Carcass comparison (kune, guinea, ossabaw)

We are trying to decide between guinea hogs, ossabaw, and kune kunes. Any carcass info out there? I've read the one research done by okc (i think). Can anyone give distinct differences between these breeds? I'm thinking they would all work out fine as small homestead pigs, so I'm mostly wondering about feed conversion and carcass quality info. Any meat pics would be greatly appreciated!

We got guinea hogs, 2 of them, they're going to be a year come october.  They look to be around 80 lbs each maybe.  At this rate, they should be in the 110ish range I'm thinking by mid fall when I'll do them.  I feed them grower feed x2 per day, 3 scoops each time between the 2 of them, and then the rest of the day they graze/root.  Sometimes I'll throw in our kitchen scraps/leftovers as well.  I think they're a fairly easy breed to deal with, friendly and docile, not hard to confine with hog panels.  The downside is that they won't get too big.  If you're going to get them as weaners in spring, expect to winter them, because they just won't get big enough worth the effort until they're at least a year old.  

Kune kunes are similar in the sense of growth rate, ease of raising, etc, with the added benefit that they root even less than guinea hogs (which do root, btw...don't believe the stories that they don't).  But, they're very expensive compared to guinea hogs.  That's why more often than not, when you see them in the US, they're pets, not food.  

I have no info on ossabaws, sorry.  

hau Katie,  

We raise AGH which are a Lard Hog, they also have dark red meat and are on the Slow Foods List as gourmet pork.
Kune Kune are similar but not really lard hogs, they are around the same size when fully grown and have a pronounced upturned snout. These are normally more expensive to purchase than either of the other two.
Ossabaw are larger with less fat than either of the others.  All three are grazers, that means you can raise them on all pasture or a combination of Pasture and supplemental feed.

Lard hogs are more along the lines of a Homestead animal since one of their functions is to produce cooking fat along with meat.

Any one of these hogs is a good choice for a homestead.
Both the AGH and the Kune Kune reach a weight of 300 lbs. The Ossabaw can get to 4 or 5 hundred pounds and will move faster than the others since it will be leaner.

All will benefit from giving them good kitchen scraps, all will root the Ossabaw will root more than the AGH which will root more than the Kune Kune.

Good info, Bryant.

I might also suggest that you can feed/finish an AGH and your next door neighbor can feed/finish an AGH in the same conditions and you can have two different slaughter results based on WHAT you fed them on and WHAT you finished them on. It's my learning that feed and finish are far more important to the quality of the final product than people realize because they focus on breed. I learned that you can even change the amount of saturated and unsaturated fats by breed and by feed. So, if I were asking the question, I would also have to marry breed characteristics with what I was feeding and what I will finish on -- or what I should feed and what I should finish on for a specific desired result.

I would probe Bryant more and also reach out to Brandon Sheard of Farmstead Meatsmith https://farmsteadmeatsmith.com/ for more specific information.  I'm simply a student of all this, Brandon is my teacher.

Hog flavor is affected by what they eat the last three months prior to slaughter, I like to use acorns since this is the time they are falling to the ground.
Our hogs get mostly pasture until those last three months. The AGH puts on fat quickly if you give it too much protein.

Brandon is a great guy Dan, I'm really glad you are learning from him.

Redhawk