Hog contraceptive hits the market

Little known about contents, effectiveness

Story by Craig Nyhus, Lone Star Outdoor News

This story originally appeared in the June 11 issue of LSON.

A new product claiming to be a feral hog contraceptive is being touted by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.

The product, called HogStop, seeks to curb the growth of the feral hog population in Texas over time through cutting the sperm count of feral boars.

Danny Loper helped develop the product with his father, Dr. Dan Loper, a longtime dairy nutritionist and inventor.

“It’s an all-natural feed,” Loper said. “What we’re using impacts swine more than ruminants. In testing, we fed to feral hogs and found out it worked. After five days of feeding, it still had an impact on fertility of 60 percent.”

Loper was mum on the actual contents of the feed, other than saying it was all-natural and classified as a minimum risk pesticide, therefore requiring no additional approval from the Environmental Protection Agency or the Texas Department of Agriculture.

“It’s a humane option to help control the hog issue,” he said.

On its website, HogStop describes its bait as being “composed of natural feed ingredients that inhibit the fertility of the male hogs when eaten.”

The product is being manufactured in Comanche by Hi-Pro Feeds. Application is recommended through special hog-specific feeders designed to decrease any environmental impact outside of feral hogs by making it difficult to reach by cattle, deer, birds and other animals.

Dr. John Tomecek — Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service wildlife specialist in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management — and the chair of the National Wild Pig Task Force, said he had seen the release about the product but knew little about it.

“We have little data on the product from the company,” Tomecek said. “There’s not a lot for us to have an opinion on. It’s not a pesticide or anything that would require a veterinarian to sign off on its use. Since we don’t know what’s in it, we really can’t give an opinion on it — our extension agents have been getting questions since the release came out.”

Tomecek said companies typically come to the department to get independent data on what’s coming out, but even the industry professionals who are members of the task force didn’t know about HogStop.

Loper offered a reason for the lack of sharing of ingredients and data.

“The product is patent pending and trademarked,” he said. “We’re doing everything we can to secure the information for as long as we can.”

He also noted that some of his father’s inventions had been copied in the past.

On June 1, Miller issued a release saying, “I am very excited about this new product. This could be a great new weapon in the war on feral hogs. It appears that unlike other hog baits, this is not a poison. Instead, it interrupts the reproduction of this animal over time, and therefore makes the product more humane. HogStop, or any other product that is available to help Texas farmers and ranchers curb the damage done by these feral hogs, is welcomed at the Texas Department of Agriculture.”

Tomecek said he is anxious to see the information and data on HogStop.

“I’m curious,” he said. “Anyone that kills a pig is a friend of mine. However, with any chemical control option, we don’t want people to step away from the other control options. We need to use them all.”