Category:Red Wattle Hog

The Red Wattle, also known as the Red Waddle, is a hog breed from New Caledonia, which is a French Island in the South Pacific by Australia. They came to New Orleans in the late 1700's by the French.

The breed is a lean meat type, with excellent flavor. The Red Wattle has never been very popular, as years ago people wanted pigs for their lard - of which the Red Wattle had very little. The breed got some interest in the 1980’s for its reputation for lean meat. They sold for a high price and many people were breeding them. This unfortunately did not last very long. It is a gentle natured hog, easy to work and farrow.

The Red Wattle is one of the so called tasselled pigs, and looks something like a Duroc or perhaps a Tamworth/Duroc cross, but with a pair of wattles (influenced by a single gene) hanging from the neck. The Red Wattle was quite a stable breed but has at least three different registries in the United States and is also recorded in the Canadian Swine Registry - it is not clear which of these record the original breed, or whether populations with nothing in comon except the wattling gene are included regardless of other characteristics.