1 Animal Husbandry

These are confused as the traditional view was that the pig was domesticated in Southeast Asia and then was brought westwards to Central Asia and on to Europe. There is some genetic evidence that domestication occurred also in Eastern Europe and there may well have been some crossing of early domestic pigs. Certainly the European wild boar (Sus scrofu) was involved in the 4th millennium BC in Europe (Fig. 1.1). Equally, there is evidence of domestication 9000 years ago in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. By referencing the pig genome some authors (Groenen et al., 2012) have discovered that there was a deep phylogenetic split between European and Asian wild boars around one million years ago, substantiating the hypothesis that pigs were independently domesticated in western Eurasia and East Asia. The pig has become part of the culture of Southeast Asia (Fig. 1.2).

The pig is a forest animal (Fig. 1.3). It does not lend itself to being driven like cattle, sheep and goats and so its domestication will have been delayed until man had a more sedentary existence.

Breeds of Pig

Aksai Black Pied

This large breed of pig with its distinctive black and white colouring originates from Kazakhstan.

Arapawa Island

These small pigs from New Zealand probably are descended from pigs allowed to become feral, having been released by Captain Cook. They are pigs with a light body, normally sandy with black spots. They do not have wattles.

Auckland Island Pig

This small breed of pig from the North Island of New Zealand is black or black and tan in colour.

Ba Xuyen

These pigs are derived from crossing Berkshire pigs and Chinese pigs from the Mekong Delta.

The origins of this breed are obscure. They come from Southern Africa. They are a small medium-sized pig with an athletic build. They are mainly black or white with multiple black spots (Fig. 1.4).

Bazna

This large pig, which is black and white, originates from Romania.

Beijing Black

As the name suggests, this is a Chinese black pig of medium size (Fig. 1.5).

Belarus Black Pied

This black and white pig is similar to the Bazna but is normally larger.

Bentheim Black Pied

This very large black and white pig originates from Germany.

Berkshire

This large British pig is mainly black. It is not a rare breed as such but the numbers are now small. Small amounts of white on the pig are acceptable.

British Lop

This large white British pig has lop ears.

Bulgaria White

This is a large white pig with upright ears.

This is a large, mainly white pig with large black spots. It has lop ears and originated in Gloucestershire in the UK. It was a rare breed but it has had resurgence in recent years (Fig. 1.6). It is much sought after by smallholders because of its quiet temperament. There is a niche market for its meat.

Guinea Hog

This medium-sized black pig has prick ears. It originated in the USA.

Hampshire

This is a medium-sized pig, with prick ears. It originated in Hampshire in the UK. It is normally a saddleback but some are all black. It is a quiet pig and is seen on smallholdings throughout the South of England.

Hereford

This breed of pig, which can be very large, is normally red and white. It originated in the USA.

Iberian

This medium-sized black pig originated in Spain. It has lop ears.

These small pigs with long hair from New Zealand are very popular as pet pigs in the UK. They have several recognizable colours: red, black and white, cream, gold-tip, black, brown and tricoloured. They all have wattles called piri-piri (Fig. 1.7). They are friendly pigs and are ideal as a smallholder pig. As the gene pool in the UK is small, purchasers should beware of any inherited defects. They are often crossed with Vietnamese pigs to make ‘house-pigs’ (Fig. 1.8). They are also crossed with commercial hybrid pigs to make better carcasses for pig meat (Figure 1.9).

Lacombe

This is an old breed developed in Alberta in Canada from crossing Landrace and Berkshire pigs. It is a large breed, has lop ears and is normally black, but white animals are seen.

Landrace

There are now many separate breeds of Landrace pig, e.g. American, British, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian and Swedish. They all originate from Scandinavia. They are a very important breed now used extensively in hybrids. They are a large white pig with lop ears, renowned for their length and limited back fat.

Although in theory this breed of pig is smaller than a Large White pig, it is still categorized as a large pig. It is all white with prick ears. It has a very short snout. The breed was developed in Yorkshire in the UK. Middle White pigs are often crossed with Kunekune pigs to make pet pigs (Fig. 1.10).

Mukota

This small fat pig was developed in Zimbabwe to be resistant to the heat and tropical diseases. It is black with a short snout and lop ears.

Mulefoot

This is a very strange breed of pig which was developed in the USA from original stock from the Deep South. It is now a rare breed. It does not have a cloven hoof; hence its name, as its foot looks like that of a mule. The lack of a cloven hoof is in fact an inherited defect. The ethics of breeding these pigs must be questionable. It is normally all black but some have white spots.

Oxford Sandy and Black

This large red pig from the UK is once again gaining in popularity as a smallholder pig supplying a niche pork market. It is a docile pig with prick ears. It is not a rare breed (Fig. 1.11).

Tsivilsk

This small all white pig with prick ears originated in Russia.

Turopolje

This medium-sized white black-spotted pig originated in Croatia and is considered by many to be one of the oldest pig breeds in Europe. Its origin is traced back to the prehistorical period when pigs, having been domesticated further to the east, were first introduced into Europe. It has lop ears.

Ukrainian Spotted Steppe

This relatively small pig, which tends to be obese as the name suggests, originated in Vietnam (Fig. 1.12). It also lives up to its name as it has a large pot belly. It can be black or mainly black with some white markings. It has a short snout and prick ears. It is the most popular pet pig in the UK.

Welsh

This small to medium-sized pig, as suggested by its name, originated in Wales. It is relatively rare now but is still bred in pedigree herds as it is often the basis of modern hybrid pigs.

West French White

Baby pigs are easy to handle in a similar way to small dogs. They can be brought into the surgery in a cat basket (Fig. 1.13). It should be remembered that sows with suckling pigs can be extremely aggressive, therefore it is advisable to have the sow well contained and even out of earshot when handling her offspring (Fig. 1.14).

Commercial pig facilities normally have crates for handling sows and boars and weighing crates for handling fattening pigs. Some sort of crate is vital to contain adult pigs for handling and examination on smallholdings (Fig. 1.15). If a crate is not available, larger pigs can be controlled to some extent by pig boards. Weaner pigs can be controlled by holding their ears (Fig. 1.16). However, even very friendly pigs will endeavour to escape constantly. The ultimate method of control is a wire pig nose twitch or pig snare. This is placed on the upper jaw behind the canine teeth. The pig will try constantly to pull back and the wire, which is often in a hollow tube, should be kept under tension. Pet pig owners should be warned that pigs are very vocal but the noise is not in proportion to the pain. With big pigs owners should be warned of the danger of being bitten, savaged or knocked down.

Housing

Introduction

Housing for commercial pigs needs to be very sophisticated. For a smallholder in Laos, a bamboo stockade is fine (Fig. 1.17). Pet pigs in the UK can have very simple accommodation (Fig. 1.18). Accommodation costs are low for outdoor pigs (Fig. 1.19). However, outside pig arks need to be well maintained (Fig. 1.20). In Europe there is legislation limiting the tethering of pigs. Tethering pigs is a welfare issue (Fig. 1.21).

Space needs for growing pigs

This needs to be adjusted for the size of the pig. Normally the weight rather than the length is the parameter used. Values for outside pigs are shown in Table 1.1.

Health Planning

Herd health plans can be built around a checklist as shown in Table 1.2. A few of the differences between commercial, smallholder and pet pigs are highlighted. There are bound to be anomalies and each herd plan needs to be worked out on an individual basis between the pig owner and the practitioner. Small pig herds will have to decide whether they are to be considered as pets, small groups of pigs kept for home consumption (historically, backyard pig keepers kept four pigs from weaning to slaughter, three would be sold to pay for the food and the fourth would be eaten), breeding herds (catering for specialized meat production), pigs kept for rare breed survival or pigs kept for forest conservation. Pigs taken to agricultural shows are a potential zoonotic risk to the general public (Fig. 1.22). Also this practice should not be encouraged from a disease control point of view. The dangers of returning with a contagious disease are high. Pens of four pigs ready for slaughter are judged at Smithfield at Christmas. Obviously if these animals go on directly for slaughter, the home herd disease status is not compromised.

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