The Story

But I just kept asking.  Finally one day a couple of years ago, my mom was reading one of her favorite blogs about homesteading when she learned about heritage hogs.  She thought they sounded intriguing. 

Intriguing: Then she thought about my longing to raise cattle and approached me with the idea of switching animals altogether.  We then went outside to look at our acreage to dream.  It occurred to us that we already had a hog house that had been built in the 1940's!  We set to work clearing the accumulated "stuff" from the inside and found some panels and gates in the process. 

Next Hurdle:  After the initial work had been done, we approached Dad.  He too was skeptical at first.  But he soon gave us the ok to pursue the idea further.  I was so excited.  It was then that we found Heather Scar.  Heather Scar is the one who introduced me to my beloved KuneKune breed!

I fell in love with KuneKunes!  Heather was so gracious to help me learn how to care for their unique characteristics.  She helped me acquire my first breeding stock.  She taught me to soak their feed.  She taught me how to spot excellent animals.  She also taught me about 200in12 Genetics.

Money?  I worked all spring from early morning to evening picking rocks for a farmer in our area.  My brother and I covered a lot of ground.  I now had a small nest egg of earnings.  I secretly hoped Dad and Mom would like my idea enough to help me financially.

Now fencing? I knew I didn't have enough money for new materials.  I remembered Dad had said Grandpa had raised hogs.  So we went to Grandpa's acreage to scour around for hog panels.  We found a pile of them behind the old crib.  Grandpa had recently passed away, but we were sure he would proud of my endeavor.  We asked Grandma if I could buy them.  And she had a much better idea:  I could just have them!    YES!!  Grandpa also had feed bowls.  Score!!  So slowly but surely my plan was coming together.  We now have several paddocks of passure that my KuneKunes really seem to love!