Updates Regarding the Fire at Maveric Heritage
Ranch Co.
Dear Friends of Maveric:
In November 2008, a fire that took
our beautiful barn, beloved stallion, several
rare Mulefoot hog sows with their litters of piglets,
an extremely rare Wessex saddleback boar, a favorite
guinea hog boar, my dearly loved cats, our equipment
& feed.
"The concrete slab is all that remains of
a once magnificent & historical gambrel barn"
Many volunteers have helped to clean up the debris,
sort through the burned remains, rebuild the end
of the second burned barn, put up siding on our
walk in shed and help assemble portable shelters
for the pigs.
Through your generous donations and moral support,
we have been able to bring some sort of order
to our lives after the fire, and have secured
the pigs for the winter.
We still have an enormous amount of work ahead
of us, anticipating the rebuild this spring. We
are planning to make the rebuild a community event-not
just our local community, but our US community
through Slow Food, Animal Welfare Institute, Dakota
Rural Action, Western Organizations Resource Council,
and many others. Please follow along at our blog
page at endangeredhogfoundation.blogspot.com
for information on the rebuild and how you can
be a part of this historic event.
Our fund raising efforts will continue through
the rebuild and beyond. Our immediate effort is
to secure funds and assistance to rebuild our
facility, but our long term efforts will be to
continue our work with endangered pig breeds.
Over the past ten years, we have worked with
5 endangered pig breeds, focusing primarily on
Mulefoot and Guinea hogs. We have expanded our
work to include Ossabaw Island and Wessex Saddleback
pigs as well. Our work consists of DNA research,
identifying family bloodlines, establishing breeding
protocols, increasing the population, placing
breeding stock on other family farms and, most
importantly, educating people about the need to
preserve and save the biodiversity in pig breeds.
We believe that the best way to save these endangered
pigs is to give them a job-an end use-and put
them on the table. To borrow the phrase from our
dear friend Poppy Tooker, you have to “Eat
it to Save It”.
You can be a part of saving endangered pigs in
the US. Support the work of the Endangered Hog
Foundation and Maveric Heritage Ranch through
whatever means you can. Be it a cash donation,
assistance at the farm, serving pork from one
of our rare breeds, spreading the word or using
whatever special talent you have, you are a vital
part of our conservation effort. It takes a village
to save a rare breed!
We look forward to working with as many people
as possible to save the endangered pig breeds
in the US, and welcome your support.
Donations can be sent to the "Endangered
Hog Foundation"; in care of Maveric Heritage
Ranch Co. at the address below or by clicking
the donate button below.
Thank you to everyone who has offered support.
I cannot describe how it feels to stand in a place
of profound grief and intense gratitude at the
same time. We will carry on through the love and
support of our friends.
Endangered Hog Foundation
Maveric Heritage Ranch Co.
47869-242nd St.
Dell Rapids, South Dakota 57022
Original Story...
Dear Friends of Maveric:
It is with the deepest and most profound grief
that I write this message. At 5:30am November
19th, 2008, we awoke to our beautiful 100 year
old gambrel barn engulfed in flames. Trapped within
the barn was my beloved stallion, several rare
Mulefoot hog sows with their litters of piglets,
an extremely rare Wessex saddleback boar, a favorite
guinea hog boar and all of my dearly loved cats.
Although we made attempts to rescue our animals,
we were unable to save any from the barn.
We were able to run pigs from their pens near
the barn to the pastures and get them away from
the heat & flames. Many animals in these pens
were burned and have suffered smoke inhalation.
Though it is several days after the fire, we are
still losing animals we have been nursing and
trying to save.
The fire burned with such intensity that it caught
a large tree and our new barn on fire as well.
The firemen were able to save our new barn, but
our gambrel was a complete loss. The fire marshal
reported that the fire was burning in excess of
2000 degrees due to the way the metal items in
the barn melted and puddled. The fire was apparently
caused by a failure in the main power breaker.
When the power transformer began to melt, we lost
power to the whole farm. This also left us without
water, as our well is pumped by electricity.
All of our feed (approximately 1000 bales of
alfalfa), our tools, watering troughs & feeders,
buckets, piglet pens, fencing supplies, power
cords, winter heaters, saddles & horse gear,
construction materials for our new barn and so
much more were completely destroyed.
We cannot replace our rare breed pigs. They simply
do not exist. Our work for nearly ten years has
been to preserve and save these breeds of pigs.
We cannot begin to express our sense of loss over
these animals, not just from our lives, but from
all future generations.
This tragedy has made it even more clear to us
that these rare breeds are in a very precarious
situation. At any moment, a disaster, accident
or disease could take yet another species from
this planet.
Our friends have already begun to rally around
us and offer support. We have received many calls
and emails from the folks at Slow Food USA, Animal
Welfare Institute, American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
and Dakota Rural Action. Because of this outpouring
of encouragement, we feel compelled to persevere
and insure that future generations are able to
raise and enjoy these breeds, and that biodiversity
amongst pigs is preserved.
The Endangered Hog Foundation has been established
to help us rebuild and to help continue work with
endangered pig breeds. We fully intend to carry
on with our DNA research, breeding program, establishing
new breeders and promotion of endangered pigs.
We have already begun the process of cleaning
up the debris and will begin construction of a
facility to continue working with our pigs as
soon as spring arrives in South Dakota. Temporary
measures to provide for the pigs during the upcoming
winter are underway.
We need your help. Our immediate needs are for
physical labor to help with clean up and building
temporary shelter to winter the pigs. Additionally,
we need to find a source for alfalfa hay square
bales, to obtain portable shelters for the pigs
due to farrow in early 2009, hog equipment and
hand tools.
Donations can be sent to the "Endangered
Hog Foundation" in care of Maveric Heritage
Ranch Co. at the address below or by clicking
the donate button below.
Thank you to everyone who has offered support.
I cannot describe how it feels to stand in a place
of profound grief and intense gratitude at the
same time. We will carry on through the love and
support of our friends.
Endangered Hog Foundation
Maveric Heritage Ranch Co.
47869-242nd St.
Dell Rapids, South Dakota 57022
