Hog farmers reach back for original pig

I'll be honest: The words "Give Mama a kiss" were not what I was expecting to hear from rancher Valerie Fogel. At least not at that moment. She was leaning over a wall and puckering up for an unlikely object of affection. He answers to the name of Lloydie, and he's a 300-pound Russian wild boar, complete with a bruising heft, primordial snout, an impressive pair of tusks, a coat of espresso-colored bristles and an enthusiastic snort. Although he may not look the part, Lloydie is the Brad Pitt of Money Creek Buffalo Ranch, a prize stud who sires a steady stream of equally prized animals. Heritage breeds are all the rage among the nation's ever-growing number of pork aficionados, and nothing epitomizes this blast-to-porcine-past greater than the beasts on this fascinating Houston, Minn., spread...more