Dancing Farmer’s Horton 0304 is owned by Will and Dana Schouten at Closer to the Land Farm in Bear Creek, NC. Horton is a very calm and laid back boar. He’s friendly and enjoys the occasional scratch behind ears, but tends to keep a respectable distance. Not once has he acted in a “boarish” way and Dana has never been afraid to be around him. He’s amazing with his sows and their piglets and the Schoutens have no problems leaving him with the herd year-round.
From Dana: “He’s rather large for a Guinea Hog and has a long muscular build with a moderately wide stance, strong pasterns, sturdy back, and long snout. His coat is thick and straight. About 20% of his offspring inherit a very prominent razorback running from between their ears all the way to the base of their tails. About 5% of his offspring have small amounts of white on their toes.
“Despite his old age, his fertility and lady-wooing skills haven’t decreased. We have several litters from him on the way. He throws gilts with high teat counts (14 or 15 teats, although 12 or 13 is most common), abundant milk supply, teats that bag up so much they almost look like goat udders, and mothering instincts I can’t praise enough. I’ve never had to assist any of his daughters during farrowing or help them raise the piglets. His daughters consistently have exceptionally high survival to weaning percentages– around 95%+. Crushing issues are practically nonexistent. Out of over three hundred piglets from his daughters born on our farm, I don’t think we’ve lost more than 15 piglets. Builds vary among daughters, but most are long, low, with longer snouts. Weights among daughters range from 260lbs to 300lbs. His sons inherit his larger size and laid-back temperament. I haven’t heard of any of his sons weighing less than 400lbs.
“I can’t think of anything that I would call a weakness, but in some offspring, usually daughters, they’ll be almost too long and too short. We prefer the longer body type, but not the ones on the edge of extreme, so that is something we watch out for.”
Horton is a fine-looking Setty/Celesky boar at age ten with forward-facing, intelligent eyes, impressive tusks, and admirable breeding traits.
Cathy’s Pedigree Comments:
The pedigree is highly inbred in spite of low COI percentage, so continuing the pattern of inbreeding in future generations should proceed with caution and purpose, knowing what we now know about the genetics. Setty Houdini is in his three generation pedigree three times, and Setty Rose is Houdini’s full sibling. Setty Rose is the dam of DNC Esmerelda. Celesky’s Tulip, Boris, and Roxanne are very likely closely related to Setty Rose and Setty Houdini, being born during the same time frame. Mark Celesky purchased his herd from Randy Setty and only ever bred two litters, according to my interview with him.