At the turn of the century, there were two breed associations and over 200 herds registering purebred stock. Mulefoot hogs, compact and weighing 400-600 pounds, sport solid black coats with occasional white points and pricked forward ears. While some have neck wattles, it’s not common.
Thriving under extensive husbandry, they produce litters of 5-6 piglets, with some having up to 12. Their calm demeanor makes them excellent mothers. Critically rare, as of 2006, fewer than 200 purebred Mulefoot hogs are documented, primarily traced back to Missouri’s Holliday herd, believed to be the last purebred lineage.