Ridgetop
Herd Master
The hams just look like they are double muscled. Show hogs are bred specially to be long, and wide, with little fat. The double muscling gene was really popular in the late 90's when it was identified. Scientists studied it, and ranchers were more excited about it than sliced bread. Twice as much muscle meat on a carcass might mean twice as much $$ for livestock. BUT the double muscling gene proved to be a false hope. Just as it started to become a fad in livestock shows it was discovered that animals with the double muscle gene carried hardly any fat (thus the better definition of muscling). The lack of fat caused major loss of tenderness and palatability. This resulted in huge complaints from consumers. Ranchers with double muscling genetics in their animals found that the slaughterhouses refused them or lowered the prices paid for those animals. Eventually the fad for double muscling died out once it was seen that the animals were not salable. It occurs naturally in some breeds of cattle, but is no longer being bred into livestock on purpose.
Willows is not a hideout for tax evaders.
Willows is a farm town in northern California on I-5. It is where you take the cutoff going east to Chico State University. It is also where we stay when going to pick up sheep we buy from Wes Patton. His ranch is in Orland, about 5 miles north of Willows. The area is mostly almond orchards until you reach Chico to the east when walnut orchards become prevalent. Cattle and sheep are the main livestock.The address looks like a business address. It is in the middle of town. I looked it up and it is down the street from the Best Western where we stayed last month.
