Marland Farms

08/08/2026

Iowa State Fair Preview #1

As most of you know, the last few years we have taken Hampshires down to the Iowa State Fair. This year I decided to add one Yorkshire Gilt to the entry list in honor of my Dad and his 55+ years of raising Yorkshire breeding stock.

I feel this gilt represents what my Dad thought Yorkshires should be.

My Dad never saw this gilt, but as he bred and raised 11 of the 14 hogs included in her three generation pedigree, he knew they had great potential to carry on his Yorkshire lineage.

08/03/2026

Can you believe it?
My wife actually was able to pull me away from the farm for ~2.5 days so we could take the kids to their first Chicago Cubs game. We took off Thursday after morning chores. The kids also got to experience two trips on the El Train once we arrived in Chicago. We visited the Bean at Millennuem Park, went to Navy Pier and rode the Seadog speed boat. For a high school band trip we rode the Seadog and it was nice to see the wife and kids reactions.

Unfortunately the Cubs didn't win on Friday, but the experience was still nice to share with the kids. This was my 5th time at Wrigley Field. It was fun explaining the history of Wrigley to the kids.

My most memorable moment at Wrigley was on Sept 13th, 1998 when I witnessed Sammy Sosa hit Home Runs #61 and #62 onto Waveland Ave to pass Roger Maris's long standing record of 61 Home Runs.

Saturday we did Legoland in the suburbs, and then drove home in time for evening chores.

07/24/2026

I moved a small group of 8 Hamp/York feeder pigs out of the nursery today and they are available. These are all littermates. The biggest four are gilts and the smallest four are barrows.

Package deal.
Take All or Take None.

Message the page or text William for availability.

07/23/2026

It was Hog Show Day at the Fayette County Fair. Ben had a few extra supporters today as my mom, one sister and my brother and his family showed up to cheer him on. Hopefully with today's experience he will decide that he needs to put more work into his hogs before the county fair week next year.

Also this afternoon I volunteered to assist with the Fayette County Bacon Buddies Show. This show allows people with disabilities (Buddies) to team up with a 4-H or FFA kid (Mentor) and experience what it takes to get a hog ready to show. And then they get a chance to put their new found skills to the test in the show ring. My cousin Jason was one of the Buddies this year so it was extra special being able to help him have a fun experience showing hogs.

Good thing my wife takes lots of photos that she graciously shares with me.

07/22/2026

Update: Ben's barrow has been spoken for. But if you would still like a locker hog, we do have other hogs that would work. We would just need to schedule a locker appointment.

Ben's Hamp x York F1 crossbred market barrow. Unfortunately he only weighed in at 235 lbs. The good news is he has till Aug 17th to put on more weight before his locker appointment.

Please let me know if you are looking for some delicious pork for your freezer. Parents with adult children, be thinking ahead, as this would even make for a very practical Christmas present.

07/21/2026

2.9" of rain today, sure made for an even more hectic swine arrival and weigh in for our county fair. Ben has two HY cross gilts and one HY cross barrow which will show on Wednesday. They weighed in at 262 (breeding gilt) 235 (market barrow) and 232 (market gilt).

The barrow has a locker date at Fireside Meats Sweets in Wadena on August 17th and is for sale if someone would like to fill their freezer before football 🏈 season starts. You can purchase as either a whole hog, or a half a hog. Buyer pays all processing costs.

Also had another litter arrive today while we were gone at the fair. MF4 Carline Imp 40-10 had her litter of 11 born, 9 live sired by MF3 Derecho 210-6.

07/19/2026

MF4 Ms Shelf Imp 51-7 will be headed for the farrowing house in two days and she could farrow her 3rd litter on the 24th bred to MF3 Crosshair 33-1, who would be a great grandson of CPMW2 Preacher 7-12, who was bred by Mike and Colton Williams, Williams Hampshires. Preacher was one of the best boars, if not the best boar we have used in the last 20-30 years.

I'll post 51-7's pedigree and see if you can follow along. She was sired by JDB2 Impulse 5-3, who we purchased from Jerry Brink. On the maternal side, her mother (MF3 Ms Shelf DV 1-5) was sired by SSRO1 Double Vision 9-1, bred by Robert Owen. Her grandmother (MF1 Ms Shelf 34-6) was sired by MF8 Mash 242-5.
And her great grandmother would be CPMW9 Ms Shelf 3-1 who was purchased from Mike & Colton Williams. And if you follow 3-1's pedigree back and you will find that she is the great granddaughter of CPMW2 Miss Beacon 7-9, a littermate to Preacher.

07/18/2026

Sad news today from our good customer and friend Tim Fischer.

07/17/2026

07/15/2026

The heat index is only 100°F, so DPF4 Special 2-9 decided it was a good time to join the farrowing party. 11 live so far, also naturally sired by MF3 Derecho 210-6.

Drippers and fans are on, so they are relatively comfortable. I'll check on her after the kids 4-H dog training classes tonight. Their Dog show is Saturday, so we better not skip practice.

Yes, you did read that herdmark correctly, she was a purchased gilt. Last August I purchased 4 gilts in the Drake Purebreds online sale. At the time I didn't love this gilt because her sire is a show boar, but I went for her anyway. I thought if I breed her to my boars she could make decent county fair pigs for my son, oh and because her mother DPF Special 32-12 had an SPI of 119.18. Which if I remember correctly was 3rd for all active Hampshire sows at the time.
Her first litter were crossbreds but they were too young for county fair. So if I get her weaned in 25-28 days maybe her third litter could be county fair or even Iowa State Fair pigs.