“He was just more powerful than the other ones in terms of his looks and the way his body was built,” Rozeboom said.
This piglet grew fast, soon bypassing the size of his littermates.
“He was just a very impressive pig to look at,” Rozeboom said. “He was kind of the he-man of the litter.”
So, when the piglet reached seven days old, Rozeboom and the students made a pivotal decision in the young pig’s life. They agreed not to castrate him.
“He was the only male of the litter we kept as a boar,” Munsterteiger said.
His brothers met a different—ahem—fate. They became barrows while their brother became the University of Minnesota Swine Herd’s first boar stud in 16 years.