Setty lines are from hogs owned by Randy Setty in Ohio. He bred the hogs from 2001 to 2002 or 2003. Mr. Setty purchased them from Matt Delavega, who raised minor breeds on rented land at Grailville Farm. Black Bart, was sold to him by a co-worker, Kenneth Bowman for the purpose of a barbecue. However, Randy did some research and discovered that the breed was endangered. That prompted him to become a conservation breeder for the next five years. The Setty hogs are renowned for calm temperaments and often a love for belly rubs. They tend to flop a bit. Matt obtained a trio of hogs from Annette Hesters in Indiana around 2000. Kenneth Bowman, a coworker of Setty, arranged for Matt to sell them to Randy Setty. Setty got the original trio consisiting of the boar, Black Bart and offspring produced by two sows. He sold stock to Mark Celesky, Don Oberdorfer, and others. Therefore in 2002 the Celesky, Hesters, DNC, and Setty hogs were all very closely related, mostly full or half-siblings, and cousins. This group is heavily linebred. Mark Celesky may have traded some for a hog or two from Donna Watkins in Illinois, providing some diversity. Mark only had two litters born from his stock, but he traveled and traded hogs with other early breeders so he could have piglets for display and pig races at a Pumpkin Patch in Nebraska. See the Hesters file for where her herd was originally sourced.
There was no American Guinea Hog Association at this time, and nobody was tracking pedigrees. Mark provided hogs to zoos but the pedigrees of those Celesky named hogs are unknown since he traded with Paul Krumm, Kevin Fall, and zoos.
Setty hogs tend to be large, barrel-shaped types that gain weight readily. They do well on pasture. Free feeding can be a disaster for them. Setty hogs related to Setty MC Little Old Stiff Guy tend to throw some offspring with more forward-facing ears than is typical in Guinea Hogs. On the other hand, Hester’s hogs in the 21st century are more stand-offish and small in size. Hesters is still breeding in 2020 and had bred her pigs since the 1980s so she has selected for many generations. The “Setty” and “Celesky” hogs have been selected to be large and floppy for the last 18 years and have gone a different direction. Many have also been kept that expressed white and bred to more than expressed white, developing the occasional litter that has white markings expressed in every piglet, white about the knee, four white feet, white collars, and white belts. Breeders vary on whether they retain those hogs or cull them.
Please contact me if you have photographs to include here or information about inheritable traits in linebred Setty hogs.