Over the years, we’ve traded with the Bunkers for mating pigs to be able to keep the line going, or we’ve used a boar that they had. However, this year, they haven’t had one for that purpose; and so, we had been trying to figure out how best to proceed. We were looking around and asking around the feed store in town and the like, and one contact led to another. The suggestion from some of the local pig breeders was to artificially inseminate (AI) — they said it was pretty simple. Well, I contacted a somewhat local fellow who does that for show Durocs, and we discussed it, but he also mentioned he had a boar for sale — not one of his best, but would be willing to sell it. And so, I went away to think and pray about it all.

Some time passed, and I was going to really start this process again, probably going the AI route. But as I got talking to that local fellow again, he started describing what was involved, and it was a bit more complicated than it first appeared, with having to store the semen at certain temperatures, etc. Hm. But, then I asked him about the boar he had for sale before, and he said he had that one, and another one, and he was about to take them to market, but would let me have them at market price, which ended up together being less than the original price of one pig the first time! Wow, very nice, and thanks to the Lord for that gift!

So, I went to pick them up. One of them was *huge*, and ornery, and I figured he would be difficult to handle; so I decided we’d keep the smaller one and take the bigger one to the butcher, which is what we did that day. He was probably 500-550 pounds or so, I believe, and was just as difficult to get out of the trailer as he was to get in. But we did, and then took the smaller one back to our homestead, and to Penelope.

Given Penelope’s name, we decided to call him Odysseus, and here is a latest picture of him!

Our New Duroc Boar Odysseus

And here are the latest of him and Penelope:

Our Duroc Pigs Odysseus and Penelope
Another Picture of Our Duroc Pigs Odysseus and Penelope

And this is a video of when they first met:


We’re grateful to the Lord for His timing in everything, and for the provision of the meat, and we pray He grants the next round of breeding, and a safe one, according to His will!

— David