The history of the Sumrall Guinea hog herd goes back to around 1900. Harmon David Sumrall raised the hogs first, in Mississippi. When Harmon’s son John William was born in 1921 he grew with the family’s hogs and learned to care for and breed them. Eventually he passed the tradition to his son, Harmon’s grandson, Gary Sumrall, who was born in 1954. Gary promised his father just before he passed away that he would take care of his hogs.
In 2005, after the Sumrall’s moved to rental property after damage from Hurricane Katrina, Arie McFarlen of Maveric Ranch in South Dakota offered to take Gary’s last 3 old sows and return their descendants in the future when he was back on his feet. His boar had died, and he was unable to find a replacement. The breed had really died down. Of the 3 old sows, only one ever gave birth again. Arie named her Sumrall Bobbie Sue and bred her to DNC George. Out of that litter, Arie saved a boar named Maveric Charles Sm3. He was 50% Sumrall line. She bred Charles to other sows in her barn and kept the best offspring from those breedings. In 2005, the American Guinea Hog Association had not yet been officially established. The Sumrall’s 100 year old herd had, therefore, never been registered.
By 2013, Arie contacted Gary to come get the offspring she had been saving for him from the Sumrall Bobbie Sue genetics. Gary spent the next two years breeding this hogs, culling the less desirable, and saving those that were of his daddy’s type. When Gary became sick, he contacted Cathy Payne to arrange placement for his herd.
It is genetically important to line breed cousins or grandparents with grand offspring in order to preserve the Sumrall lineage on at least some farms. This line can then be linecrossed with other lines closely related to a different foundation hog. I recommend using the name prefix “MS” in front of any descendant of Sumrall Bobbie Sue. This will help to indicate the genetic lineage. Anyone who reads a pedigree with several “MS” hogs on it can estimate at a glance the degree of Sumrall genetics that it holds, as long as current and future breeders continue this tradition. With the MS stock, you can expect solid black hogs unless hogs that carry white are in the pedigree. Maveric hogs were also solid black. Click below to see photographs and pedigrees.