Although the Gehring Ranch is known today as a cattle and bison operation, David Gehring introduced commercial hog production to the ranch in 1910, beginning a long partnership with the Montana Meat Co. in Helena. In his journal on May 27, 1910, Gehring recorded the acquisition of two young sows from his neighbors the Hardies. He established a hog pasture and by October laid stones for the foundation of this hog shed, which he completed in November, just in time for winter. Gehring tracked the details of the hog business, writing on March 25, 1911, “Hogs eat 2 ½ pounds grain per day each,” an apparent sign of a healthy litter to come. Just four days later, the first litter was born. As Gehring’s herd grew he added the log and hay-covered hog shelter. To produce needed hog feed, he built a water-powered feed mill to the south along Silver Creek in 1913, which he expanded in 1927. The ranch phased out hog production in the 1940s, but the now vacant shed, shelter, and towering feed mill remain as symbols of Gehring’s successful operation.
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