(517) 518-7930

Photo courtesy of Red Dog Ranch - Leslie Carlson-Elliott

"...when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another Heaven and another Earth must pass before such a one can be again."

-William Beebe

NOTICE: online membership form now available!

Become a member instantly!

Download:

Field Guide To Heritage Pigs Here!

Mark Dibert-AMHA Registrar addresses questions and concerns here...

PLEASE NOTE: DUE TO ILLNESS Mark Sponsler will not be taking any emails or phone calls regarding mulefoot pigs until further notice. You may direct any needs to the AMHA jessica.dibert@gmail.com. Our heartfelt prayers are with Mark and his family at this time. He and his family has been instrumental and have worked tirelessly for the preservation of our breed. We are looking forward to Mark feeling better. God speed our dear friend.

"Five percent of all highly endangered breeds disappear from the face of the Earth annually--

that comes to an average of

more than one a week."

Yahoo! Forum Group:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Mulefoot/

Mulefoots For Sale Yahoo Forum Group:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/AMHAmulefootHogs4sale/

75% of European food product diversity

has been lost since 1900

93% of American food product diversity

has been lost in the same time period

33% of livestock varieties have

disappeared or are near disappearing

Today, the Mulefoot is the rarest of American swine breeds.The most distinctive feature of the American Mulefoot hog is the solid hoof which resembles that of a mule. The Mulefoot is a large docile, black hog with sows weighing 250-400 pounds, boars 350-600 pounds. The American Mulefoot has a documented population with a breed standard and a long history of agricultural use. This breed is unique to the United States and is critically rare. Recent events, however, have led to more optimism regarding its survival.

Animals favored by modern agribusiness aren’t those happy creatures featured in children’s books. They’re bred to emphasize marketable features: cows that deliver rivers of milk, for example, and pigs that produce uniformly large, low-fat pork chops. Other characteristics, such as resistance to disease or tolerance for heat, have been downplayed, because farmers can compensate with advanced care techniques and medicine. "Through better animal health, through better medicine and better control of the environment, we in a way obviated the need to breed these animals for hardiness in resisting negative environmental influences, including disease,". "We have created a very delicate animal."

The Mulefoot Pig and other heritage breeds thrive and are a hardy breed. Unlike the commercial breeds of today. They do not fit the description of "delicate", thus are perfect as a farm addition.

The Mulefoot hog population is classified as Critical by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (fewer than 200 in annual registration). However its outlook is improving. It is now being raised by breeders across the United States. American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. ALBC

Advance reservations accepted by most breeders!

Reserve Early!

Send in reservation form to the breeder closest to you, they will confirm availability promptly.

NOTE

If you DO NOT receive one of these two forms you are purchasing NON-REGISTERED stock. The AMHA is not held liable nor required to issue a registration for a pig that the previous owner/member/seller did not choose to register prior to sale.

Buyers please assure you simply receive one of the two forms for registered pigs: registration or a registration application

(filled out and signed by seller) that you may mail into AMHA.

We are no longer have an open herd book.

All offspring must have registered parents.

All adults must be registered.

AMHA Breeder List - Here

Mulefoot Pork Wins Blind Taste Test!

Members now can pay their yearly dues

as well as registration and transfer fees via Pay Pal

online to email address:

mulefootpigs@aol.com

ALWAYS state clearly in the note area of pay pal,

what payment is for and add your complete name and address.

We print out payment information and add this to your file.

MEMBERS NOTE: Breeders may request a "certification of mulefoot pork" form you may fill out and simply give to purchsers if you like. Further suggestions will be accepted

Enjoy the video below courtesy of : SAM NIELSEN.

any time. This video was created as a project for the Intro to Ag class in Central City. Each student made a video on a different breed of swine.

"GREAT job Sam!" -Mark Dibert

Mulefoot description.....
Coburn describes Mulefoot hogs as mainly black, with occasional animals having white points; medium flop ears; and a soft hair coat. The hogs were of fairly gentle disposition, fattened quite easily, and weighed from 400-600 pounds at two years of age. They were considered the highest quality "ham hogs" & and were fed to great weights before slaughter. For some years breeders claimed that Mulefoots were immune to hog cholera. That claim has been disproved, though the breed does seem to posses remarkable hardiness.

The National Mulefoot Hog Record association was organized in Indianapolis, Indiana, in January 1908. Two additional registries were also founded. In 1910 there were 235 breeders registered in twenty-two states. Mulefoots were taken to Canada between 1900 and 1920 but no attempt was made to establish a herd book and pedigree records were not maintained according to J.W. MacEwan in The Breeds of Farm Livestock in Canada.

A remnant population of the American Mulefoot has been owned by R.M. Holiday of Louisiana, Missouri, for nearly forty years. He remembers from boyhood that his family and others raised these hogs by putting them on islands in the Missouri and Mississippi rivers to forage during the summer and then rounding them up in the fall for slaughter. This practice was terminated by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950's. In 1964 Mr. Holiday gathered together stock from all the known breeders and established his herd. During 1976 he swapped animals with a breeder in North Dakota, which introduced some undesirable traits such as prick ears, wattles and split hooves. Nevertheless, Holliday's strong and consistent production selection has maintained a generally uniform and characteristic herd. After his experience with this "exotic" animal dealer he sold no more stock except those contracted for slaughter. During these years the Mulefoot registries folded and all known copies of the herd books were lost.

*A thank you to Mr. R.M. Holliday...

The American Mulefoot Hog was widespread in the central region of the USA in the first half of this century. They were a hardy outdoor breed with the normal cloven hooves of a pig fused into a single toe (syndactyl). They were also reputed to be resistant to a number of pig diseases prevalent at the time. By the 1960's vaccines and treatments were available for most pig diseases and the numbers of Mulefoot Hogs declined. By 1985 only one herd remained belonging to a Mr R.M. Holliday in Missouri, USA. He continued to maintain the breed because he believed it had a unique characteristic of hardiness, and because of his own family tradition. Both his father and grandfather had reared this breed of pig on the small river islands in that part of the Mississippi river from which they would harvest the young pigs. Today, as new resistant strains of once controllable diseases begin to emerge there is some renewed interest in the American Mulefoot Hogs to re-evaluate the disease resistance claims. There is also interest in examining the foot structure of the breed to see if it might prevent lameness in commercial pigs reared on concrete floors or slats. However, if it hadn't been for the determination of this one farmer to keep this breed going, these new research opportunities would not be available.

*Reference: http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/T0559E/T0559E05.htm

Arie McFarlen and Bret Kortie

have purchased all of Mr Hollidays stock.

Mr Holiday no longer has any stock available. Maveric Heritage Ranch Co. now have the largest herd of purebred Mulefoots in the country. We want to extend our sincerest thanks for their dedication to the breed.

For further information visit their website at: http://mavericmulefoots.tripod.com/

Our thoughts and prayers are with Arie and her family. In At 5:30am November 19th, 2008 she lost her 100 year old gambrel barn and with it some of her precious livestock. Arie has been instrumental in not only the preservation of the Mulefoot breed but others as well. She devotes time, energy and a passion that is appreciated by all that has had the opportunity to work with her. We are a bit late at getting this up on our page-we were without internet for a time. We hope all of you support her efforts and offer support.

"Arie, we wholeheartedly thank you for your timeless devotion even in the most trying of times. You are a mentor, and a freind to all that know you."

Read about it here: http://www.maveric9.com/

The Endangered Hog Foundation has been established to help Arie rebuild and to help continue work with endangered pig breeds.

http://endangeredhogfoundation.blogspot.com/

Pigs: Keeping a Small-Scale Herd for Pleasure and Profit (Hobby Farm) [Paperback]

Purchase Her Book at Amazon-Click Here

Review:

"Arie McFarlen's Pigs is a welcome resource for pig raisers. It is especially timely, as many producers are returning to small-scale production as an alternative to industrial pork production. The two systems are so different that the strategies and resources that are useful for one rarely work well in the other system. Arie has filled the gap for small-scale producers so that they can make wise choices in management systems, housing, and breed choices in order to maximize opportunities for success. Small-scale production has an ever brighter future--as well as a distinguished past-- and this book will be useful to breeders and producers interested in participating in that bright future." ----D. Phillip Sponenberg, DVM, PhD, technical advisor, American Livestock Breeds Conservancy

Review:

"This book is filled with good information for anyone interested in pigs. Arie McFarlen goes against convention focusing on the unique, interesting, and mostly ignored heritage and endangered breeds. She does this with love and understanding for the endearing characteristics these animals can't help but display."

Mr. R.M. Holiday

Courtesy of Red Dog Ranch-Leslie Carlson-Elliott

Courtesy of Shady Blue Acres - Blue Strom

Our associations goal is to document and preserve the American Mulefoot Hog, and save it from extinction. We are in desperate need of a herd book, participation is crucial for this breeds survival! We welcome suggestions or information as our goal is giving this special breed new hope, this will be quite and undertaking. But well worth the end result.

Mr R.M. Holliday

The Origin of the Mulefoot hog.....

The origin of the American Mulefoot breed is not clear. F.D. Coburn, in his classic 1916 book SWINE IN AMERICA, notes that the Mulefoot hog was found in Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, across the southwest and in some parts of Mexico. The breed has a well-documented history over the last century. My personal belief, as well as documented in Swine Science by M.E. Ensminger, B.S., M.A., Ph.D. Former Manager, U.S.D.A. Dixon Springs Project, Robbs Illinois, Copyright 1961 is that this breed originated in southern ohio.

Courtesy of Blue Strom

PAY FEES BELOW IF DESIRED

Members now can pay their yearly dues as well as registration and transfer fees via pay pal online to

email address:

mulefootpigs@aol.com

ALWAYS state clearly in the note area of pay pal, what payment is for exactly and add your complete name and address. We print out payment information and add this to your file.

If paying your membership fee we also require you to send in your membership application after paying your fee via pay pal.

Registration applications as well as registrations for transfer of ownership will still be required to be mailed in to us. Payment via online is provided as a convenience.

Breeders can now pay for multiple purchasers AMHA membership and registration fees if desired in one transaction. Enter names of purchaser in the text field of the paypal payment button.