by Carol Mowdy Bond | Photos courtesy of the Sivard family
In late 2024, May, a Meishan pig, birthed 13 piglets. May and a Meishan boar named Grogu had arrived at Kayla and Kenny Sivard’s farm in Choctaw County, Oklahoma, earlier that year.
Kenny Sivard says, “Meishan pigs have wonderful personalities! They are smart, have distinct individual personalities, and develop relationships with humans. We spend time with May and Grogu and their babies each day. Both come when their names are called, come to us to be petted each day, and are very gentle. They stand while you pet them and love to be scratched behind the ears and on their wrinkled faces.”
The Sivard children, Kenny Sam and Joline, are part of the pig battalion. “They help feed, water, clean,” says their father. “But recently I was looking for Joline, and I could see the hog pens, and she was loving on all the babies. My son also loves them. He regularly goes into their pen and pets them. We all love these pigs.”
Like all pigs, these Meishans love to eat. May prefers bread and fresh vegetables. Grogu leans toward cabbage and fresh pumpkins.
The Sivards also have six Kunekune pigs and five piglets and other animals, including 10 dogs, four guinea pigs, and Lou.
“Lou is a 14-year-old Appaloosa who belongs to Joline,” Sivard says. “The two have a deep bond. Joline rides Lou nearly every day. Lou is very tame and has a great personality. She and Joline trust each other.”
Carrying the Torch
In spring 2023, the Sivards purchased more than 13 acres where they and their family now live near Swink. The site includes a historic house. Originally built by Chickasaw immigrants in the late 1830s, it is one of Oklahoma’s longest-standing houses and has a deep history. The location was thought to have been the home of Thomas LeFlore, chief of the Apukshunnubbee District of the Choctaw Nation from 1834 to 1838. (The Choctaw Nation was divided into three districts in the nineteenth century.) But a historian disproved the idea that the home had belonged to LeFlore, and Sivard also has researched the subject and maintains that it did not.
The Sivard family named the location Palali Farm. In Choctaw, palali means “carry a torch,” and the Sivards are carrying the torch of history. The military road from Fort Towson in the Choctaw Nation to Washington, Arkansas, runs through the Sivard property. Built in 1824, the road became known as the Trail of Tears because of what the Choctaw tribe had suffered on the road during removal into Indian Territory. The road was also one of the first primary routes for Chickasaw removal into Indian Territory.
For more than a year, the Sivards have been restoring the land and structure. “Our goal is to preserve the site, make it available again to the people of the area, and use it as a tool to share our area’s history, primarily the history of agriculture in the Choctaw Nation,” says Sivard.
Kayla Henthorne Sivard is the eighth generation of her family in the area. The family arrived in 1883 in Eagletown, Choctaw Nation, near the Mountain Fork River in what is now McCurtain County.
Kenny Sivard is a seventh-generation McCurtain County native. His great-great-great-grandfather’s sister and her husband, Robert Hinds, moved to Wheelock Mission near Millerton. At the mission, Hinds helped to build Pushmataha Hall, the original dormitory for Wheelock Academy, in 1883. The academy functioned as a boarding school from 1884 to 1955 for American Indian girls who were primarily Choctaw.
Although his family heritage is not Native American, Sivard grew up in a Choctaw church, had Choctaw friends, and is now a recognized Choctaw history source and authority. He began to learn Chahta anumpa, or “Choctaw language,” when he was 12 and speaks the language. Through Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS), he has been a living-history reenactor at Fort Towson Historic Site and at candlelight tours at Doaksville and Fort Gibson and battle reenactments at Honey Springs. Sivard is president of the McCurtain County Historical Society and serves on the OHS board of directors.
Restoring Agriculture
In 2018, the Livestock Conservancy declared Meishan pigs as critically endangered when their global numbers dipped below 2,000. The breed is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, domesticated pig breed in the world. On a farm, Meishan pigs are easy on fences. They are not loud squealers, but instead, they make a series of grunts and whines to communicate with one another and with humans. The sows are excellent mothers and have litters of as many as 20 piglets. Piglets wean early and are resistant to digestive illnesses.
Sivard says, “They are much like the hogs that the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes had. We are trying to restore examples of pre-1860s agriculture in Indian Territory to this property to serve as an example and teaching tool. Our Meishan pigs have become a very valued part of our family and our farm. It would be a shame to see this breed fall into extinction. They have so much to offer the world and to the people they share it with.”
