Yoder Family Farms sits on the line of two Iowa counties that collectively produce 1.6 million pigs a year, but at any one time, the Lone Tree farm is home to less than 100.

Chad and Tiffany Yoder, along with young sons Luke, Owen, and Adam, raise purebred Durocs, a handsome American breed with a rusty coat and flopped ears. Appreciated by farmers for their hardiness and muscle growth, Durocs’ conception rates are lower and litters are smaller. There are only about 2.5 million of them worldwide.

Must you have a Ph.D. in swine genetics to raise heritage pigs? Likely not, but that is how Chad Yoder discovered the Duroc. And in a protein market where it’s smart to set yourself apart – one where folks still remember pork tasting like an old shoe thanks to “The Other White Meat” campaign – being able to produce a tender, juicy cut is an asset.

“Our whole focus is to make exceptional pork,” Yoder says.

He geeks out on the pH of the meat, the amount of intramuscular fat, the depth of the back fat. He selects optimum animals which produce pork chops and shoulder roasts with delicious flavor and satisfying mouthfeel.

“Our pork’s goal is to create that flavor and that tenderness,” he says.

How do you know you’ve got an exceptional plate of meat? When it doesn’t require coating in Shake ‘n Bake or drowning in Cream of Mushroom to be palatable. When its complexity is perfect right off the bone.

“We take straight ground pork to some of these restaurants, and they say it tastes just like sausage, like it’s already as good as their sausage,” Yoder says. “They don’t even season it to add it to their [dishes]. It just adds that different flavor profile than what traditional or more conventional pork offers.”

The Yoders started their Duroc farm back in 2018. Having grown up on a farm, Chad wanted that lifestyle back for himself and the boys; it was just a matter of figuring out how to make it sustainable. He has a separate full-time job (Tiffany is a stay-at-home mom), which funded the enterprise, but the hope is that the kids will have more options.

“The vision here is that our farm is not something for me to retire on, it’s to build up a business that is successful enough to where one of my kids, or multiple of my kids, can come back and step in and it can be a future for them,” Yoder says.

To that end, finding ways to market their pork has been a priority. In the beginning, folks could purchase a whole or half hog, which would be processed by the meat locker. More recently, the farm found partners that have made online sales and nationwide shipping possible. Today customers can purchase anything from BBQ pork burger patties to the Duroc Breakfast Sampler Bundle on the farm’s website.

But folks within driving distance might prefer a more personal connection. They might like to browse the pork selection in person and pick up locally raised lamb, beef and eggs while they’re out. They might also like to learn more about the pigs and how they’re raised.

“We’ve got a Facebook page that went from 3,000 people to 70,000 followers in the last couple months. It’s been a little crazy, but what I’ve learned is there’s a ton of people that just don’t have any idea where their food comes from, and they just really want to connect and understand what’s going on,” Yoder says.

Building a store on the farm seems like a logical next step, as it would address these needs. That’s a $138,000, multi-year undertaking, but thanks to a $25,000 Choose Iowa grant they were awarded in March, it’s something the Yoders can start.

The goal is to build an outpost where customers can purchase local meat and produce and also gain new insight into pork production.

“We want to give everybody a well-rounded experience of what pig farmers are doing of all shapes and sizes and all different business models,” Yoder says. “We want to educate that there’s different strengths and different ways to do it, and there’s not one model that fits everybody, and there’s not one way to do it.”

The way Yoder Family Farms does it, focusing on genetics and raising a heritage breed, is not the cheapest way. “It costs more for me to raise a pig and to produce a pork chop,” Yoder says. But that investment pays off in quality.

“If you can cook it and it stays tender and moist, and it tastes and has a texture more like a nicely cooked steak, it’s going to be more rewarding,” he says. “I think that’s where our goal is, that when you walk away, you’re not like, ‘Oh, I just had a pork chop.’ You’re like, ‘Oh, that was a really good pork chop.’”

Pullman Bar & Diner in Iowa City, Barrett’s All Day in Coralville, and Iowa’s Best Burger Café in Kellogg are all finding customers appreciate dishes made with the Yoders’ pork, and Hy-Vee stores in Coralville, Cedar Rapids, and Marion are selling their inventory of pork sticks and jerky.

The Yoders would like to do more of that.

“The other part of this [farm store] building is to hopefully give us more storage space so we can ramp up and have more pork for more restaurants,” Yoder says. The challenge is “everybody would like to use more pork chops and more bacon,” but “there’s only so much pork chops and bacon on a pig, and you create a lot of ground pork. We’ve got to find places to go with that [too] as a balance.”

With a little luck, the farm store will be constructed within a year and fully operational in two.

As Yoder Family Farms grows, so do the boys. Luke, Owen and Adam – aged 12, 9 and 8 -- have been getting up at 6 a.m. to do chores before school. They recently took a trip to Iowa State University to pick up a black bottle calf for 4-H. They’re learning what it means to farm and raise Durocs, so that it will be an option for them when they’re older, should they choose it.

A family heritage based on a heritage breed. Now that’s exceptional.

Pork cuts can be ordered directly at yoderfamilyfarms.com. Find their pork on the menu nearby at Pullman Bar & Diner, Iowa City, and Barrett’s All Day, Coralville. Both Hy-Vee stores in Coralville carry their pork sticks and jerky – look for them in the freezer section.