It might seem odd to revel in eating a pig that's critically endangered, but that's how you work to save a breed like the Red Wattle (sometimes spelled "waddle"). Rescuing endangered livestock breeds is a contradictory practice; eat them to save them. People aren't keeping Red Wattles as pets, so the best way to convince farmers to raise them is to show that there's a consumer market for them.
The Hunter brothers estimate that the typical pig raised in an American industrial hog operation is slaughtered at under 300 pounds. Their feed is cheap and heavy on grain, making for lean but bland meat. That 300-pound mark serves as a line of demarcation between fast-'n'-cheap pork and the pork served by the Hunters and the Underground Food Collective.
Pigs develop more fat than they do muscle at between 350 and 400 pounds, which is when farmer Henry Morren's Red Wattles are slaughtered. Any aficionado will tell you that the fat is what gives pork products their best texture and flavor. Red Wattles, according to Slow Foods USA, are "exceptionally lean and juicy with a rich beef-like taste and texture." Feeding the pig a poor diet would waste the qualities that make Red Wattles so prized.
The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy details the difficulties in advancing the Red Wattle as a breed. Populations are often poorly documented, and breed lines can become muddied and attenuated. Groups like the Red Wattle Hog Association seek to change that, offering an index of breeders and even individual pigs. When the individuality of a breed is lost, there's only a short walk to the anonymous and monolithic pig industry that currently dominates the Western world.
