The Pig: A Natural History 9780691195339

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The P I G

First published in the United States and Canada in 2019 by Princeton University Press 41 William Street Princeton, NJ 08540 First published in the United Kingdom in 2019 by Ivy Press An imprint of The Quarto Group The Old Brewery, 6 Blundell Street London N7 9BH, United Kingdom © 2019 Quarto Publishing plc All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage-and-retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright holder. Library of Congress Control Number: 2019932486 ISBN: 978-0-691-18201-8 Digital edition: 978-0-69119-5-339 Hardcover edition: 978-0-69118-2-018 This book was conceived, designed, and produced by Ivy Press 58 West Street, Brighton BN1 2RA, United Kingdom Publisher Susan Kelly Creative Director Michael Whitehead Editorial Director Tom Kitch Art Director James Lawrence Commissioning Editor Kate Shanahan Project Editor Caroline Earle Design Wayne Blades Picture Researcher Sharon Dortenzio Illustrator John Woodcock Cover image: Ivy Press/Andrew Perris Printed in China 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The P I G

A Natural History R I C H A R D LU T W YC HE

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD

Contents

{ 6

Introducing the Pig CH A P T E R 1

C H A PT E R 3

Evolution & Domestication

Behavior

The Pig’s Forebears The Family Tree How Pigs Were Domesticated Conquering the World

14 16 18 20

Eating & Sleeping Rooting & Burrowing Glorious Mud Courtship & Mating Nest Building & Farrowing

CH A P T E R 2

Piglet Growth & Nursing

Anatomy & Biology Anatomy of a Pig So Like a Human Life Cycle Reproduction Specialized Snout Tusks & Teeth Other Senses Thinking Like a Pig Eating Like a Pig Feet & Tails Skin & Hair

Communications & Vocalization

28 30 38 42 44 46 50 52 54 62 66

Aggression & Defense Cognition Pigs Behaving Badly

74 76 84 88 92 96 102 104 106 118

CHAPTER 4

C H A PT E R 5

Pigs & People

The Breeds

Subtle Influence on Humankind Pigs in Literature & Movies Pigs in Art Familiar Sayings Truffle Hunting Sheep-pigs Gun Pigs Pigs in Harness A Pig in the Pulpit Contentious Pigs in Religion Pigs as Pets Industrial Pig Production Extensive Systems Everything Bar the Squeal The Gourmet’s Delight

122 124 130 134 138 140 142 144 146 148 152 156 160 164 168

Pigs in the Middle Ages The Advent of Breeds The Breeds Pig Populations The Future

172 176 180 210 212

Appendices Name Your Pig Glossary of Terms Bibliography Index Acknowledgments

216 217 218 220 224

Introducing the Pig

{

T

he following pages contain a wealth of information about our subject, the pig. But whatever I have included here, rest assured that there is still much more to be learned. The recent archaeological work at Hallan Çemi in Turkey, for example, indicates that pigs may have been domesticated two millennia earlier than previously thought, while the various studies being carried out to establish the relative level of intelligence of the pig are also largely recent and ongoing. There is so much more yet to be discovered.

A N I N DI S P E N S A B L E A N I M A L

What we do know is that the pig is a highly complex and fascinating creature that has carved out a unique niche in its relationship with humankind. It is unlike most other animals that have been domesticated to be eaten: it is a scavenger rather than a grazer; it gives birth to multiple young as a standard—a sow can produce more than a hundred offspring in its lifetime; it breeds year-round; and it grows at a rapid rate. It is also a first-class producer of meat. In addition, we utilize parts of the animal in medicine, and pigs are potentially set to revolutionize the transplant industry. Without a doubt, there will be more and more ways in which pigs will help improve human health as our knowledge develops. We are not about to discard our closest companion— the canine in his many guises—yet within these pages we will see that the pig can do, and has done, much the same job as dogs: sheep-pig, truffle hunter, setter and retriever, guard pig, provider of traction, drug detector, and, of course, devoted pet. All of these roles can sometimes be done better by a pig than by a hound, but someone will always look oddly at you if you promenade with your 660-pound (300-kg) sow, seeing it only as bacon sizzling in a pan.

6

I NT R ODUC I NG T HE P I G

Right Although we tend to value it only for its meat, the pig is an intelligent, adaptable creature that can do many things a dog can do.

Yet despite its usefulness, the pig is widely derided. It is described as “fat,” “ugly,” “stupid,” “greedy,” “smelly,” “idle,” “gluttonous,” “slovenly,” “filthy,” “ignorant,” and more. Over the last three or four generations in the Western world, we have lost contact with the pig, and as a result we are now the ignorant ones. When every home had a pig in a sty, every child had an intimate knowledge of how it lived, what it ate, how it grew, how it smelled, the noises it made, what made it content, what frightened it, how it died, and how it tasted. Families spent time gathering plants and nuts from the hedges for their prized porker, and indulged in rubbing its belly as it lay relaxing in a pile of straw. Children are still exposed to pigs, but, unfortunately, usually only virtual ones. Generations have grown up with them in children’s stories, such as Beatrix Potter’s Pigling Bland and Pig-wig, A. A. Milne’s Piglet, Podgy from the Rupert Bear books, or the fabled three little pigs; in television characters, such as Pinky and Perky, Peppa Pig, and Miss Piggy of Muppets fame; or perhaps on the big screen in the form of Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web, or Babe, who showed us how pigs could herd sheep. In short, nearly all of us have grown up with a heroic hog or two around. However, the depiction of pigs in the arts is not only aimed at children. In Chapter 4, we look at poetry and prose in which the pig stars, and paintings and sculptures where the glorious flowing lines of a majestic pig are caught for all to admire and appreciate. A M AT T E R OF TA ST E

Ten thousand years ago, we took the wild boar and molded it to our needs. We largely took away its aggressive nature and tamed it to suit our many and varied purposes. Today, it provides us not only with huge volumes of food, but some of the most varied, most delicious, and most sumptuous dishes known. There are chefs who can take a cut from a pig and turn it into something so exquisite and wonderful as to delight the senses far beyond the mere satisfaction of filling the stomach. You do not need to spend a fortune in a gourmet restaurant to experience the delights of the swine. Stay at home with a fresh loaf of white bread, some butter, and some slices of good-quality bacon—preferably dry-cured, with a good level of white fat adhering to the pink meat, and smoked or unsmoked according to your taste. Take your frying pan, or your broiler if you prefer, and gently cook the cured slices to your preferred state—delicate or crispy. Butter two thick-cut slices of crusty bread, then lay the hot bacon on one, add a few drops of fat from the pan, and your preferred condiment—mine is a spicy mustard but others prefer ketchup or another savory sauce. Finally, lay the second slice of bread on top and apply pressure. You now have something of sheer, unmitigated delight to eat at any time of day in your own home, provided at a modest cost and in little time.

8

I NT R ODUC I NG T HE P I G

It is only in recent generations that we have lost intimate knowledge of pigs, because at one time every home would have had its own animal.

Right

Slices of bacon were the West's first fast food.

Below

President Harry S. Truman was a politician who understood hogs.

Right

P OL I T IC A L P I G QUOT E S Pigs are so ubiquitous that they have become part of our everyday language. In Chapter 4, we look at some common pig-related sayings and how they came about—often, the original derivation has been lost in the mists of time, although the meaning is still readily understood. To illustrate this, here are a few quotes from politicians that we can all relate to: The British politician and Prime Minister Winston Churchill is said to have used the expression “Dogs look up to us. Cats

look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” If he did, he was quoting an old folk saying from Gloucestershire in England, but it epitomizes what people who know pigs feel about them, and Churchill was an enthusiastic pig keeper. U.S. President Harry S. Truman is reported to have said, “No man should be allowed to be President who does not

understand hogs.” Before Truman, President Abraham Lincoln said, “A pig

won’t believe anything he can’t see.” More recently, President Ronald Reagan invoked our subject with the phrase “It’s like embracing a pig ” when explaining the need to raise taxes. On the other side of the pond, British Prime Minister John Major came up with the phrase “Trying to cut red tape is like

wrestling with a greasy pig.”

I N TRO D U CI N G TH E PI G

9

PICNIC SHOU LDER OR HAND

LOIN

LEG OR

HAM SIDE OR BELLY

FEET OR TROTTERS

Of course, I am obviously a fan of the pig, but there are many people around the world who do not regard it in the same way. In Chapter 4, I look at religions that ban the consumption of pork and why these beliefs may have come about. Whatever our respective feelings for swine, they are sincerely held and must be respected. Putting aside exceptional pigs, such as those trained to perform circus tricks or draw a plow, the main reason for keeping the domesticated creature is undoubtedly to provide us with food. As the most important supplier of protein in the form of meat, the pig must be respected and appreciated by human beings around the world. It is a fact that millions of pigs die every year for our pleasure. While I have no problem with this as such, I do have a major difficulty with the way in which the mass market is supplied, because industrial-scale pig production does not respect the basic rights of the animal to live a dignified life. There must be a better way, and I hope that this book will leave readers with a clearer understanding of what a remarkable animal the pig is, and that intensive production methods can be changed to accommodate a decent way of life for the creature. I’m not so naive to think that there is the space and facilities to farm a billion pigs a year extensively to help feed the world—factory farming is a fact of life and will be with us for years to come. However, we do need to open up the industry to better scrutiny, and also face up to the fact that the pig deserves better from us.

10

I NT R ODUC I NG T HE P I G

Almost every part of a pig can be used to make the many dishes using pig meat, which different cultures have developed over thousands of years. Left

HOCK

BL AD E

HE AD

ER ULDRE O H S SPA OR IB R ST ROA

So, if you can afford it—and the price is not just the money in your wallet, but also the life of an intelligent animal—boycott the produce on supermarket shelves and make a little effort to support extensive farmers. Buy direct, at a farmers’ market, or online, and be sure to choose your supplier not by its fancy name or packaging, but by its provenance. Yes, you will have to pay more, but you will enjoy the increased quality of the meat you eat—and if you have it a little less often, your expenditure will not rise. Hit the big suppliers in the pocket and they will start to change. You have the power—use it!

Higher welfare free-range pork products don’t just mean a tastier meal but tend to use meat from pigs reared according to high ethical standards.

Below

I N TRO D U CI N G TH E PI G

11

CHAPTER 1

Evolution & Domestication

The Pig’s Forebears The domestic pig (Sus scrofa domestica) we see throughout the Western world today is generally considered a subspecies of the wild boar (S. scrofa), which ranged not only through Europe but additionally into the Middle East and North Africa. Domestic breeds also received an infusion of genes from pigs (S. vittatus) from Southeast Asia, which were transported to Europe on merchant ships from China and Thailand in the eighteenth century. There is some argument about when swine were first domesticated. Prehistoric remains of domestic pigs show a shortening of the lachrymal bone (running down the front of the face to the snout) and changes in the molar teeth in comparison with their wild progenitors. Pigs with such features have been found in Jericho in modern-day Palestine dating back to around 7000 bce.

{

Some experts believe that similar pig remains found at Hallan Çemi in Turkey predate the Jericho bones by another 2,000 years; in this case, pigs may possibly have been domesticated before sheep. Using DNA analysis, some subsequent research places the earliest domestication both in East Anatolia in Turkey and separately in China 9,000–10,000 years ago. Either way, the pig has been around humankind for a long time. Neolithic cultures introduced pigs to Europe from the Middle East. The first recognized types, whose remains were found in the nineteenth century in Switzerland, were given the name Turbary pigs. Because these were relatively small compared to wild boars, they were originally believed to be the result of crosses with smaller Asian swine species. However, in his A History

Hyotherium

Wild boar

Domesticated pig

19 million years ago

2.6 million years ago

ca. 11,000– 9000 bce

ca. 1720– 1850 ce

The Hyotherium species— ancestors of the modern pig—exist in Asia during the Miocene epoch.

The wild boar (Sus scrofa) appears in Europe toward the star t of the Pleistocene epoch.

Pigs are first domesticated in central Asia, southern Turkey, and Palestine, then begin to spread into Europe.

Domesticated pigs were improved with genes from Asian types carried on merchant ships.

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E V OL UT I ON & DOME S TIC AT IO N

of Domesticated Animals (1969), Friedrich Zeuner states his belief that they were pure domesticated descendants of the wild boar and that no other genes were involved. Wild boars are just one of the most recent members of the Suidae family. It was once thought that pigs were descended from entelodonts, boarlike creatures that stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall at the shoulder and roamed North America, Eurasia, and parts of Africa between the Eocene and Miocene periods (45 million to 19 million years ago). However, modern analysis shows that hippopotamuses are, in fact, more closely related to these prehistoric animals. Instead, pigs are descended from Hyotherium species, smaller creatures that lived in swamps or close to water in the same parts of the world as the wild boar. And, like wild boar, these animals were omnivorous, eating plants and carrion. They roamed their territory during the Miocene period around 19 million years ago and are reckoned to be the forebears of all modern-day domestic pigs and their wild cousins. The first evidence of the

arrival of the wild boar in Europe appears toward the start of the Pleistocene. Wild pigs never ventured into the hottest or coldest parts of the planet on their own volition, instead sticking fairly closely to the temperate zones. This was due to their sparse coat of hairs and bristles, which gave little protection against extremes of cold, and their lack of sweat glands, which made them unsuited to coping with the hottest climates. Later in the chapter, we will look in more detail at how the introduction of pigs from Asia affected the appearance of domestic pigs. Up until the eighteenth century, when Asian pigs first arrived in Europe, domestic pigs were fairly lackluster variations on the wild boar, with long snouts and slab-sided bodies on long legs. The influence of Asian pigs can be seen today, particularly in breeds such as the Middle White (page 207), with its short legs, rounded body, and squashed face. To see a breed closer in character to the wild boar, examine the Tamworth (page 184), which has longer legs, a red coat, a leaner frame, and a long snout.

Above The domesticated pig in Europe was originally descended from the wild boar (Sus scrofa), although breeding from the eighteenth century onward introduced aspects of the Asian pig.

TH E PI G ’ S FO REBEA RS

15

The Family Tree

{

Mammals are divided into 19 groups, of which wild boar and domestic pigs belong in the order of even-toed ungulates. “Ungulate” basically means “hooved,” and the group includes the majority of domesticated species,

Order

Number of species

Monotremes Platypus, echidna, etc.

6

Marsupials Kangaroo, koala, wombat, etc.

248

Insectivores Hedgehogs, moles, shrews, etc.

374

including cattle, sheep, and goats, as well as certain wild animals, such as giraffes and hippopotamuses. Only the pig species and hippopotamus are nonruminants, having just one stomach. Odd-toed ungulates include horses and rhinoceroses.

Order

Number of species

Flying lemurs

2

Bats 981

16 Odd-toed ungulates Horses and related animals, such as donkeys, zebras, asses, also tapirs, rhinoceros, etc.

Primates 193 Lemurs, apes, monkeys, humans, etc. Edentates 32 Anteaters, sloths, etc. Even-toed ungulates 194 Pigs, deer, antelopes, bison, hippopotamuses, camels, llamas, alpacas, giraffes, sheep, goats, cattle, etc.

Order

Number of species

Pangolins

7

Lagomorphs Rabbits, hares, etc.

66

Cetaceans Whales, dolphins, porpoises

92

Carnivores Flesh eaters

252

Seals 32 Aardvark 1 Elephants

2

Hyraxes 6 Sirenians Sea cows

16

E V OL UT I ON & DOME S TIC AT IO N

4

T H E P I G FA M I L Y T R E E

ORDER

ARTIODACTYLA (Even-toed ungulates)

SUBORDER

SUINA (OR SUIFORMES) FA M ILY

FAMILY

SUIDAE

TAYASSUIDAE

G ENER A A ND S P EC IES

GEN ERA AND SPECIES

POTAMOCHOERUS Red river hog (P. porcus) and bush pig (P. larvatus), from Africa

PECARI Collared peccary (P. tajacu), from Southwest of the United States, South America, and Trinidad

Potamochoerus porcus

SUS Wild boar (S. scrofa; including domestic pig subspecies, S. scrofa domestica) and pygmy hog (S. salvanius), from Europe and India; and Philippine warty pig (S. philippensis), Visayan warty pig (S. cebifrons), Sulawesi warty pig (S. celebensis), Javan warty pig (S. verrucosus), and bearded pig (S. barbatus), from Asiatic islands PHACOCHOERUS Desert warthog (P. aethiopicus) and common warthog (P. africanus), from Africa HYLOCHOERUS Giant forest hog (H. meinertzhageni), from Africa

Pecari tajacu

CATAGONUS Chacoan peccary (C. wagneri), from South America

Catagonus wagneri

TAYASSU White-lipped peccary (T. pecari), from Central and South America

Hylochoerus meinertzhageni Tayassu pecari BABYROUSA Babirusa (B. babyrussa), from Indonesia

TH E FA MI LY TREE

17

How Pigs Were Domesticated It is not hard to imagine the domestication of the wild boar. Although shy of people’s company, they are inquisitive creatures and will approach human habitation in search of easy pickings. Neolithic settlements had middens, where our forebears left their detritus. Archaeologists today rely heavily on these garbage dumps to determine the way of life of a settlement’s occupants— what they ate and how they lived. The uneaten food, bones, rotting fruit, and cereal grains discarded in middens would have been a huge draw to the wild boar, an animal that uses its sense of smell to find sustenance.

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E V OL UT I ON & DOME S TIC AT IO N

{

Wild boars are fearsome foes, so it is most probable that young animals were brought into domestic situations instead of adults. Young wild boar are relatively easy to tame and may even have been kept as pets. Indeed, Australian Aborigines today take the young of many wild species as pets but never completely domesticate them, so it would not be surprising if this was how wild boar were first brought into human settlements. The domestication of cattle, and perhaps also sheep and goats, predates that of swine, because they were better suited to the nomadic lifestyle of early hunter–

Wild boar roaming the forests may well have scavenged the food waste of prehistoric human settlements, particularly in winter, when natural sources were scarce.

Below

gatherers, before they evolved into farmers. Once agriculture developed and permanent settlements resulted, the pig also became an important—the most important—source of protein. Whether this was the actual route of pig domestication or not, our ancestors would have been familiar with the bristled beast from hunting, and that wild boar make good eating. So, from cute little pets, the growing boars may have been constrained and then slaughtered as needs arose, leading to the development of basic animal husbandry skills. The first animals to be domesticated were dogs, not as a food source, but as a tool for hunting and to warn and defend against attack. Like the dog, the pig is a scavenger, and it differs from almost all the other mammals domesticated as a source of food by having a single stomach and being omnivorous rather than an herbivore. The other aspect of domesticated mammals, with just one exception, is that they are all pack or herd animals, living in social groups. This may well make them more disposed to throw in their lot with a human herd, and the pig certainly fits this bill. The one exception? The cat! So, let’s assume that some young wild boars have been captured and securely restrained by our Neolithic ancestors. Being intelligent creatures, they soon learn that their loss of freedom is compensated for by a ready supply of food they don’t have to hunt for, relative safety from predators, and a degree of comfort. The humans, in the meantime, have gained an efficient means of disposal for much of their waste, which stops it from rotting near the settlement, and a ready source of delicious, rich

protein whenever it is needed. At some stage, it was determined that pig and other manure, when rotted, aids soil improvement and helps crops to grow. And sometime later, it was discovered that the meat of a pig is eminently suited to curing and smoking, which makes it last for months during the cold winter, when fresh meat is scarce.

As with other domesticated beasts, the pig is a sociable, herd animal, making it more inclined to develop a strong, symbiotic attachment to human groups.

Above

H O W PI G S W ERE D O MESTI CATED

19

P E RC E N TAG E OF WOR L D ’ S M E AT S U P P L Y

Conquering the World { The title to this section is slightly misleading, because, of course, pigs have not conquered “the world” in its entirety. Large sections of the world’s population are oblivious to the joys of pork and bacon due to their cultural and religious beliefs, and therefore it is particularly surprising to learn that of all the meat eaten in the world, the pig accounts for more than any other creature. The chicken, which has none decrying the consumption of its flesh and is thus universal, comes a close second, but pork knocks beef, lamb, goat meat, and all others into distant also-ran positions.

Pork accounts for more than one-third of the world’s total meat consumption, according to 2012 figures from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

Right

Pork is hugely popular in eastern and southeast Asia, which is a staple meat for streetfood sellers, such as this stallholder in Bangkok, Thailand.

Below

•• •• •

Pig 36.3% Poultry 35.2% Cattle/buffalo 22.2% Sheep & goat 4.6% Other 1.7%

At the bottom of the global pork consumption table (see opposite) are countries (including Iran, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) that consume no, or hardly any, pig produce. One surprise among this group is Saudi Arabia, a devout Muslim country, which has a figure of 10,900 tons (metric 9,900 tons). It is almost certainly all being imported for U.S. service personnel based in the territory. So, the pig’s achievement in being the most important source of meat is extraordinary, and is due in no small part to its popularity in China and other Asian countries.

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E V OL UT I ON & DOME S TIC AT IO N

PORK CONSUMPTION The top seven consumers of pork in 2016, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, were as follows: Territory Total consumption of pig meat, 2016, per thousand tons (metric tons)

G E T T I N G A RO A S T I N G In the early nineteenth century, the English essayist Charles Lamb wrote the fanciful “A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig,” a story describing how, in China, where pig husbandry almost certainly began, roast pork was discovered by accident. In the tale, Bo-bo, the child of a swineherd, accidentally burns his father’s house down while it is occupied by a litter of nine piglets. Hoping to find some life among the charred wreckage, he bends down and touches one of the dead piglets, burning his fingers in the process. Placing his digits in his mouth to

China

61,168.1 (55,490.8)

European Union

23,601.9 (21,411.3)

USA

10,505.4 (9,530.3)

Vietnam

3,921.0 (3,557.1)

it down to create the delights of roast pork. Soon everyone

Russia

3,871.3 (3,512.0)

in the region is roasting their young pigs alive. Eventually,

Brazil

3,543.8 (3,214.9)

Japan

2,662.1 (2,415.0)

World total

130,511.9 (118,398.4)

soothe them, he discovers the sensual delights of crackling and, beyond that, roast pork. The story goes on to recount that they rebuild a house for the sow, and when she farrows again, they burn

someone discovers that it is kinder to slaughter one’s stock first and less demanding on one’s building skills to cook the carcass on a spit. And so the Chinese love of pork was born. In ancient times, aff luent Chinese were even buried with a supply of pork to see them safely into the afterlife.

Russia European Union USA

China

Vietnam

Brazil

Japan

The top seven consumers of pork— with China topping the list at more than 66 million tons (55 million metric tons) per year.

Above

CO N Q U ERI N G TH E W O RLD

21

P ORC I N E P ROL I F E R AT ION Analysis of mitochondrial DNA shows how the wild boar spread from Asia into Europe and beyond. It also indicates that populations inhabited islands by their own means, which would have seen them swimming across ocean gaps of 20 miles (30 km) or more. The wild boar prefers forest habitats and is mostly nocturnal in its habits, and so the largely wooded continent of Europe suited it down to the ground. We know that Neolithic farmers brought the first versions of the domesticated animal with them as they spread westward and northward through Europe. However, there is more to the pig’s cosmopolitan distribution than simply the spread of agriculture—pigs were introduced to the Americas, for instance, where they had never occurred naturally, but how?

T E M P TAT IO N S OF T H E F L E S H In 1541, Hernando de Soto recorded an incident that took place on the banks of the Yazoo River in the northern part of modern-day Mississippi. It seems that the local Chickasaw people were finding the temptations of fresh pork too great: “The Governor invited the caciques and some chiefs to dine with him, giving them pork to eat, which they so relished, although Wild boar spread into western Europe from Asia, while the first domesticated pigs were brought by Neolithic farmers before being later carried across the ocean to North America.

Below

not used to it, that every night Indians would come up to some house where the hogs slept, a crossbow shot off from the camp, to kill and carry away what they could of them.”

DI S T R I BU T IO N & D OM E S T IC AT IO N

Domestication

European pigs introduced to North America

Wild boar spread from to Asia to Europe

Equator

22

E V OL UT I ON & DOME S TIC AT IO N

Sailing ships used by merchants in the Middle Ages carried live pigs on long voyages. When rations ran low, the animals could be slaughtered at sea and the meat salted to preserve it. It was particularly important that the animals reproduced in order to maintain a constant supply. Cattle and sheep reproduce too slowly and rely on grass too much to be useful in this respect, so pigs were “farmed” on board to supply fresh rations. When the great explorers sailed into unchartered waters to discover new lands, they also took pigs with them. So successful were the pigs at breeding that the sailors often had an excess, which they then used to barter with the indigenous people they met. It also became an established practice to leave some porkers behind on newly discovered land, so that if the sailors returned or others arrived to colonize the area, there would be an established breeding herd of pigs in place that could provide fresh meat. The first pigs to reach the Americas were those left behind by Italian explorer Christopher Columbus on the island of Hispaniola in 1493. The Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, 34 years later in 1527, introduced swine to Central America, and in 1539 Hernando de Soto landed at Tampa Bay in Florida and left 13 pigs there, thus giving native Americans their first taste of pork. It wasn’t only the Americas that were populated with pigs. The eighteenthcentury British explorer Captain James Cook, among others, did much the same in establishing porcine communities in Australasia. Even today, the feral pigs in New Zealand are affectionately known as Captain Cookers.

Left Christopher Columbus, among others, introduced pigs to the Americas.

Explorers took pigs on their long voyages and sometimes left them behind.

Below

DE A D A S A D OD O Incidentally, it was the practice of leaving pigs behind on newfound lands that almost certainly led to the end of the dodo on Mauritius. The demise of that poor flightless creature has been blamed on sailors, who found dodos easy to catch for the pot, but pigs also take birds (chickens can provide a tasty snack if they get too close), and the slowmoving, ground-nesting dodos would not have lasted long after pigs were introduced to Mauritius by the Dutch in 1599. Sailors would have taken their share, but they would not have stayed on the island for long enough periods to eliminate the entire population, whereas the resident swine left behind by the explorers would have had a field day.

CO N Q U ERI N G TH E W O RLD

23

P OR K E R P E ST S Pigs have now colonized most of the world, except for those countries where religion prohibits their consumption and the extremes of the poles. Indeed, the pigs left behind by explorers have even proved to be a nuisance. In both Australia and North America, there are to this day sizable populations of feral pigs generally known as “razorbacks.” These are not wild boar—although small numbers of the species were introduced to parts of the United States for sporting purposes— but the descendants of pigs left by explorers or escapees from farms in more recent centuries. Pigs left to their own devices soon revert to looking like wild boar, and these creatures are generally considered a nuisance—damaging crops and fences, and risking the spread of disease—so they are hunted in the hope of their eventual eradication. However, the reproductive prowess of the pig, as we will see in Chapter 2, makes such an ambition difficult, if not impossible, to achieve in territories with vast expanses of wilderness. Pig populations, both wild and feral, are increasingly becoming a problem for wildlife, habitats, and people across the world, and with the human footprint forever expanding, the swine is one of the creatures that resists being threatened with extinction. In the southern United States, the population of razorbacks is growing and their territory is expanding, and such expansion is into areas of human occupation. But this is not only a problem in this country. The wild boar in Europe is also growing faster in numbers than can be contained, and it not only threaten high-value crops, such as

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E V OL UT I ON & DOME S TIC AT IO N

vineyards, but are increasingly associated with the threats posed by diseases spreading through the continent, the latest threat being African Swine Fever, now found as far west as Belgium. Then there is another downside to these destructive creatures. Most control measures involve guns (although France boasts a few traditional boar hunts with riders and mastiffs), and in 2016 in France alone, there were 16 accidental human deaths by shooting from hunting. While not all these can be due to wild boar, the chances are the majority are, because one needs a more powerful discharge to bring down a boar than a pheasant.

T H E K I NG A MONG L I V E ST O C K The reasons for the pig’s popularity in the twenty-first century are not entirely due to our love of the glorious meat it provides. As the world’s human population grows at a rate faster than ever before, and even the poorest people enjoy an improving standard of nutrition, pigs and chickens are becoming increasingly important, because they can be stocked and farmed more intensively than other creatures. They produce more offspring than other farmed animals, and grow more rapidly and require less grain to add a pound of flesh. As humankind demands more, so the agronomist has to find the most efficient ways of providing nutrition. Science may come up with new solutions to these problems, but it will be some time before acceptable alternatives take the place of pork. In the meantime, pigs will remain kings of the food-producing animals around the world—or in most parts, at least.

Razorbacks are pigs introduced to Australia and North America that have since gone feral. A nuisance to farmers, in such vast countries they are difficult to eradicate.

Right

The female wild boar tends to breed in the spring, with young sows having litters of three to four piglets while older sows have as many as ten.

Below

C OL D C O C HO N S In the subantarctic Crozet Islands is the Île aux Cochons, or Pig Island, named after the animals left behind by French explorers. The intention was that any vessels visiting the southernmost latitudes and in need of victuals were sure of fresh supplies by diverting to this island. Like the other islands in the archipelago, Île aux Cochons is now a nature reserve, and its resident pigs have consequently been eradicated. Pig Island is situated in the subantarctic Crozet Islands.

Below

CHAPTER 2

Anatomy & Biology

Anatomy of a Pig The pig, as already discussed, is unlike most other farm stock in having the internal organs similar to our own and other creatures, such as the dog and the cat, with one stomach. As a mammal, it has a structure similar to its cohorts, albeit in a distinct layout that reflects its lifestyle. What makes it so valuable to us is its ability to consume food and convert it quickly and effectively into muscle for our nutrition (and delectation). In this chapter, we will examine what is unique about the pig and how alike he is in so many ways to ourselves— sometimes uncomfortably so. But that likeness makes pigs especially useful in helping humankind fight diseases and find solutions to many medical problems. Science never stops discovering, and while we may appreciate today the many benefits to ourselves provided by the pig, who knows what new developments tomorrow might bring? We also examine the anatomical dimensions that so classify the porker; its lifestyle and how that differs in the wild and in different farming systems; its reproductive prowess; that mighty organ, ­the snout; the boar’s tusks; other senses, including its brain capacity; its curly tail and dainty feet, aka trotters; and—maybe most important of all—its eating habits.

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ANAT OMY & B I OL OGY

{ T H E P I G ’ S I N T E R N A L OR G A N S Rectum

Vagina Ureter

Cecum Bladder Colon

Jejunum and ileum

Left kidney Spinal cord

T H E P I G ’ S E X T E R N A L A N ATOMY

The basic external parts of a pig. However, as you will see in this book, pigs come in all shapes, sizes, and patterns.

Right

Nape, neck

Withers Back

Loins Hindquarter

Shoulder

Flank or groin

Shoulder joint

Thigh

Elbow joint Fetlock

Dewclaw

Hoof

Pulmonary artery Stomach

Bronchi Air vesicles

Heart

Ankle, tarsal Metatarsal

Ridge of cerebral cortex Left An internal view of the pig—the blood system and several of the pig’s organs bear many similarities to those of a human.

Cerebellum Cerebrum

Nasal cavity

Teeth Pharynx Lung Diaphragm

Esophagus Trachea

A N ATO MY O F A PI G

29

So Like A Human When you look at the skeleton of a pig, you will immediately think that it is nothing like that of a human. However, if you examine it more closely—ignoring the upright stance of Homo sapiens and the four-legged habit of the swine—you can begin to see some commonalities. Note the similarities of upturned hog carcasses: the pronounced waist and buttocks, the smooth expansion into the rib cage, and the color of the skin after debristling. Could it be a limbless, headless human hanging there? The similarities of pigs to people are not just visual; we share physical attributes, too. The blood systems in both species are similar, as are the hearts, the teeth, the digestive systems, and the stomachs. Pig’s skin is also similar to our own, and we can use it for our benefit; for example, it is sometimes used in severe burns cases to cover the damaged area or even to form a skin graft, and surgeons being trained in dermatology are given pig feet on which to practice making excisions and stitching. Pigs have also been used to source heart valves, saving the lives of many patients. These similarities, however, also have a downside in that there can be a transfer of diseases between pigs and humans—remember the 2009 swine flu outbreak?

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ANAT OMY & B I OL OGY

{

Lumbar vertebrae

T H E P I G ’ S S K E L E TA L S Y S T E M

Coccygeal vertebrae

Ilium Hip joint

Ischium Femur

Fibula

Ankle bones

Metatarsal

HE ALING HOGS The UK’s Royal Veterinary College has begun a study on the apparent self-healing of Vietnamese Pot-bellied pigs who have skin cancer. It appears that, unlike humans, dogs, and cats, this breed of pig has an automatic trigger that releases antibodies to destroy malignant tumors. Skin cancer is common in the slate-gray pigs, but they almost always seem to survive, with the only outward sign being that the affected area turns white. Melanoma is an aggressive malignant cancer, and if science can unlock the key to this defense mechanism and apply it to medicine, it will be a huge step forward in protecting and curing human cancer patients.

Shoulder blade

The skeletal system of an adult pig.

Left

Dorsal vertebrae

Humerus Ribs Radius Wrist, carpus Elbow Metacarpal bones

Phalanges

SO LI KE A H U MA N

31

B IOL O G IC A L B R E A K T H ROUG H S Many by-products from pigs are used by the pharmaceutical industry, and science is discovering new properties and treatments every year. However, potentially the biggest breakthrough is probably also the most controversial. The big prize lies in growing pigs to supply spare organs for transplanting in humans, called xenotransplants. Pigs have been identified as the most suitable donors among all nonhuman species. A successful outcome would provide hearts, kidneys, livers, lungs, and corneas, and create an industry worth billions of dollars. The search for this particular Holy Grail has been ongoing for several decades in a number of countries in the Western world. Scientists have come close but have never overcome the final barriers. The immune system in humans has a natural resistance to foreign bodies, and doctors have found that living hearts from both pigs and primates have been rejected by the transplant recipient, resulting in death. Heart valves have proved to be an exception, because they can be scrubbed of porcine DNA and therefore are not rejected by the human body. Another barrier concerns the interaction of diseases between pigs and humans. All pig DNA carries porcine endogenous retrovirus, which infects human cells and makes transplants impossible. However, a recent breakthrough in the United States has brought us closer to the day when we might be harvesting organs from pigs to save hundreds of thousands of lives. This groundbreaking technology, termed CRISPR, lets scientists snip away the

32

ANAT OMY & B I OL OGY

retrovirus’s genetic code from the pig’s DNA to create a special strain of pigs from which organs can be transplanted safely. Early results are encouraging, and it is hoped that this breakthrough will unlock the barriers that currently exist. Of course, there are also ethical issues to be addressed. Some feel that introducing pig organs to humans is creating some kind of chimera, while others argue that the basic premise has been in existence for decades, and so this is really just extending the technology.

It is still a controversial subject, but pigs are regarded by medical scientists as the animal whose organs are most suitable for transplanting into humans.

Above

Left One of many products derived from parts of pigs, gelatin, which is used in the production of capsules containing pharmaceuticals, is obtained from pig skin.

PIG-DERIVED PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS

SOURCE

PRODUCT

USE

Adrenal glands

Corticosteroids Adrenaline or epinephrine Norepinephrine

Steroid hormones for stress and immune responses Hormone used to increase blood flow Hormone used in the production of beta blockers

Blood

Blood fibrin Fetal pig plasma Plasmin

Used to help blood clotting Various, such as an anticoagulant Enzyme used for anticlotting purposes

Brain

Cholesterol

Treatments to reduce harmful cholesterol

Fat

Glycerin

Used in the manufacture of various medicines

Gallbladder

Chenodeoxycholic acid

Used in the treatment of gallstones

Heart

Heart valves

Used to repair damaged human hearts

Hypothalamus

Insulin binder

Treatment of diabetes

Intestines

Enterogastrone Heparin Secretin

Hormone used to test pancreatic function Hormone used as an anticoagulant Hormone used to test pancreatic function

Liver

Desiccated Liver

Used as an iron and protein supplement

Ovaries

Estrogen Progesterone Relaxin

Hormone used in hormone-replacement therapy Hormone used in hormone-replacement therapy Hormone used to help regulate menstruation

Pancreas

Chymotrypsin Glucagon Insulin Lipase Pancreatin Trypsin

Digestive enzyme Hormone used to regulate glucose in the blood Hormone used in the treatment of diabetes (now largely supplanted by synthetics) Enzyme used to help break down fats Digestive enzyme Used to treat blood clots and inflammation

Pineal Gland

Melatonin

Used as a relaxant

Pituitary Gland

Adrenocorticotropic hormone Antidiuretic hormone Oxytocin Prolactin Thyroid stimulating hormone

Used for stress management Used to manage diabetes and control bleeding Used to facilitate childbirth Used to stimulate milk production Used to treat thyroid cancer

Skin

Gelatin Porcine burn dressings

Widely used in pharmaceuticals, for example, to coat drug capsules Used to treat burns

Stomach

Intrinsic factor Mucin Pepsin

Used to aid the absorption of vitamin B12 Used in pharmaceuticals, such as antiviral agents Used in the preparation of antibodies

Thyroid gland

Calcitonin Thyroglobin Thyroxine

Used in the treatment of osteoporosis Used in the treatment of thyroid cancer Used to treat thyroid hormone deficiency

SO LI KE A H U MA N

33

DR I N K I NG ON T H E JOB Pigs are like humans in other ways, too. They like a drink and, just like us, they suffer from overindulgence. Pigs used to be kept at breweries to consume the waste products from beer brewing, which kept them on a semipermanent high. A pig farmer I knew some years ago kept a small herd of Berkshires and would accept sows visiting his boar to encourage small-scale keepers to increase numbers of the breed. One such visitor arrived and was offloaded from its trailer, after which its owners departed. The sow was introduced to the boar but showed no interest in his overtures. In fact, she became increasingly bad-tempered, both with her suitor and my friend, to the extent that he was tempted to call her owners to remove her. But he persevered, and eventually she mellowed and her instincts kicked in, resulting in a successful meeting with the boar. Thereafter, the sow was happy and amenable, and my friend even wondered if he had imagined the earlier situation.

Pigs like a drink in more ways than one: At one time breweries kept them, in semi-inebriated bliss, to consume the waste from the brewing process.

Right

IN THE FIRING LINE The military have also discovered that pigs make good substitutes for humans. Many armies around the world use pigs to test the effects of weapons, because of their close physical similarities to people. The animals are sedated and then shot or hit by explosives, shrapnel, or other weapons (and then euthanized before they come out of sedation). Such experiments reveal how new weapons inflict damage on the body and, in turn, the effectiveness of body armor. In addition, they give medics the chance to treat such wounds and to learn as much as possible about the effects of the weapons before they are used in battle.

34

ANAT OMY & B I OL OGY

When the sow’s owners arrived to collect her, my friend related his experiences to them. They explained that they ran a pub, and that part of the sow’s daily diet was a bucket of all the dregs from the glasses in the bar, so she was in a permanent state of inebriation. During her early stay with my friend, she was effectively going cold turkey, because she had suddenly lost her access to alcohol— hence her bad mood.

T H E E F F E C T S OF A L C OHOL A more organized binge was prepared for seven pigs by the University of Missouri in 1977. Scientists were studying behavioral attitudes and closely monitored the hierarchy of the group, in which there was a natural pecking order. The experiment was designed to see what happened when this hierarchy was broken down by the effects of alcohol, and whether there were similarities to human groups and their reactions. Soon after the serious drinking began, the leader of the group, known as King Pig, overindulged and lost his status, and number three took over the leadership role. However, pigs being intelligent creatures and leaders being more intelligent than most, King Pig soon saw the error of his ways, went on the wagon, and resumed his status in the herd. The middle rankers drank moderately and seemed to accept their position, but at the lower end, among those pigs with little to lose, the least dominant drank heavily. Indeed, number six indulged so much that he developed a problem. The comment on number seven was that, “He knew he was at the bottom and accepted his place with sluggish grace.” SO LI KE A H U MA N

35

S C I E N T I F IC STA N D - I N S The pig’s similarity to humans makes it useful in another area: forensic science. Forensic specialists, such as Hawaiibased Lee Goff, help police solve crimes by studying the impact insects—mostly fly maggots and larvae, but also beetles, wasps, and other species—have on the corpse to determine the time of death. This branch of forensics, called forensic entomology, has grown in importance during the last 80 years, and Goff has been using pigs to increase his knowledge. The forensic scientist first used a pig in a case where police found a man hanging from a tree who appeared to be 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and whose body had undergone little decay. Goff replicated the scene using a dead pig in place of the human corpse, and showed that decay had been slowed due to the body’s suspension—maggots came to the surface for a breather, then simply fell off and could not get back, which meant that

their work took much longer. His eventual conclusion was that the body had been hanging for 19 days and that the man was only 5 feet 2 inches (1.6 m) tall but had stretched during the suspension. From this, the police were soon able to identify him and solve the case.

T H E C H I M P – P I G HY P OT H E S I S Dr. Eugene McCarthy of the University of Georgia caused academic outrage in 2013 when he claimed that humankind probably developed from a hybrid mating between a chimpanzee and a pig. His argument was that man shares many attributes with the pig not seen in other primates— hairless skin, a thick layer of subcutaneous fat, a protruding nose, pale-colored eyes with heavy eyelashes, and a large number of interchangeable organs and body parts. Other scientists immediately countered this theory, stating that such hybridization would have been impossible, even before the ancestors of pigs and humans diverged around 80 million years ago. Still, it is an attractive theory for a fan of pigs.

36

ANAT OMY & B I OL OGY

Dead pigs are used in forensic entomolog y, as shown here, to determine how different insects aid in the process of decomposition.

Above

Left Dead pigs have also been used to try to explain spontaneous combustion, the literary fate of the rag-andbottle dealer Krook in Charles Dickens’s novel Bleak House.

SPON TA N EOUS COM BUST ION Other scientists in the United States have been using pig bodies to try to explain spontaneous human combustion. The strange phenomenon was described by Charles Dickens in Bleak House (1853), and since then around 300 real-life cases have been recorded. During the event, the fire is so intense that even the victim’s bones are turned to ash, yet furnishings in the vicinity remain untouched. Experts theorized that the fire must reach temperatures of at least 1,100˚F (600˚C) and burn for hours. They believed that this could happen only through a wick effect in which the person’s clothes catch fire and act like a candle wick, feeding the fire with rendered body fat.

To try to prove this theory, in 1998 scientists took the body of a pig, wrapped it in a blanket to simulate clothing, and placed in a mocked-up room with furnishings and a carpet. The blanket was doused in gasoline and set alight. Soon, the accelerant had all been burned off, but the fire was fueled by melting fat in the blanket and carpet and continued to burn for a number of hours. The temperature was taken, and it showed a measurement of 1,500˚F (800˚C) at the core. After five hours, the bones started to dissolve. When the fire had eventually burned itself out, all that remained of the pig’s body was a pile of ash, however, the rest of the room was almost untouched. SO LI KE A H U MA N

37

Wild boar piglets lose their characteristic humbug stripes that act as camouf lage after they reach three months old, about the time they start to wean from the sow.

Right

Life Cycle

{

The life cycle of the domestic pig changes dramatically according to the way it is managed. Being a separate animal altogether, the wild boar is different again; here we look at both.

W I L D B OA R Wild boars are largely nocturnal in habit, making them seem shy of humans. During the day, they rest in thickets of scrub, often within forests, in family groups known as sounders. These consist of a matriarch and her female offspring ranging in size from 10 to 20 animals. Some young pigs of both sexes will remain with the group until the boars mature, when they leave to lead a solitary life. As the sows come into heat, a dominant mature boar will arrive to serve them, after which he will depart the sounder. Several days before farrowing (giving birth), the female wild boar will remove herself from the sounder and select a site to start building a nest. This is usually at least 300 feet (100 m) away from the communal sleeping site. She will collect twigs, dried grass, and the like, and construct a sizable creation in which to give birth and shelter her young. The average litter size comprises four to six young, which are born with horizontal

38

ANAT OMY & B I OL OGY

brown stripes along the sides of their body to act as camouflage. The stripes remain until the piglets are about three months old, when weaning starts. For the first week after giving birth, the sow will diligently hide her young, but as they start to experiment with nibbling nutrition other than milk, they will accompany their mother on her forays in search of food. Wild boars tend to breed only once a year. In theory at least, wild boar can live up to 25 years. Those in Europe have few natural predators, but on the Indian subcontinent tigers and pythons will consume young boars. The wild boar is a valiant defender of life and a sounder will join together to defend an individual, so a predator must be strong and determined to succeed. In many countries, hunters can purchase licenses to shoot a specified number of boar and the income then goes toward recompensing landowners whose property has suffered damage by the animals. In Italy and Australia, there have also been reports of farmers using exploding baits in order to try to reduce numbers of wild and feral pigs. Probably the biggest threat to life, however, comes when wild boar cross unlit rural roads in the dead of night and are hit by vehicles.

FOR AGING FOR FOOD Wild boar sounders choose easy pickings when feeding—usually on softer ground, where they root up the soil in search of grubs, worms, insects, and roots. This can be destructive when it coincides with a domestic garden, sports field, or farm crop. They will also eat berries, nuts, and any carrion found on their travels. The takeout food industry and our habit of discarding garbage while on the run is an added and welcome bonus as far as the wild boar is concerned. Sounders can have a range of 250–370 acres (100–150 ha), depending on the availability of food, although a nursing sow’s range is much more limited at around 2.5 acres (1 ha).

LI FE CYCLE

39

D OM E ST IC P IG The life of a domestic pig in an intensive farming unit is different. In intensive production systems, females are expected to produce five litters every two years, with early weaning taking place between 5 and 20 days after birth. Within the largest pork producers in North America, the aim is that each sow will produce a minimum of 30 viable offspring a year. The sows are then often slaughtered after producing two or three litters, because litter sizes start to tail off thereafter. Some of these companies maintain around 200,000 sows on different sites, producing around 10,000 finished pigs at 16–18 weeks old for slaughter every day.

FEEDING ON FARMS Domestic pigs kept in confinement tend to sleep extensively and eat when fed. Those allowed to roam outdoors will maintain their rooting habit even though they may not need the extra feed, because searching for it satisfies their intelligence. Extensively kept pigs are usually fed twice a day, which helps further alleviate boredom. Intensively farmed pigs are fed individual rations that are controlled by a computer.

Intensively farmed pigs are often kept and fed in confinement, but those allowed to roam will exhibit the rooting habits of their wild boar ancestry.

Right

40

ANAT OMY & B I OL OGY

In contrast, extensive farming sees small numbers of pigs kept in much better conditions. Gilts (young, prebreeding females) start to come into heat at around seven months of age, but most extensive farmers will let them grow closer to a year old before mating them for the first time. The gestation period is the same for both wild boars and domestic pigs: between 110 and 124 days, traditionally recorded as three months, three weeks, and three days. Danish pig farmers used to cut a nick at the base of their fingernail on the day of mating, and when it grew out at the top of the nail, they reckoned the sow was due to farrow. The farmer will separate the sow from the other pigs, and she will build a nest of her bedding, as her wild instincts instruct her.

Parturition (giving birth) in pigs is generally much easier than in other farm species, because the young are small in relation to the mother—delivering them is a little like shelling peas from a pod. The piglets are active as soon as they are born and move from the rear end of the recumbent sow to the teats for their first meal. The piglets remain with the sow for around eight weeks, by which time the sow is often getting tired of their demands. Young pigs kept for fattening will then be penned together, usually indoors but sometimes outside with a weatherproof shelter for sleeping. At around six to seven months, they will be ready for

slaughter for pork, or at eight or nine months for bacon. Sows that are reared on extensive farms are generally bred from twice a year until they are five or six years old, after which their litter numbers tend to decline considerably. Soon after their piglets have weaned, “dry” sows (those whose milk has dried up following the weaning process) are then mated with the stock boar, which will be kept on his own or with a harem of females (males of breeding age generally cannot be mixed, because they will constantly fight for dominance). The pregnant sows are then kept together until they are ready to start farrowing once again.

Extensively farmed sows, which breed year-round, will generally have two litters a year until they are five or six years old, whereupon their fertility declines.

Above

LI FE CYCLE

41

Reproduction

{

T H E N U T S & B OLT S OF M AT I NG

porker, may I explain? Certainly, the two pigs remain locked together during coitus. However, like most animals, the boar ejaculates soon after entry. The reason why the act appears to last so long is that the penis swells once threaded into the cervix, thereby locking in the semen. In an animal that can produce large litters of offspring, it is important that the semen gets to the right place. The boar then has to wait until the swelling subsides before dismounting (and hope in the meantime that his mate doesn’t decide to go for a walk). The dog, another animal that has multiple births, also has a penis that locks into the cervix for a short period after ejaculation for the same purpose, although its penis does not have the

The male and female sex organs of a pig are generally similar to those of other domestic farm animals, except that the sow is polytocous, or capable of giving birth to multiple offspring at a time. However, they do differ from other domesticated stock in that both the male’s penis and the female’s cervix are constructed like a corkscrew. At least that’s how they are generally described, although I prefer to think of them as, respectively, a bolt and nut. The male “bolt” screws into the threaded “nut” and locks. And there’s good a reason for this. It is jokingly said that a boar has an orgasm that lasts half an hour. For those male readers now envious of the humble

Commercially farmed sows are artificially inseminated with boar semen at the optimum breeding time, using a plastic catheter tailored to the corkscrew shape of the sow’s cervix.

Above

S E M E N A N D S P E R M C O M PA R I S O N S

VOLUME OF EJACULATE

SPERM PER ml

TOTAL SPERM PER EJACULATE

7–20 fl oz (200–600 ml)

100,000

20 billion

Horse

3½ fl oz (100 ml)

60,000

6 billion

Cattle

about ¾ teaspoon (3–4 ml)*

800,000

3 billion

Sheep

16 drops (0.8 ml)*

1 million

800 million

SPECIES Pig

42

ANAT OMY & B I OL OGY

*A teaspoonful is 5 ml—in comparison, humans produce 2–4 ml of ejaculate. There are 20 drops in 1 ml.

The corkscrew shape of the boar’s penis is selected to fit the sow’s cervix, ensuring that in natural breeding all the semen is delivered where it is needed.

R E P RODUC T I V E OR G A N S OF M ALE & FEM ALE

Right

MALE

Prostate gland

pig’s threaded mechanism. The boar, in common with ruminant farm animals (but not equines), also has a fibroelastic penis, meaning that it remains firm even when not erect.

P E R F E C T T I M I NG In modern commercial farming, nearly all matings are conducted by artificial insemination (AI). The semen is extracted from the boar and can be frozen and stored. As the female comes into heat, (estrus), the operative uses a plastic catheter (usually with a corkscrew thread on its end to lock into the cervix) to deliver a vial of semen at exactly the right time for optimal success. The female pig usually starts coming into heat at around seven months of age. Because being put in pig (being fertilized or made pregnant) early tends to restrict growth, most farmers will delay the first mating until the third or fourth cycle. When the pig is in heat, the vulva swells and the animal’s mood can change. Some females will squeal often and loudly, and they can become irritable with their handler. They remain in heat for one to four days, and ideally are served 24 hours after the heat is first detected. The pig is then served again (whether by natural service or AI) at 12-hourly intervals until she will no longer stand for it. Any females not mated successfully will continue to cycle every 18–24 days.

Rectum

Bladder Seminal vesicle

Bulbourethral gland Testis Epididymis

Penis Vas deferens Sheath

F EMALE

Cervix Ovary

Rectum

Oviduct

Vagina Vulva Urethra

Uterus Bladder

REPRO D U CTI O N

43

Specialized Snout Try to imagine possessing a nose that is 2,000 times more sensitive than the one you have now. You are in a field and can smell all the different grasses, herbs, and weeds around you. The trees all smell, and you may be able to tell the difference between the oaks, the hazels, and the hawthorns. The birds flying overhead have their own odor, the soil under your feet smells, and you can even detect items buried a few inches below. You can identify all your fellow pigs around you individually by their scent, as well as the humans that look after you. That is what it really means to smell like a pig. The pig’s snout is its means of scenting, of digging, and of holding things. It’s also its primary weapon against aggressors, aided by the boar’s ferocious tusks, and it features significantly in the mating ritual.

{ The snout is supported by strong shoulders and neck muscles, which means that a pig can cause serious damage as it roots about in the ground, even to concrete.

DRUG DE T E C T OR We humans have exploited the pig’s sense of smell for our benefit. Truffle hunting is the obvious example (see box), but pigs have also been trained to detect dry rot, to point and retrieve game, and to detect narcotics. In the 1990s in Hanover, Germany, a wild boar called Luise was trained to detect drugs by the local police force, and she was good at it. According to the police chief, she was easy to train, and unlike dogs, whose sensory organs became overloaded after about 15 minutes, she could keep sniffing for long periods without rest. Unfortunately, however, the constabulary grew tired of taunts of “Schwein!” from the local youth and the experiment was ended. Similarly, a Vietnamese Pot-bellied pig named Ferris E. Lucas was recruited by Sheriff’s Officer Matt Jagusak in New Jersey in 1992 to search for narcotics. The pig’s sense of smell was beaten only by a bloodhound, but his handler found him to be much more intelligent.

Two thousand times more sensitive than a human nose, the pig’s snout is its means of scenting, of digging, and even of holding things.

Above

Left Pigs sweat only through their snout, so, like a dog, a healthy pig always has a damp one.

NASAL RECEPTORS

D O R SAL AND

The pig’s odorant receptors pick up the scents encountered and transfer them to the large olfactory bulb at the front of the brain.

FR O NTAL VEIN

SN O U T

In scientific experiments on young female pigs, exposure to boar sex pheromones caused constriction of these blood vessels, indicating how important smell is to the sex life of the sow.

The snout is a cartilaginous disk with great strength, flexibility, and sensitivity. The pig can close its nostrils when digging.

TA S T E B U D S

Pigs have in the region of 15,000 taste receptors on their tongues, more than any other mammal, including humans. As in humans, taste and smell are closely linked senses.

Above The olfactory anatomy and its location within the skull.

SNUFFLING FOR TRUFFLES Truffles—white, black, and summer—are valuable fungi that grow around certain deciduous tree roots and are highly prized by gourmets. In Continental Europe, pigs were traditionally used to sniff out truffles below the surface of the soil so that their handler could dig out the prized fungus. Unfortunately, the pig would often gobble up the prize, which defeated the object of the hunt, so dogs are now increasingly used instead.

SPECI A LI ZED SN O U T

45

The warthog, a wild member of the pig family found in different parts of Africa, has tusks that grow up to 10 inches (25 cm) long.

Right

Tusks & Teeth

{

Being omnivorous, pigs have a dental makeup much like our own, except that the male swine’s canine teeth keep growing as tusks or tushes throughout his life. Like children, young pigs have milk teeth that fall out during adolescence to be replaced by their permanent teeth. Regarding the similarities between porcine and human teeth, Lyall Watson illustrates this perfectly in The Whole Hog (2004) with a tale from the 1920s. I will paraphrase it here.

A T O O T H Y TA L E A fossil of a molar tooth was discovered in Nebraska and sent to the American Museum of Natural History in New York in 1922. There it was brought to the attention of 65-year-old Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the museum’s board of trustees and a noted paleontologist and geologist who in 1916 wrote The Origin and Evolution of Life following the discovery of Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal fossils in Europe. As a proud American, Osborn was frustrated that prehistoric human remains had never been discovered in North America, and this single molar looked distinctly hominid. The find was discovered among other fossils, all around 10 million years old,

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ANAT OMY & B I OL OGY

and Osborn concluded that the worn molar was almost certainly from an ape. He announced his theory to the world in a paper titled “Hesperopithecus, the First Anthropoid Primate Found in America.” The discovery caused a sensation in the scientific community, and Osborn took casts of the molar and distributed them among 26 other leading institutions. Many concurred with him, but the Natural History Museum in London, represented by Grafton Elliot Smith, who had fallen for the Piltdown Man hoax, was more skeptical and wrote that further evidence was required. Osborn responded by sending expeditions to Nebraska over a period of two years. They reexamined the Snake Creek beds and the results were damning. What they discovered was that the molar had come from a species of Prosthennops, an extinct ancestor of modern-day peccaries, the only swine native to the American continent. Clearly, the teeth of humans and pigs can be difficult to tell apart, even by experts.

A wild javelina or collared peccary shows off its teeth.

Right

NIPPING THEM IN THE BUD If you are a pig keeper, keep an eye open for scratches on the udders of your sows and on the faces of the piglets. These injuries occur when the milk teeth of the little boar piglets grow quickly and the tusks develop and curve outward—these are like little needles. The piglets will play fight, just as puppies do, and scratches occur on the less dominant combatants. They may not do much harm in themselves, but they could indicate problems for the sow and her care of the entire litter. If the sow is getting scratched as the piglets suckle, she will become sore and reluctant to let them feed so often. She may also develop mastitis (an inflammation of the udder), which can result in failure to produce milk in certain infected teats, reducing considerably her future breeding ability. The solution may sound drastic but it is simple. Get someone to hold the offending little fellows while you open their mouths, then use a pair of nail clippers or wire cutters and trim back the tusks so that they cannot inflict any damage. As with detusking larger boars with cheese wire (see box on page 49), in my experience the operation is relatively painless and the piglets will object more to being picked up. Intensive farmers often clip such teeth routinely, but less industrial operators simply need to respond to the symptoms as they occur.

DE N T I T ION DE TA I L S

Unlike humans, pigs can move only their lower jaw up and down. The presence of the tusks limits horizontal movement, so the hog has learned to eat with only a vertical action. Chewing is consequently restricted, which results in messy eating. The tusks grow throughout the life of male pigs. The ones in the lower jaw are longer and more dangerous than the upper tusks, both in the wild boar and his domesticated cousin. The boar will sharpen his tusks by chomping his jaws against each other, just as a barber sharpens his razor on a strop. The effect is a hard, enamel-encased weapon that is as sharp as any knife. Hunters are well aware of the potential dangers during pig-hunting expeditions—a carelessly ridden horse or hunting dog can be eviscerated in a moment by a cornered wild boar, and a hunter on foot faces similar risks. Boars kept for any reason should therefore always have their tusks removed as soon as they start appearing from the lips (see box).

Adult pigs have three pairs of incisors at the front of each jaw. The central, almost horizontal, incisors are known as “nippers.” Next come a pair of canines (tusks in boars), then four pairs of premolars and three pairs of molars. The fourth premolars (closest to the canines) are sometimes known as wolf teeth. This selection provides the pig with the tools to rip, tear, and chew a wide variety of foodstuffs, as befits an omnivore.

L AT E R A L V I E W OF A DU LT P I G JAW Canine

Incisors

Tusk (canine)

Premolars

Premolars

Molars

Molars

L OW E R JAW OF A N A DU LT P I G Corner incisor

Fourth premolar Premolars

Left The pig has the range of different teeth befitting an omnivore, letting the animal rip, tear, and chew a wide variety of foodstuffs.

Nippers (2 central incisors)

Molars Intermediate incisor Tusk (canine)

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ANAT OMY & B I OL OGY

Left The upper tusks of the male babirusa grow up through the top of the muzzle, growing up to 12 inches (30 cm) in length and curling round toward the eyes.

If you want to appreciate some spectacular pig tusks, look no farther than the male babirusa. The tusks on its lower jaw are typically boarlike, but what is unique in this species is that those in the upper jaw have developed to grow through the top of the muzzle. There they

emerge and curl heavily toward the eyes, growing up to 12 in. (30 cm) in length as a kind of armored protection—although they are fairly impractical in this respect, because they are brittle. It seems the tusks are probably more an adornment to help attract a mate.

DETUSKING A BOAR You may think that your boar is extremely docile and does not need detusking, but even a pet pig can be disturbed by a fly and shake its head while you are standing close by. A prominent tusk can gash a leg and sever an artery, and if you are in a field far from help when it happens, then your life is in danger. The best advice is to remove tusks as soon as they appear. To do this, first secure your boar by means of a tightened noose around his upper jaw, then tie him securely. Next, simply saw off each tusk with cheese wire. Providing the tusk is cut at least 1 inch (25 mm) above the gum, there are no sensory nerves affected and the operation is, in my experience, relatively painless and the tusks will regrow.

TU SKS & TEETH

49

Other Senses

{

H E A R I NG The mechanics of hearing in pigs are much the same as our own and in other mammalian farm livestock. In the wild, where predators abound, the sense of hearing is heightened. If you ever happen upon a sounder of wild boar and can observe them as they feed, you will notice how those on guard duty will twitch their ears as they strain to catch every sound. You will also see how they react to unexpected noises, giving off a warning cry or grunt before all fleeing a short distance into cover. Domestic pigs have little need of such heightened awareness. According to Charles Darwin in The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1868), the effect of drooping or lop ears in some breeds of cattle, sheep, goats, equines, dogs, cats, rabbits, and pigs is a sure sign of the effects of domestication. All the wild progenitors of these animals have erect ears to funnel as much sound as possible, but as they became increasingly domesticated, such acute hearing was no longer necessary. I’m not sure I’m in a position to argue with such an eminent scientist, but if that is the case, then why aren’t all domestic breeds lop-eared? Should we consider that lop-eared pigs,

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such as the British Lop or Meishan, are more highly developed than the prick-eared Large White or Hampshire? Certainly, breeds with ears that almost completely extend over their face, such as Large Blacks, Gloucestershire Old Spots, and British Lops, seem to experience apparent hearing loss more often than less encumbered breeds, and such impediments must make a difference to clear hearing.

Some domesticated breeds, such as this Large Black, have lop ears that can impair their hearing, especially compared with other, prick-eared breeds.

Above

S IG H T Many writers dismiss the pig as having poor vision. After all, if you are gifted with an apparatus to smell everything around you and pretty good ears as a backup, why do you need particularly good eyesight as well? The wild boar is largely nocturnal in habit, so it does not rely much on its eyes to get around, but domestication has changed pigs into daylight dwellers. There is some evidence that suggests a pig’s vision is similar to our own, but with a greater field of vision due to the positioning of the eyes in the skull. We tend to look ahead and have limited peripheral sight, whereas the pig has a much wider range of vision—about 310 degrees—so in addition to seeing straight ahead, it can see anything approaching from the side and much of what is coming from behind. Tests with domestic pigs have shown that they can differentiate individual people by sight at some distance even when they are

mixed with others in similar clothing. They appear to recognize body size and shape as well as facial features. They are also like us in the range of colors they see. Pigs tend to be spooked by unexpected visual stimuli. If they are moved outside after being indoors, most pigs will hesitate at the boundary. Shadows, flapping objects, puddles, and anything out of the ordinary can cause them to stop or even retreat. Aside from being poor of hearing, the deeply lop-eared breeds have impaired vision. If you have two big ears that all but cover your face, then your vision is bound to be severely impaired. The same is true of breeds with many deep facial wrinkles, such as the Meishan (page 183). As such pigs mature and gain weight, their wrinkles expand to the extent that they can leave the swine effectively blind. However, such disadvantages can be overcome, and as long as the pig in question is familiar with its surroundings, it can get around unencumbered.

Pigs can hear sounds ranging from 42 Hz up to 40,500 Hz in the ultrasound range. Although sight is not their dominant sense, pigs do see well, with a color sensitivity that is comparable to humans and a much wider field of vision.

Below

Pigs left free to roam will revert to their natural rooting habits, turning over the soil until it has been stripped clean of roots and ground cover.

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Thinking Like a Pig

If you ask a farmer how intelligent they think their pigs are, most will generally rate them pretty poorly. This is hardly surprising when their management leaves the pigs just three things to consider: sleeping, eating, and, occasionally, the reproductive process. Put an academic in a bare room with no stimulus, and after a period of time that person will regress to beastly habits. But as we will see in Chapter 3, pigs have the capacity and natural tendency to learn and develop

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{

R E A DY I N G F O R R E S T O C K I N G Once your pigs have well and truly rooted up their enclosure, remove the solid items they have unearthed and harrow and reseed the land. By doing so, it will be fit to be restocked after a few months. If the enclosure is in woodland and the pigs have turned everything over to bare ground, make sure you move them to fresh grounds as soon as possible, otherwise they will turn their attention to the trees, removing their bark and killing them.

BR AIN FACTS When comparing the weight of the brain to overall body weight, it can be seen that the pig has a higher ratio than cattle or sheep. SPECIES

BRAIN WEIGHT AS A FRACTION OF TOTAL BODY WEIGHT

Pig

1/500

Ox

1/800

Sheep

1/750

The skull of a domestic pig is smaller than that of a wild boar, and consequently so is the brain. When looking at domesticated stock compared with their wild progenitors, the pig shows the biggest decrease. Below are the three most extreme examples SPECIES Dog

SKULL SIZE PERCENTAGE DECREASE COMPARED TO WILD PROGENITOR 29% decrease

Ferret

29.4% decrease

Pig

33.6% decrease

beyond the sluggish glutton that most casual observers see. Nature empowered the wild boar to live a complicated existence searching for nutrition and remembering where the best sites are according to the seasons. It has to interact socially; to avoid dangerous predators, not the least of which are people; to stay close enough to sources of water; and, in the case of males, to mark his territory so that his harem would (hopefully) remain loyal. From time to time, males also have to square up to a competitor trying to usurp him. Nearly all of these attributes have been lost to domesticated beasts, especially those reared in intensive conditions. Despite this, detailed scientific experiments demonstrate just what a complex and intelligent creature the pig really is (see pages 106–115). Being intelligent animals, pigs benefit from being provided with stimuli. Indoor pigs respond positively to playing with feed balls—specially adapted soccer ball-size spheres that release feed treats as they are nuzzled around the pen—chains suspended above the pens, and other robust toys. Intensive units also achieve positive results by playing soothing music during daylight hours, reducing stress in the pigs and leading to better growth rates. Outdoor pigs entertain themselves by emulating their forebears through rooting. They probably don’t need the extra rations, but the boredom of their existence is relieved by such exploring. Depending on the soil type and drainage, the pigs will, however, soon root up their entire area, leaving it looking like a moonscape of bare ground, craters, rocks, and tree roots. They will then need to be transferred to a new enclosure to start again.

TH I N KI N G LI KE A PI G

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Eating Like a Pig “To eat like a pig” is an internationally recognized epithet indicating a greedy person. It conjures up an image in a flash—a grubby, rotund porker holding its ground at the trough while gobbling up the contents. It gorges itself on anything and everything, and denies its siblings or cohabitants their share. In short, it is the epitome of gluttony. But there are reasons for the pig’s habits. First, as we have already discovered, the pig’s jaw moves in only one plane. This produces messy eating, especially when the food is wet. There is no rolling

{ jaw action allowing for the pig to savor its morsels, and when combined with its tendency to eat with its mouth open, this can lead to an unedifying spectacle at mealtimes. Then there is the issue of competition, which starts right back at the udder. Most sows have 12 to 14 teats, and as they may farrow more than 14 young at a time, there can be strong competition for a teat. The bigger piglets push their weaker brethren away, so there is an inbuilt need in pigs to compete with one another when food is available.

Being one among a litter of typically as many as 14 piglets, there is always a lot of competition for food among young pigs.

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T H E P I G ’ S DI G E S T I V E T R AC T Stomach

Large intestine Rectum

Being an omnivore, the pig has a smaller stomach than those of herbivores such as cows and horses, needing to eat for only 20 minutes before it is full.

Right

Cecum

T H E G U T S OF I T The pig’s stomach is much smaller than that of the horse, cow, or sheep, mainly because it is omnivorous—the other species rely on eating large volumes of grass and green herbage. The outdoor pig will eat grass, but more to fill its appetite or out of boredom; like us, it cannot easily digest cellulose from such vegetation. With a simple stomach that has a capacity of 1.8 to 2 gallons (7–8 liters), a domestic pig will generally eat for about 20 minutes before it is replete. Uniquely among farm animals, its small and large intestines have about the same capacity. In nonintensive farming systems, most pigs will be fed twice a day, whereas in intensive units sows are sometimes housed together and regulated carefully on how much feed they get. Computer-controlled feed stations release the designated rations for each sow as she enters the cubicle, triggered by an electronic signal from a collar around her neck. Because a pig’s head and neck are streamlined, the collar sometimes slips off; artful sows have been known to pick

Small intestine

up these loose collars in their mouths and approach a cubicle for a second helping. This is probably not so much greed as an attempt to alleviate boredom and relates as much to a sow’s sagacity as her digestion. The length of a pig’s intestinal canal is around 65 feet (20 m), compared with closer to 50 feet (15 m) in a wild boar. A similar lengthening occurs in most species during domestication and results from the need to deal with a more balanced diet and regular feeding opportunities. Much of the digestion takes place in the small intestine, which experiences rapid growth in young pigs. Based on measurements taken on Danish Landrace pigs, the small intestine is 17 feet (5 m) long at birth, but by the time the piglet reaches 10 weeks, it has grown to more than 55 feet (17 m)—a remarkable daily growth rate of almost 7 inches (18 cm). EATI N G LI KE A PI G

55

A VA R I E D DI E T Another reason for our labeling of hogs as greedy is a belief that they will eat anything. If times are hard, then a pig will derive nutrition from whatever source it can. This is no different from humankind in similar extremities: We have all heard tales of cannibalism following shipwrecks and desperate prisoners of war eating rats, so perhaps the pig just needs to employ better PR consultants.

F US S Y E AT E R According to the Presbyterian minister and scientist Thomas Dick, in volume IV of his book On the Improvement of Society by the Diffusion of Knowledge (1840), the eighteenth-century Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus observed that the pig was the fussiest of eaters: “The cow eats 276 plants, and rejects 218; the goat eats 449, and rejects 126; the sheep eats 387, and rejects 141; the horse eats 262, and rejects 212; and the hog, more nice in taste than any of these, eats but

G A R B AG E - DI S P O S A L U N I T S

72 plants and rejects all the rest.” This was further reinforced during World War I in the UK, when

Throughout history, pigs have been fed on the basest feedstuff in the knowledge that they could convert it into delicious protein. Before sewers were perfected in the nineteenth century, pigs were the disposers of human waste. There are nutrients in our waste that a pig can live on, supplemented by cabbage leaves, moldy bread, and a few bones. The old saying “Pigs thrive where a lamb would starve” is certainly true in this instance. In early towns and village across Europe, residents simply disposed of their garbage on the streets. Even though the waste was organic and would rot down over time, the environment became unpleasant (hence people carried vinaigrettes to combat the stench), and the easiest and most efficient way of clearing it was to let pigs roam around to eat everything. Thus, food waste and chamber-pot contents were tipped into the street gutters, and the roaming hogs would derive what benefits they could. In the nineteenth century this practice was rapidly dying out in Great Britain, although pigs were still seen in American cities—as recorded by both Charles Dickens in his 1842 American Notes and Frances Trollope (see box on page 58).

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farmers were urged to find alternative feedstuffs for stock. Horse chestnuts, crushed and leached in water, were fed to cattle and sheep, but pigs refused them. Of course, we are now fully aware that pigs are not herbivores, unlike the others observed, and that while they may be more selective about plant material, they will consume many things that other species will not touch.

EATI N G LI KE A PI G

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P OR K OP OL I S The following extract comes from English writer Frances Trollope’s Domestic Manners of the Americans, first published in 1832. The passage tells of her trip to Cincinnati, Ohio, known colloquially as “Porkopolis.”

We were soon settled in our new dwelling, which looked neat and comfortable enough, but we speedily found it was devoid of nearly all the accommodation that Europeans conceive necessary to decency and comfort. No pump, no cistern, no drain of any kind, no dustman’s cart, or any other visible means of getting rid of rubbish, which vanishes with such celerity in London, that one has no time to think of its existence; but which accumulated so rapidly in Cincinnati, that I sent for my landlord to know in what manner refuse of all kinds was to be disposed of.  “Your Help will just have to fix them all into the middle of the street, but you must mind, old woman, that it is the middle. I expect you don’t know as we have got a law what forbids throwing such things at the sides of the streets; they must just all be cast right into the middle, and the pigs soon takes them off.” In truth the pigs are constantly seen doing Herculean service in this way through every quarter of the city; and though it is not very agreeable to live surrounded by herds of these unsavory animals, it is well they are so numerous and so active in their capacity of scavengers, for without them the streets would soon be choked up with all sorts of substances in every stage of decomposition.

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D OW N T H E T OI L E T The Chinese were even more organized in their use of pigs to dispose of waste. They built latrines in closets at the top of a short flight of steps. The hole in the floor of the closet led straight into the structure below, which was a secure pigsty—the human occupants passed their waste and the pig below profited. Models found in ancient Chinese tombs show that these latrines were in use as far back as the Han dynasty (206 bce–220 ce), and such structures were still in use as recently as 40 years ago on Jeju Island in South Korea. In a final word on this subject, the UK’s Daily Telegraph carried an article in June 1994 on a public health conference that took place in Hong Kong, reporting that an American tourist in Cambodia had been hospitalized for shock. Apparently, the visitor had discovered the hard way that many rural homes in Cambodia still rely on pigs instead of drainage to dispose of their waste. He was using a hole-in-thefloor toilet, but had not realized that there was a live pig below until he was bitten on the buttock while relieving himself. The American even admitted to hearing strange noises below, but foolishly ignored them to his peril.

This pig eating leftovers at a market in Jayapura, West Papua, New Guinea, Indonesia, in 2016, is performing a service to the community the animal has carried out for millennia.

Below

T H E P E R I L S OF P IG S W I L L Today, pigs are still seen by many as recyclers. The modern green movement, for example, feels that there is perfect symmetry in feeding the mountains of food waste in the Western world to pigs. However, in European Union countries and elsewhere, any food that has been in a domestic or commercial kitchen—even one associated with a vegan restaurant—is banned from use as pig feed. Vegetable matter from the garden can be fed freely, and in certain circumstances bakery waste is also permissible, providing it has not been in the same premises as pizzas or sausage rolls. The reason for this ban is that scientists have proven a clear link between feeding contaminated meat products to farm stock and classical swine fever and foot-andmouth disease, both serious notifiable diseases that are usually controlled by the mass slaughter of livestock liable to infection. This last happened in Europe in a major scale in 2001 in the UK— according to the UK’s Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 4.9 million sheep, 700,000 cattle, and 400,000 pigs were killed during the outbreak. These are official government figures but other bodies believe the full count including young stock slaughtered with their mothers could make the total about 50 percent higher. The 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic originated on a farm that was feeding pigs with undercooked swill. Up until then, it was possible to feed such matter providing it had been heated to a certain temperature. Shortly after the outbreak, the European Commission banned all swill feeding. Feeding swill to pigs was commonplace in Great Britain up until the early 1970s. On

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the farm where I grew up in the 1950s, swill was used in part to feed our large pedigree herd. It came from a nearby psychiatric hospital, arriving in huge galvanized bins that were tipped into the troughs. The pigs loved it. Either the inmates or staff were not careful with gathering the scraps, however, because after the pigs had eagerly consumed the daily ration, there would invariably be beautifully shiny cutlery, saucers, and plates at the bottom of the troughs, licked clean by the pigs. These were collected up and returned, and I often wondered if they were washed before being reused. It is a common-held belief that pigs stink. What gave pigs a bad name in this regard arose from feeding swill, which was absolutely rank and made the pigs stink. And it wasn’t only the pigs that were affected—the equipment and even anybody closely associated with the practice was also infused with the disgusting aroma. I served on the committee of an agricultural show in the 1960s alongside a member who was a swill-feeding farmer. He came to meetings immaculately turned out and obviously recently bathed, but despite vigorous scrubbing you could detect him from afar by the odor that lodged in every pore.

Modern pig feed is designed to provide optimum nutrition.

Right

Farmer Dean Folkmann directs his homemade blend of pig food to a pen full of delighted sows in Benton County, Iowa, near the town of Newhall.

Below

MODERN PIG FEED Today, pigs are fed a carefully researched and compounded mix designed to give the optimum ration for rapid muscle growth with minimal fat. Based on cereals, it has a balance of minerals and vitamins, along with protein, usually provided in the form of dried and powdered soybeans. Fish meal is still used in some countries, made from sand eels vacuumed up from the seabed and dried and crushed. Unfortunately, these are the main food source for many seabirds, such as puffins, which don’t have a ready fallback when their feeding area has been stripped of stocks.

EATI N G LI KE A PI G

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Feet & Tails

{

FEET As we saw in Chapter 1, pigs are eventoed ungulates—it defines them— although there are exceptions to this rule. In rare instances, pigs have been recorded with five toes and, as we will explore, there are solid-footed varieties, too. In normal circumstances, pigs have four toes, but in practice only two are usually in contact with the ground. The other two are dewclaws and touch terra firma only when the ground is soft or where a heavy pig is down on its pasterns, meaning that the joints of the pastern bone can no longer support the weight put on them and there is a partial

collapse. Behind the toes and in front of the dewclaw is the bulb, a hard-skinned pad that also touches the ground. Looking at the skeleton of a pig, and at the legs and feet, in particular, it is hard to imagine that they are capable of fast or hazardous travel, or that the trotters could even support a completely grown, heavyweight domestic pig. But pigs can be surprisingly agile, and a pig under a year of age can run at the speed of a human. They can also easily adapt to semimountainous areas, clambering over rocks. In fact, pigs were used for a while as substitutes for dogs in mountain rescue searches, when their limbs proved no great impediment to their efforts.

F E E T & L OW E R L E G S K E L E TO N

E F G H Dewclaw

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Left The lower leg of a pig is comprised of the following bones: radius and ulna [E], carpus bones [F], metacarpal bone [G], and digit (phalanges) [H].

B E ST F O O T F ORWA R D The delicate pointed toes of the pig were useful to early farmers in ancient Egypt. Come sowing time, the fields were tilled and a seed bed of soft soil created. The grains were scattered on the surface, behind which a herd of pigs was driven by boys around the field. The result? The seeds were pressed into the soil and firmed down at just the right depth for germination. It was necessary to keep the swine moving, however, otherwise they gobbled up the grains, but this premechanical solution worked just fine.

Illustrations from the time show that pigs were also used to thresh the grain after harvest. The cut cereals, including the straw, were scattered on a hard floor and the pigs driven continuously over them. After a time, the pigs were shooed off, the straw was collected for bedding, and the remaining grain seeds were gathered up and stored. In ancient Eg ypt, pigs were driven across fields to press seed into the soil to exactly the right depth for germination.

Below

C L AW C L I P P I N G Unless a pig is always kept on soft ground or fed excessive protein, it will keep its claws in order from normal exercise. However, a mature pig down on its pasterns sometimes has excessive nail growth, in which case the claws need trimming. Providing this is done carefully, it does not hurt the animal. Many sows can have their nails trimmed while lying naturally on their sides without specific restraint, although others may require a roll-over cage or sedation. Trimming the nails gives the pig greater freedom of movement.

FEET & TA I LS

63

Uniquely among pig breeds, the American Mulefoot is syndactyl, meaning the two toes found in other breeds are fused into a single toe in this animal.

Above

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U N IQU E F E E T One breed defies all the rules set out about pigs so far—the American Mulefoot, described in detail on page 201. The Mulefoot is a syndactyl, with its two pairs of toes fused together so that there is one toe on each foot in contact with the ground and one dewclaw on each foot behind the toe. This syndrome, probably caused by a genetic mutation, is occasionally seen in cattle, but in those cases it is usually confined to one foot. While the Mulefoot is the only recognized pig breed that is syndactyl, individual pigs throughout history have been found with the condition. Aristotle reported such pigs in Greece in 350 bce, and historians believe that it was once much more common in Europe than it is today.

Another foot-related peculiarity recorded in American pigs is worth repeating here. The source is Charles Darwin’s book The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1868) and relates to incidents noted in pigs in Virginia in the nineteenth century. Darwin names his source as Professor Wyman, who reported that only black pigs could be kept in the state, because consumption of the Carolina red root plant, which was rife, caused the hooves of nonblack pigs to fall off (and their bones to turn pink). Wyman quoted a rancher: “We select the black members of the litter for raising, as they alone have a good chance of living.” As Darwin observed, “So that here we have artificial and natural selection working hand in hand.”

TA I L S The tailpiece to this section is much briefer, as is the tail itself. If you study a completely grown matriarchal swine, you will agree that for such a huge, deepbodied creature, the tail is insignificant. Yet the pig’s tail, along with that of the dog, contains more caudal bones than in other domestic species.

TA I L B O N E S

SPECIES

CAUDAL BONES

Cow

18–20

Dog

20–23

Goat

12

Horse

15–20

Human

4

Pig

20–23

Sheep

16–18

What is unique about the pig is that, as a result of domestication, its pig’s tail is mostly kept neatly tucked away from harm in a tight curl. No wild pigs or peccaries have naturally curled tails. In fact, wild pigs use their tail to express various emotions: twitched, curved, or extended to express sexual desire, hostility, and threat. Some domestic pigs still have these instincts and will straighten, wag, and stretch their sad tails to express such feelings. A long-experienced pig breeder I knew always claimed you could predict the quality of a pig’s carcass by feeling the tail of the live pig. A thick, well-fleshed tail, measured by your hand at its base, allegedly indicates an animal of good conformation that is ready for the butcher, while a skinny, bony tail indicates that its owner still needs more flesh on its bones. A final question: Do pigs’ tails curl clockwise or counterclockwise? A student once examined hundreds of pigs to ascertain the truth, concluding that they curl both ways in almost equal measure.

Wild pigs have straight tails, which they use to express a range of emotions, and while domestic pigs often curl their tails, they still express themselves by different methods in a similar way to their ancestors.

Below

FEET & TA I LS

65

Skin & Hair

{

There are two big differences between the wild boar and the domestic pig, which have arisen as a result of the latter’s evolution to meet modern human requirements. One is body shape and conformation, as we will see in Chapter 3, and the other is the color of the animal reflected in its coat and skin.

C OL OR AT ION Scientists believe that the two distinct types of wild boar—European and Asian— diverged around 900,000 years ago. This is supported by a 1.2 percent difference across the whole mitochondrial genome (this is remarkably similar to the difference between modern human and Neanderthals, which is 1.3 percent). What is consistent in the two groups of wild boar is coloration, with both being predominately brown/red with varying admixtures of black. Juveniles also share the coat pattern of horizontal striping. This is typical camouflage coloration for the environments most frequented by the boar. Domestic pigs have developed into colors that are almost universally different from those of the wild boar. The alleles governing color and pattern have mutated into nine different types, and an academic paper published in 2009 concluded that, with only 10,000 or so years of pig

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domestication, this occurred purely by selection. Why were variations selected? It could well be that early farmers whose stock was free to roam selected colors and patterns that differed from those of wild boar to make their animals readily identifiable. It could also be that there was a degree of “fashion” involved in early selection. If a particular pig was found to be a good progenitor, produced fastgrowing offspring, or was less antagonistic toward its keeper than its peers, there might have been a tendency to select stock based on that pig’s coloration. It is also very much the case that breeds—which have existed for less than 150 years—are largely selected on color consistency. Again, this may have evolved from populism. Up to the mid-nineteenth century, pig farming was rarely industrialized and pigs were mostly kept to feed the family, with perhaps a small surplus to trade for staples. As we will see in Chapter 5, the type of boar kept by the landowning gentry influenced the kind of pig being kept for miles around.

Piglets of both the European and the Asian wild boar have the same distinctive camouf lage pattern of chipmunk or brown watermelon stripes when young.

Below

Left, right, and below

Typical pink pig skin

We may have a popular image of pigs as pink-skinned animals, but pig skin comes in many different colors, patterns, and degrees of hirsuteness.

Tamworth

Mangalitsa (blond)

Hampshire saddle

Wild boar skin

Gloucestershire Old Spots

Wild boar piglet

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L E AT H E R & B RU S H E S The domestic pig has few sweat glands in its skin and its hair is sparse—much more so than in the wild boar, which has a relatively thick coat and a bristled mane that can be erected to provide a visual deterrent. Regardless, a few domestic breeds are hairier than others (see pages 70–71). Light-colored breeds are susceptible to sunburn in the same way that humans are. Pig skin is used in the tanning industry, but much less frequently than the skin of cattle. The reason for this is simple— we often eat the epidermis of the pig as crackling on our roast pork. Leather from pigs has an attractive grain and, when used, it is turned into high-quality products, such as saddles, purses or handbags, book bindings, and gloves. Soccer balls were once made from pig leather, but gradually the more available bovine product took over before, in turn, this was usurped by lightweight plastic. The sparse hair on most pigs is unlike that of any other domestic animal. In contrast to its farm compatriots, the pig does not have a waterproof woolly undercoat with guard hairs above. The hairs on adult pigs are much coarser than on young animals, especially along the back. These are bristles rather than soft hairs. Although you would think that they offer little protection against the elements, they are actually effective, lying in such a way that they provide protection against precipitation, keeping the skin relatively dry. Regardless, pigs always need access to shelter from the elements, unlike other domestic farm animals. The bristles and finer hairs were once widely used for the manufacture

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of brushes of various kinds, from fine artist’s paintbrushes to coarse scrubbing brushes. Other, less well known, uses for pig bristles in nineteenth-century Great Britain included ropes made by the Orkney Islanders to the north of Scotland, who scaled sheer cliffs to gather seabird eggs. They found that ropes made from pig bristles were stronger, harder wearing, and less likely to be cut on the jagged rocks than those made of hemp. A rope failure would mean certain death, so pigs proved to be an important resource. Toothbrushes were commonly made of hog bristles until the 1930s, when DuPont launched the new wonder material, nylon, which now accounts for the vast majority of the world’s dental cleaning tools. Discerning customers who prefer to live a plastic-free existence can, however, still get hold of the old-fashioned, eco-friendly alternative. Pig bristles are also harvested at the slaughterhouse to make L-cysteine, a protein added by commercial bakeries to dough to soften it. It seems you cannot keep a good pig down.

Inhabitants of the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland, gathering seabird eggs. The islanders relied on the strength and durability of ropes made from pig bristles while scaling the sheer and jagged cliffs.

Below

Pigs have coarse hairs that have long been used as the bristles on brushes and brooms of various kinds, as well as in the making of strong ropes. Their skin can also be tanned to make fine leather products such as saddles.

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GI V E N A B RUS H- OF F By the nineteenth century, British pigs had been so well developed that their bristles were fine enough for use in softer brushes, such as artist’s paintbrushes, but not hard enough for decent scrubbing brushes. Thus, harder bristles were imported, mainly from North America, France, and Siberia. The Siberian pigs were little more domesticated than wild boar and were fed on the waste from tallow factories, and they produced the hardest, toughest bristles. Statistics show that, in 1853, Great Britain imported no fewer than 3.25 million pounds (1.5 million kg) of bristles, which were converted into strong brushes, many of which were then exported to the colonies. Today, you can still purchase fine-quality paintbrushes and shaving brushes made from pig bristles.

The more domesticated pigs produce finer bristles suitable for using in paintbrushes and shaving brushes.

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SKI N & H A I R

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S H E E P- P IG S As mentioned earlier, there is an exception to the rule of the sparsely bristled domestic pig. A genetic strain produces a pig with a thicker, longer coat of fairly tight curls. Such pigs do not occur frequently, but they have been selected at different times in the same way as color variations. One current breed of this type is the Mangalitsa from eastern Europe, including Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, and Serbia. At the end of the twentieth century, a small group was imported to the UK, and in 2007 another group headed to the United States. Until the early 1970s, a British long-haired breed called the Lincolnshire Curly Coat also existed and was renowned for its lard. In earlier times, hardworking fenmen and laborers in eastern England relished fatty bacon and ham to give them energy to maintain their work levels, but as modern tastes changed, the Lincolnshire pig fell out of favor and became extinct. Another “sheep-pig,” called the Cuino, hails from Mexico. All three of these breeds share the common gene mutation that produces thick, curly hair, but there is no evidence of any closer relationship. Some try to claim that the Lincolnshire Curly Coat lives on in the Mangalitsa, because a few small consignments of the pigs were exported from England. These were crossed with the Mangalitsas, producing offspring called Lincolitsas, but they were not popular in the long term and the experiment and the genes died out. There is no evidence of Lincolnshire Curly Coat genes in modern Mangalitsas, and anyone who claims to be able to

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PIGS C A N FLY In the mid-nineteenth century, a Middle White boar named Lord of the Wassail was the first of his breed to be awarded a prize at the prestigious Royal Show in England. His owner, a Mr. Wainman, was justly proud of his prize winner, whose coat across his shoulders included fine bristles 8½ inches (22 cm) in length. Mr. Wainman was apparently an enthusiastic angler on Yorkshire’s river Wharfe and Scotland’s river Spey, and he dressed his fishing f lies with hair from his favorite pig. He also kept the longest bristles in his pocket book to show those who expressed even the slightest interest.

re-create that huge, slab-sided woolly pig by back-crossing the east European breed should be treated with a certain degree of circumspection. The old British expression “All cry and no wool, as the Devil said as he sheared the swine” seems particularly suitable here, indicating as it does someone who promises more than they can deliver. One of only two extant pig breeds with full coats of curly hair is the Mangalitsa from eastern Europe.

Right

SKI N & H A I R

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CHAPTER 3

Behavior

Eating & Sleeping

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When asked to describe a pig’s lifestyle, many people would say that it lives to eat and spends its life fulfilling that ambition. This is, however, a misunderstanding perpetuated by generations of humans. In fact, pigs spend no longer at the trough than other farm animal and a great deal less time grazing pasture than cattle, sheep, or equines. We expect miracles from pigs in terms of their rate of growth and their fecundity, both of which rely on eating a good deal. On commercial farms, a pig grows from around 2 pounds (1 kg) at birth to 165 pounds (75kg) in three to four months, a percentage increase that a healthy human can take 20 years to achieve. If pigs appear to be greedy, it may instead be that this intelligent creature simply has little to do and so turns to filling its stomach. Does that remind you of any other creature? As we saw in Chapter 2, the outdoor domestic pig will turn over land in the manner of a wild boar, not because it necessarily needs to eat, but because the activity satisfies its desire to be doing something—and it may result in a satisfying morsel in the mouth as a bonus. The front incisors, or nippers, are designed to chop through small tree roots to facilitate this.

S NOR I NG L I K E A P IG

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When they are not eating, most pigs are sleeping. Some foods are slow to be processed by the pig’s internal systems (experiments have shown that meat products, in particular, can take more than 12 hours before they leave the stomach), and sleeping aids digestion.

Pigs love to eat and sleep—they will sleep some 13 hours a day and this can help the slow digestion process.

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A domestic pig will sleep around 13 hours a day, while the nocturnal wild boar spends much of the daytime sleeping. Pigs are sociable animals and will sleep in a mound in close confinement with others in their group. This helps them to keep warm and provides reassurance and protection from predators. Domestic swine may not face many predators, but the defensive instincts of their wild forebears live on in just the same way— just as they will still root even when their minder has already fed them. The instinct to sleep in a mound starts in the nest, and with so many siblings, it soon pays to be sociable. Perhaps this is where the term “higgledy-piggledy” comes from. A pig relishes its sleep and does not enter into that state lightly. First, it makes its bed comfortable. This is not the

elaborate nesting of the farrowing sow (see page 92), but the animal does spend a little time nudging its bedding into the most comfortable format, perhaps adding more straw to it. Once the pig has determined its bed is up to scratch, it will maneuver itself into position. This may involve sitting doglike before lowering the front legs, then collapsing into position lying on its side. Alternatively, it may be the front legs that go down first, followed by the collapse of the hindquarters, so that the pig is lying on its belly. Pigs sleep deeply, sometimes snoring or grunting. There are also periods of rapid eye movement during sleep, indicating that the animal is dreaming, which may be accompanied by twitching of the tail or limbs. Young pigs appear to dream more than older pigs.

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Rooting & Burrowing Rooting is the pig’s answer to almost everything. The power in the snout, backed up by the muscular neck and the front feet acting as a fulcrum, must have provided the designers of modern mechanical excavators with much inspiration. Unlike other creatures that dig or otherwise turn the soil, the pig has dainty feet that are no match for the task. So, nature applied most of the pig’s senses and power into one streamlined organ at the front, and the animal has perfected its use of this tool ever since.

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{

Rooting fulfills various needs. The most obvious is the discovery of edible delights— roots, insects, worms, and much more besides. There are many feedstuffs that pigs can access without having to excavate the soil, including nuts, berries and other fruit, bird eggs, snails, frogs, mollusks, crabs, and carrion—as well as crops, if given a chance. Rooting is instinctive; the domestic pig may not have to do it, but it is in its genes. Wild boars live mainly in forests and much of what they eat is found by rooting—old habits die hard.

The pig’s habit of rooting is hardwired into its DNA through descent from the wild boar, for whom such a behavior is essential for survival.

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D I N I N G C O M PA N I O N Although wild boars are nocturnal by nature, they are not exclusively so, and some activity takes place during daylight hours. The European robin is noted for hanging about gardeners when they are turning over soil, picking up tasty morsels uncovered by the digging. In just the same way, the birds will accompany wild boars through the forest, cleaning up after them—something that may seem insignificant in size to the swine will provide a welcome meal for the little bird.

A great way to clear an enclosure that is overgrown with shrubs and small trees is to introduce some pigs. They will use their rooting abilities to clear out any unwelcome clumps of brambles, gorse, nettles, and other stubborn weeds, leaving the way clear for other plants to regenerate. Particularly dense thickets that might be ignored by the pigs can be included in the destruction by tossing in some food, such as dry pig nuts, thereby encouraging the swine to follow. The deeply ingrained nature of rooting can be seen when pigs are denied the opportunity to root. In intensive pig farms that lack stimuli, pigs will chew on rails and other objects, including the tails and ears of their cohorts. In fact, tail biting is such a problem that young piglets now routinely have their tail docked in many such plants. Some intensive units provide tires or chains for pigs to play with as a distraction, but their desire to root remains strong. Aside from being a means of finding food, rooting is used by pigs to create wallowing pools. The upheaval of the ground forms puddles and pools, and these can be further excavated over time to afford a place where the residents can lie and keep relatively cool while coating themselves in mud.

Left On intensive pig farms, the lack of stimuli and opportunity to root can lead pigs to biting the bars of their pens.

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OF F T H E M E N U Omnivores, such as pigs, are much more gregarious in the range of foodstuffs they eat than most grazing animals, which tend to restrict themselves to a particularly limited stock of plants. Think of the giant pandas with their reliance on bamboo, or sheep and cattle eating the grass, clover, and herbs growing in their fields. Pigs—both wild and domesticated— seem to have an innate sense of what is poisonous and rarely have ill health from eating something they should not. Like apes, they have also learned to detoxify poisonous leaves by hoarding them in

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shallow fermentation pits on the forest floor, returning later to enjoy them after the toxins have been neutralized. Over the millennia, and possibly aided by observations of such behavior, humans have adapted to cope with plant toxins through cooking, fermenting, and leaching techniques, or by merely peeling certain foodstuffs. Both pigs and humans have also changed physiologically to cope with plant toxins, with evolving salivary and gastric juices as well as liver and kidney functions that are better able to process or counteract them. These plant toxins can be divided into four groups: alkaloids, glycosides, phenolics, and amino acids.

Pigs have learned behavioral ways of avoiding plant toxins, but they have also evolved salivary and gastric juices, as well as kidney and liver functions, that better counteract them.

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Alkaloids are toxins that appear in potatoes, legumes, and many other plants. Over time, both pigs and humans have evolved to deal with the poisons and benefit from the nutrition offered. Glycosides are found in many staple green vegetables, but in some cases they take the form of lethal hydrogen cyanide. Although this is deadly in large doses, the inclusion of glycoside-containing plants in our diet helps to lower hypertension and cholesterol. Like humans, pigs have adapted to overcome the threats of such plants. Phenolics are found in coffee, tea, chocolate, soybeans, and other foods. They can raise libido and energy levels, and suppress appetite. Amino acids—many of which are lectins and proteinase inhibitors—are widespread in foods as diverse as rice and tomatoes. They are one of the drivers that help suppress the toxicological effects of many plants on our bodies.

S E E D DI S P E R S E R S While all the benefits of eating plants may seem to be tilted toward the animal, many plant species gain some benefit from being eaten. Pigs are able to spread seeds around their territory, both through their dung and on their hair. An animal like a pig that will push through thick undergrowth is ideal both for picking up seeds and then having them dragged off elsewhere. By rooting around in the soil, the pig creates a seedbed and also exposes long-buried seeds, which can then germinate. Leaf litter is disturbed in the process, allowing for daylight to reach parts of the forest floor that are otherwise kept dark.

The pig’s planteating habits benefit not only the animal but also the plant, whose seeds are dispersed through pig dung or by becoming attached to the animal’s hair.

Above

The result is a greater variety of flora and fauna in the area and the chance for less substantial plants to germinate and become established where once only scrub grew. In Germany, observations in monoculture forests of conifers have shown that wild boar activity introduced broad-leaved trees, in turn providing opportunities for a wider range of insects and other creatures to recolonize the area. RO O TI N G & BU RRO W I N G

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RO O T I NG F OL K TA L E S While only marginally involving a pig’s rooting per se, there are several folk tales of pigs that were involved in the foundation of churches. The first story is centered on Winwick in the English county of Cheshire, whose church is said to date back to the Roman occupation. At the time, a Roman soldier is alleged to have written, “If I get back to Winwick hill, I’ll build a church and call it Winwick.” When the church, St. Oswald’s, was to be built, so the story goes, the workmen moved the materials onto the chosen site and placed the foundation stone in position before heading home. During the night, the stone was moved to the top of Winwick Hill, where Saint Oswald had actually died. The workmen found and replaced the stone during the day, but the same thing happened the next night. On the third night, the workers stayed on site, and they were amazed to see a sow carefully and painstakingly lifting the foundation stone and carrying it up the hill, grunting “Winwick, Winwick” as she went. For several days, the workmen and pig continued in this vein, until the builders finally gave in, leaving the stone where the sow had placed it and building the church around it. In recognition of the efforts of the pig, they made a carving of her on the church tower, where it can still be seen today. Similar stories abound at other sites around Great Britain. In the Elwy Valley in north Wales in the sixth century, at a site where he discovered a wild boar turning over the ground with his tusks, Saint Kentigern laid the foundations of a monastery that later became St. Asaph’s

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Cathedral. In the English county of Somerset, the town of Glastonbury is on its site thanks to a lost sow. The pig’s owner, Glaesting, followed the pig’s trail until he found her by an apple tree alongside an old church, and the area so impressed him that he decided to settle there. Also in the south of England is the town of Braunton, established by Saint Brannock following a vision in which he was told to build his church on a site where he found a white sow and her litter. White pigs at this time would have been unusual and probably signified purity. Evesham Abbey in Worcestershire is said to have been founded in the place where Eof (or Eoves) saw a vision of the Virgin Mary while feeding his herd of swine.

The carving of a pig at St. Oswald’s Church at Winwick, England, remembers an animal whose persistence determined where the church was to  be built.

Above

A stainedglass window in Evesham Abbey, Worcestershire, England, built where Eof is said to have seen the Virgin Mary while feeding his pigs.

Left

T H E S OW OF S T. M A L O Folk tales linking pigs to the founding of towns and cities are not exclusive to Great Britain. In France, for example, pigs are allegedly responsible for the location of the church and subsequently town at St. Malo in Brittany. In the seventh century, a missionary monk came across a weeping swineherd and, on inquiring why he was crying, he was told that the boy had hurled a stone at a sow in an effort to stop her destroying a field of corn and had accidentally killed her. The sow was suckling seven piglets and the swineherd feared his master’s wrath. Saint Malo prayed and laid his staff on the dead sow’s ear, bringing her back from the dead. The swineherd told his master of the miracle and, in gratitude, the latter donated the field for the construction of a church dedicated to the monk.

A R I NG AT T H E E N D OF H I S NO S E While it may not be considered altogether a bad thing for domestic pigs to root, pig keepers with limited space or having heavy clay soil may want to slow down the process. Putting a ring in a pig’s nose does inhibit rooting, but it does not stop it completely. The process involves inserting either a single ring through the septum straddling both nostrils, or placing a series of smaller rings along the outer edge of the top of the snout. Both involve noisy and sometimes distressing operations. The rings snag against roots or rocks and jar the snout, putting the pig off rooting, but equally such activity can also pull them free. As a result, they may need to be replaced several times over an adult pig’s lifetime. Certain breeds are thought to be less inclined to root, mainly because they do not have the main burrowing tool—the elongated snout—to encourage such activity. Thus, the Middle White breed, with its snub face, is said to undertake little rooting, and the same is true of the Kunekune, with its smaller head and short snout. Both breeds will do some damage to the immediate surface, but will not undertake the large-scale groundmoving operations that many pigs enjoy, given the opportunity.

is little used for rooting. Although they live in burrows, warthogs do not tend to dig these out themselves but instead take over abandoned porcupine and aardvark burrows, letting those animals do all the hard work. Aardvark burrows are often found under termite mounds, providing the warthog with an imposing reinforced tower above its residence. Warthogs will investigate any potential new sources of accommodation as they travel around, entering backward, and groups of up to 20 can live in neighboring burrows, leading to the creation of warthog cities. When passing such dwellings, it is advisable to be careful. The warthog will fly out of its tunnel at great pace, often surrounded by a dust cloud created in the process. This speedy exit it to ensure that it is not caught by a leopard waiting in ambush by the entrance—warthogs are the prey of many African predators and spend much effort in ensuring they do not become their next meal.

Left Pig keepers with limited space or heavy clay soil sometimes place rings in the snouts of their pigs to dissuade them from rooting.

Warthogs sometimes live in large groups in abandoned porcupine and aardvark burrows, which offer protection from the many predators with whom they share their African home.

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T H E W I LY WA RT HO G Comparing the impressive snout on the common warthog, the savanna-dwelling African cousin of the wild boar, you might assume it is a mighty rooter. However, warthogs graze mainly herbage and grass, and their spectacular snout RO O TI N G & BU RRO W I N G

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Glorious Mud

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In hot weather, pigs like to wallow in mud. When such facilities are not available, they will instead wallow in their own feces and urine. To many sensitive souls, this is simply disgusting, but a little understanding readily explains why it happens. Like dogs, pigs don’t sweat (so much for the insult “to sweat like a pig”), so instead they pant and lose heat through a wet nose. Because pigs are much heavier and fatter than most dogs, they are more affected by hot weather. A mud wallow serves two purposes: the damp helps to cool the body, relieving the animal from the stress of overheating, and the resulting mudpack from a good wallow is a sensible precaution against sunburn when the sun is shining brightly. So instead of being disgusted, let us admire the pig for its sensible attitude. If you plan to keep pigs outdoors, provide a shady area with plenty of water from a hose, where they can burrow and make a wallow to protect themselves (see box). Right When pigs enter a wallow, they normally dig and root in the mud before entering with the forebody first. They then wriggle the body back and forth, and rub their faces in the mud so all of the body surface is covered. When they leave the wallow, they often shake their heads and body before finishing by rubbing against a tree or a stone nearby.

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Generations of humans have accused swine of being the filthiest and most squalid of creatures. Is this true? Well, consider the following. When a piglet is born, it is already advanced, having its eyes open and walking within seconds of delivery (an advisable practice, because the next sibling may be along soon). Its first action is to select one of its mother’s teats for a suckle. Having enjoyed that meal, it then needs to empty its bladder. Unlike any other newborn mammal— including us humans—a tiny piglet less than an hour old will move away from the sow and its siblings, and away from the straw bedding, to a corner of the sty to relieve itself. From then on, throughout its life, that pig will always release dung in daylight in a specific area away from its bed. The only time this habit of cleanliness breaks down is in industrial pig units, where intensive stocking rates make it impossible for the cleanest of animals to maintain its preferred habit. So to answer the question if the pig is filthy, it is the handler’s management—or lack of it—that has created the situation.

C R E AT I N G A WA L L O W To create a wallow, choose a position at the lowest point in the enclosure well away from the feeding area and from the animal’s shelter. Take every opportunity to wet the area whenever possible, and the pigs will then do the rest. They will find where the ground is softened and begin their excavations. Of course, if there is a natural source of water—a stream or a spring—the pigs will utilize it, but be careful that they don’t try to use a ditch with steep sides as a wallow, because they may get stuck. Such ditches should be fenced off before the pigs are introduced.

T H E WAT E R S AT B AT H The digging of wallows by pigs has led to

observed, that after a while they became whole

some significant discoveries. For example, the

and smooth from their scabs and eruptions

invigorating waters at the English spa town of

by often wallowing in this mud. Upon this, he

Bath were allegedly unearthed by a herd of pigs

considered within himself why he should not

in 863 bce . Robert Henderson tells the tale in

receive the same benefit by the like means. He

A Treatise on the Breeding of Swine and Curing

tried the experiment with success, and finding

of Bacon (1814):

himself cured of his leprosy, declared who he

Baldred, eldest son of Lud Hudibras (then King of Britain), it is said, having spent eleven years at Athens in study, came home leprous, and was in consequence confined to prevent infection. Having effected his escape, however, he went very remote from his father’s court, into an untrammelled part of the country, and offered his services in any common employment. He entered into service at Learwick, a small village three miles from Bath, where his business was to take care of the pigs, which he was to drive from place to place for their advantage in feeding upon acorns, haws, etc. While at his usual employment one morning, a part of the drove of swine, as if seized with a frenzy, ran down the side of a hill into an elder-moor, till they reached the spot of ground where the hot springs of Bath now boil up, and from thence returned, covered with black mud. The prince being of a thoughtful turn, was very desirous to find out the reason why the pigs that wallowed in the mire in summer to cool themselves, should do the same in winter; at length, he perceived a steam arise from the place where they had wallowed, and making his way to it, found it warm. Having thus satisfied himself that it was for the benefit of the heat that the pigs resorted hither, he

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was. His master, though incredulous at first, being at last persuaded to believe him, went with him to court, where he was owned; and upon succeeding to his father, he erected the baths. In one of these baths there is at the present time a statue of King Baldred, which was erected in 1699, under which is the following inscription on copper: “Baldred, son of Lud Hudibras, eighth King of the Britons from Brute, a great philosopher and mathematician, bred at Athens, and recorded the first discoverer and founder of these baths, 863 years before Christ. Alas, like his son King Lear, Baldred (or Bladud) did not have a happy ending. Slipping increasingly into senility, he became convinced he could f ly and died proving it when he jumped off the pinnacle of a temple he had built to the Celtic goddess Sulis. Interestingly, this fable is almost mirrored by one in Germany. At Lüneburg near Hamburg, there is a black marble memorial to a pig with the following inscription: “Passerby, contemplate here the mortal remains of the pig that acquired for itself imperishable glory by the discovery of the salt springs of Lunenburg.”

In hot weather, the benefits of wallowing go beyond mere enjoyment—water helps cool the pig down, while mud offers protection against sunburn.

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G LO RI O U S MU D

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Courtship & Mating As in all animals, the call to reproduction in pigs is carefully controlled by hormones: There is a right time and place, and the pigs respond to the signals given. Pigs have a number of glands that are used to scent mark. Generally, pigs are not particularly territorial, so such scent marking may be more to do with the dominant boar leaving signs for the females in his herd—a reminder that he is around. Pigs have sebaceous glands in the groin, around the anus, in the snout, and around the eyes, and there are four specialized sebaceous glands, known as carpal glands, on each leg.

Carpal glands

Left Carpal glands, of which there are four on each leg, are specialized sebaceous glands that a pig will use to mark its scent.

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C OU RT S H I P When a gilt (a female that is yet to farrow) or sow starts coming into heat, she gives off odors from her vagina and other glands that attract the boar’s attention. She also urinates more frequently and he, in turn, will urinate over her output. Using his snout, the male will nuzzle the female’s back end. One of the physical signs of her coming into heat is a swelling and reddening of the vulva, although this is less obvious in a gilt, and in anything other than a white breed the coloration is difficult to identify. If a gilt is not observed as being in heat, she should be housed next to a sow that is cycling regularly—the younger female will usually fall into line with her neighbor.

The male pig, especially an inexperienced boar, may need some help with mating, and modern pig farmers have various strategies for making it easier.

Above

THE GA DAR E NE SWI NE Carpal glands were made famous in the Bible’s Book of Matthew. In the story of the Gadarene swine, devils possessing two men are exorcised by Jesus and cast into a herd of swine grazing nearby, supposedly entering the pigs through small holes in their legs— the carpal glands. The herd, thus inf lamed, rushes over a cliff and all are killed in the sea below.

The boar also nuzzles the female’s flanks, pushing his snout forcefully into her belly and along her udder. All this time he is foaming at the mouth; the foam contains pheromones designed to attract the female and, during courtship, is left on the female’s genital area and sides. The courtship may take some time, depending on female’s receptiveness. Eventually, the boar will try to mount her, but if she is not completely in heat, she will resist him by moving forward. On some farms, a special crate is used to hold the female in place, making it easier for the boar to mount her. A young or inexperienced boar may try to mount the wrong way around, facing the sow. When they do mount, some boars enter the anus instead of the vagina, so it is important that a handler is available to intervene, if necessary. The boar may also cut the skin of the female’s back with its front feet, in which case, the cuts will need to be treated with disinfectant. From time to time farmers have to use cunning plans to help their pigs mate.

For example, a young or small boar confronted by having the sow positioned downslope of him. Boars can be sensitive souls, and if a female is aggressive because she is not ready for service, it can put a boar off for life. Similarly, if he physically hurts himself by slipping off during mating, the accident can make him reluctant to try again.

Above The Miracle of the Gadarene Swine is depicted in this illumination from an Anglo-Saxon Gospels book, ca. 1000  ce .

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T I M I NG OF M AT I NG Boars become sexually active at around five or six months old, but they should not be used for mating until eight or nine months old, and then only occasionally. Harder work can be undertaken once they are more than one year old. Males can become lazy if underused, and a herd of fewer than six females probably will not keep a boar active enough. Although it sounds tough, it is best to serve a sow as soon as she has weaned her litter, without fail. She will usually come into heat five to seven days after weaning. (A sow can appear to be in heat three to four days after farrowing, but this is not thought to be a true estrus and she should not be mated then.) Getting her in pig again immediately means she will have two litters a year. By being “kind” to a sow and breeding her less frequently, you can in fact ruin her. Delaying breeding in anything other than a particularly thin sow leads the animal to put on fat across the ovaries as well as in its body, which can lead to atrophy of the follicles and infertility. Cysts then grow on the ovaries, and while a veterinarian can operate on a cow with such a condition, the pig’s organs are too small and the sow will become barren.

A RT I F IC I A L I N S E M I NAT ION Where there is no contact between a boar and sow, artificial insemination (AI) can be used. To ascertain when the sow will be receptive, AI operatives rely on visual signals given by the pig and a calendar, counting the days from her last heat. In the absence of a boar, artificial pheromones can be sprayed on the

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female to encourage her. When the sow appears receptive, the operative places his or her hands flat on the animal’s back and presses down to replicate the boar’s actions. If she doesn’t move away, she is ready for insemination. The operative can help by mimicking the actions of the male further by rubbing her flanks and udder. The AI operative then lubricates and inserts the catheter, attaches the vial or straw of semen, and lets it enter the cervix at its own rate. This process should not be hurried—pig breeders need to have to have the patience of Job. And so the courtship and mating between pigs has been explained. Although there is no romantic dalliance, just a meeting brought on by chemicals, it is a meeting that nonetheless will lead to remarkable results.

Mating among pigs is triggered by a chemical process, which occurs when a sow comes into heat and gives off odors that attract the boar’s attention.

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Modern pig breeders frequently use artificial insemination to supplement or substitute for natural breeding.

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Nest Building & Farrowing Given there are plenty of materials on hand, a sow in the wild will build a substantial nest. A domesticated pig has the same instincts but with a lesser ambition. In extensive systems, she will have straw or the like in an individual pen, which she will move into several days before she is due to give birth. She will display her nesting instinct by moving the straw around, piling it up and hollowing it out, until she is satisfied with her preparations. There is no such joy for her intensively farmed sister, however, which will be confined to a crate. There she will be limited to standing up or lying down on a floor that lacks bedding and is slatted so that her urine and feces fall straight into the lagoon below.

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more, and getting up and down is no easy process. With a large number of offspring lying or running around her feet, there is a real danger that they may get squashed—which is where the secure piglet run comes in. (Note that in intensive systems, farrowing crates that restrict the movement of the sow virtually eliminate this problem.) In one corner of the bedchamber, a creep should be set up exclusively for the piglets. To encourage its use, it should be

A plan of an ideal farrowing pen showing the two areas divided by a low wall with farrowing rails mounting around the wall of the birthing and sleeping chamber and a separate creep area for the piglets.

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FA R ROW I N G P E N Sow’s drinking and feeding area

Creep area with heat lamp

T H E B I RT H I NG A R E A The extensive sow’s birthing area should be carefully planned and designed. As well as being secure, warm, and draftfree, it should be divided into two areas by a low wall with a gap for access at one end. The inner area forms the bedchamber. It should have scaffolding poles mounted 6 to 9 inches (15–22 cm) off the floor and away from the walls to help protect the piglets. Sows can weigh around 600 pounds (270 kg) or

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Scaffolding poles act as an escape area if piglets are underneath when the saw lies down

Sow’s sleeping area

heated for the first few days—and longer in extremes of cold weather—by either suspending an infrared lamp above it or providing electric underfloor heating. The heating can also be extended to the whole bedding area, a method favored in Denmark, where research shows that the practice reduces piglet mortality. The creep itself may simply be a strong gate secured across a corner of the pen, but a purpose-built barrier of concrete blocks with a couple of gaps at ground level for access is stronger and also better at keeping drafts at bay.

The purpose of the creep area is twofold. First, a heated area encourages the little piglets to sleep away from the sow, thus reducing their chances of being squashed. And second, many farmers find it worthwhile to start feeding a special creep formula to the piglets when they are around three weeks old to supplement the sow’s milk and encourage early growth. This must be done in the creep area to prevent the mother from eating it. The outer area of the pen is where the sow will be fed and watered, and where all the pigs will release their dung.

A creep is an area of the pen established specifically for piglets to use, where they are not in danger of being crushed by the sow.

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FA R ROW I NG The period between service and farrowing is a movable feast, as we saw in Chapter 2, and the experienced farmer knows the signs to watch for that indicate an impending birth. The “lump” moves to a lower position in the sow’s abdomen when arrivals are imminent, and if one of her teats is squeezed while she is lying on her side and a droplet of milk appears, farrowing should take place within 48 hours. When in labor, the sow will lie on her side (other ungulates generally give birth standing up), breathing a little deeply and grunting gently and rhythmically.

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Most farrowings take place at night— another indication of the domestic pig’s genetic roots in the nocturnal wild boar. Unlike the massive and painful labor experienced by most women and, indeed, most animals that do not have multiple offspring in a single litter, the effort involved in most farrowings is minimal— the piglets pop out like peas from a pod. The whole operation takes several hours, depending on the size of the litter; however, if it is takes longer than six hours, a veterinarian should be called in case there is a problem. Each piglet gets to its feet as soon as it is born, before the next sibling arrives

Every piglet can stand and walk as soon as it is born. The first thing it will do is move to a teat to suckle.

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from above, and breaks its own umbilical cord by moving toward the udder for its first feed. Unlike most mammals and certainly all other domestic stock, the sow does not lick her offspring dry. Because they lack a coat, the piglets presumably dry off more quickly anyway, making the efforts of a sow unnecessary. This may, however, reduce bonding between parent and offspring, which makes cross-suckling between litters with access to more than one nursing sow more common, and probably makes the task of getting a sow to accept others for fostering easier. The first suckling takes place as each piglet is born. The teats closest to the head

are the most productive and are usually claimed by the biggest and strongest piglets in a case of survival of the fittest. After the last piglet is released, the afterbirth or placenta will come away. There may be some discharge at the halfway point in proceedings, but the final expulsion will be substantial—virtually a bucketful. Most advice is to clear it away, because it is traditionally believed that, given a chance, the sow will eat the afterbirth. Such sows, having got a taste for the phosphorus content, may then be more likely to eat their own piglets which abound in it, especially if she is lacking such minerals. You should also clear away any wet or soiled straw for reasons of hygiene.

P O ST PA RT U M P ROB L E M S In reality, it is more probable that it is a highly strung gilt that attacks her offspring. There she is, taken from her home environment to a strange place, when all of a sudden an odd little creature appears in front of her. This can be the danger time for little piglets. In times past, any sow that attacked her offspring was sent to slaughter, but today smaller scale pig-keeping operations tend to give them a second chance, and most will be rewarded with a normal situation at subsequent farrowings. If a gilt or sow is agitated after farrowing for any reason, collect up the offspring, place them in a box with some soft bedding, and put this in a corner of the pen until she settles. If this does not help, make up a mash of 1 pound (450 g) of meal mixed together with up to 8½ cups (2 liters) of stout and feed it to her. This will help to settle her down without stopping the milk flow. N EST BU I LD I N G & FA RRO W I N G

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Piglet Growth & Nursing Pigs are unusual creatures in many ways. They are even-toed ungulates, but they have only a single stomach and are omnivorous. When it comes to their offspring, pigs again fail to conform to type. For a start, pigs are polytocous, meaning that they produce multiple offspring in a single litter. This is unlike most other ungulates, such as cattle, sheep, goats, and equines, and more akin to domesticated carnivores, such as dogs, cats, and ferrets. In addition, the young are classified as

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being precocial, which means that they are carried in the womb for an extended period and are born in a state when they can function immediately. This is generally typical of prey species, such as bovines and ovines, and in contrast to the carnivores and the other major omnivore—humans. Being precocial means that the young can stand and walk unaided, and therefore can follow their mother immediately; they have a good antipredator response; and they can see and hear. Left Piglets are precocial, meaning they are carried in the womb for an extended period and are born being able to function from the start.

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BIG BIL L The world record for the heaviest pig is held by an American Poland China male by the name of Big Bill. He died at the age of three when he broke a leg en route to the Chicago World Fair in 1933, at which point he weighed 2,552 pounds (1,158 kg). Big Bill’s human counterpart—American Jon Brower Minnoch, according to the Guinness Book of Records—reached 1,400 pounds (635 kg) in 1978. The human’s growth rate was 200 times his birth weight and was achieved in 42 years; Big Bill’s growth rate was more than 1,100 times his birth weight and achieved it in just three years. Before his death, Big Bill was exhibited at fairs throughout the United States by his owner, W. J. Chappall, and after his demise he was stuffed, mounted, and exhibited again. He was eventually donated to a museum, but he seems to have since disappeared. Below

Big Bill, the world’s heaviest pig.

In addition, pigs are incredibly effective meat producers. Depending on the breed and ignoring any undersize runts in a litter, pigs are around 2 pounds (1 kg) in weight at birth. As mentioned earlier, a commercial pig can easily grow to 165 pounds (75 kg) in 16 weeks or less, and at maturity an adult sow typically weighs 650 pounds (300 kg). The average pig therefore grows to 300 times its birth weight. This is remarkable in the animal kingdom, where most animals reach 20 to 40 times their birth weight. It’s not only the rate of growth that is important, but the speed, too. By 16 weeks, the piglet reaches 165 pounds (75 kg), or 75 times its birth weight. In comparison, a human baby typically reaches 13 to 22 lb (6–10 kg) at 16 weeks, or just two to three times his or her birth weight. The pig is, to put it simply, a supergrower. Couple that with the number of offspring produced, and the pig is a hugely valuable source of protein for the human world. By 16 weeks old, the pig already weighs 75 times its birthweight; at the same time a human baby is just three times what it weighed at birth.

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R AT E & S P E E D OF G ROW T H

Human

2 pounds (1 kg) in weight at birth.

7.7 pounds (3.5kg) average at birth

165 pounds (75 kg) in 16 weeks or less [75 times its birth weight]

16 weeks, typically 13 to 22 pounds (6–10 kg), just two to three times his or her birth weight

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L AC TAT ION So how does the pig achieve such remarkable rates of growth? Well, the sow’s nursing skills, plus the quality of her milk, have a lot to do with it. The way a sow and her piglets interact at feeding time is one of the most complicated in the animal kingdom, and scientific studies are only just beginning to unravel the process. Pigs are unusual among ungulates in lying down to give birth and to suckle, but keeping in mind the number of young in a single litter, this is understandable. For centuries, farmers have known that sows let down their milk in response to a stimulus without ever fully understanding the triggers that lead to this. This is one of the reasons why pigs are not milked for the benefit of humankind. The sow emits regular grunts at roughly two-second intervals preceding the flow of milk. About 20 seconds before the flow begins, the grunts increase to about two per second. During this time, the piglets are at their individual teats, nudging the udder with their snouts. The increased rate of grunting does not signal milk flow, but the release of oxytocin, the hormone that actually triggers the flow of milk. The piglets’ actions are crucial to this process, because their nudging actually stimulates the oxytocin release— it takes about a minute of such stimulation before it comes into effect. Even more complicated is the sow’s control over the release of milk to individual teats. The variation in milk

supply to different teats can be substantial, and scientists now believe that the sow has some degree of control over this, allocating milk according to need. The fact that the sow’s grunts are signals to the piglets to start feeding has been proved by artificially overwhelming the sounds with other background noises. These studies showed that the piglets appeared confused and nudged the udder less, thus indicating that they were influenced by the sow’s communications. The milk flow lasts for only around 20 seconds, but the piglets continue to nuzzle the udder for some time afterward. It is thought that this indicates to the sow the level of hunger satisfaction of the individual piglets, perhaps allowing for her to adjust her flows for the next session. Suckling usually takes place at around one-hourly intervals. Piglets soon establish their own teats and will fight in the first instance over the best ones, which are nearer the front of the sow. They will return to the same teats each time, and it seems that their nuzzling and suckling helps in the scent-marking process. If the sow’s udder is washed and disinfected between sessions, the piglets can become confused and unsure of which teats they had claimed. You can begin to see how hard it might be to draw off a sow’s milk to measure it accurately, but it has been estimated that at her peak the sow produces 1 to 2 gallons (4–8 liters) of milk per day. After three weeks, when the piglets start eating solids, the volume of milk falls away quickly.

Young pigs, such as these rare Bentheim Black Pied piglets, tend to establish soon after birth which of the sow’s teats they will habitually suckle. They then scent mark the teat in order to claim ownership.

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PUMPING IRON On commercial farms, young piglets are injected with, or given orally, doses of iron, without which they will develop anemia, often resulting in death. In smaller setups, it is advisable to follow the old adage “Throw the sods out or throw a sod in.” A square of turf dug from a field that has not been used for pigs will provide newborn piglets with endless fun and provide them with the iron they need in a natural form.

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OTH ER USES FOR PIG M I LK Milk from a pig carries about twice the level of fat as cow milk (4–7 percent, compared to 3 percent) and the fat globules are small, meaning that, in theory, it should be ideal for making cheese. As an experiment in 2015, and after a great struggle, a Dutch farmer managed to collect enough milk to make a couple of pounds of cheese from pig milk. The result was said to be “chalky and a little bit salty” and “saltier and creamier, yet grainier” than more

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conventional rivals. The pig cheese sold for US$1,045 per pound (£1,475 per kilogram) in aid of charity. Milking pigs is therefore not a total impossibility. However, it is made more difficult by the fact that the let-down lasts for a short time and consequently results in relatively poor returns. The added complication is that while regularly milked species, such as cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo, yaks, and horses, all have 2 or 4 teats, pigs have 10 to 14, and they are not necessarily always in pairs, so any milking has to be done by hand.

At her peak, a typical sow will produce 1 to 2 gallons (4–8 liters) of milk per day, with milk f low lasting for 20 seconds at a time.

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W ET N URSES Orphaned piglets have been successfully raised by other species, and sows are used to nurse young other than their own. Nursing dogs are sometimes used as wet nurses for piglets, and on specialty farms in Thailand, piglets are nursed by tigers when their own cubs are removed for hand rearing before release back into the wild. In Papua New Guinea, pigs are a vital commodity in many tribes. A man’s wealth is indicated by the number of pigs he has, and the animals are used for bartering brides and for ceremonial feasts. It is therefore important to try to keep every piglet alive. To this end, weak and sickly offspring were traditionally removed from the sow and raised by a woman in the tribe who was herself nursing. In this unusual situation, the human wet nurse would suckle the piglet until it was big or strong enough to rejoin the litter. Finally, it is not unusual to observe young pigs helping themselves to a feed

from a cow. On smaller mixed farms where stock often run together, it is common for a dairy cow, shortly before milking is due to take place, to start leaking milk. This is a trigger for young pigs—often after weaning—to help themselves at this convenient milk bar.

It is not uncommon on mixed farms for young pigs, after weaning, to suckle a cow whose udder is full and leaking milk.

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C R Y I N G OV E R S P I L L E D M I L K It was not just one obdurate Dutch farmer who succeeded in delivering pig milk. In the nineteenth century, the British Embassy in Canton, China, reported back to London that merchants and other visitors were complaining that they were being given pig milk to drink by their hosts. There had been no complaints about the taste, but when they learned of the source, the British visitors objected vigorously. The Chinese have never traditionally consumed much dairy produce, so when confronted with demands for milk, they got supplies from their most numerous and familiar farm stock—pigs. While the embassy communicated the source of the milk, it failed to explain how the Chinese managed to milk their swine.

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Communications & Vocalization { Pigs can make a lot of noise. They have a wide range of expressive sounds to communicate with the rest of the herd and the ability to project their calls impressively—volumes can reach 115 dB, or more than a jet aircraft on takeoff. Most people assume that pigs simply grunt, but in fact they produce a range of sounds to suit different situations. In 1989, scientists at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln undertook a study in intensive farming conditions with a view to seeing if it is possible to develop an electronic listening device to warn pig handlers of problems by identifying different calls. They discovered that vocalization occurs in relation to fear,

SOUNDING AN AL ARM A cry of alarm is most often heard when you surprise a group of younger pigs—say around four to six months old—when they are sleeping or off guard and suddenly sense your presence. The barked warning cry causes the whole lot to scatter, after which they regroup in silence while they work out the threat level.

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isolation, pain, greeting, anticipation, and frustration, and that four types of sound covered these situations—the bark, the grunt, the squeal, and the scream. They also identified another sound in piglets—croaking. However, because the hearing frequency of pigs reaches 45 kHz, it may be that some sounds are simply beyond human hearing, which can detect sounds up to only 17 kHz. The highest frequency the researchers measured was that of piglets being handled for management purposes—ear marking, weighing, inoculating, teeth clipping, castration, and so on. In these situations, the sound lasted on average 0.81 seconds and reached 3,700 Hz. Any

Pigs can make a wide range of expressive sounds, including barking, grunting, squealing, and screaming, that can be volumes louder than a  jet engine.

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newcomers to pig breeding must ensure that the sow is securely separated from the piglets and from the handler when undertaking such operations, because the squeal is particularly loud and the instantaneous barking response from the sow is frightening when first encountered. Pigs have an excellent sense of timing and know exactly when they are due to be fed. As the farmer prepares their rations, they will join in a chorus of rising sound that the UK Health and Safety Executive says is so loud—more than 100 dB—that ear defenders should be worn.

G RU N T S & S QU E A L S Pigs’ grunts are short and deep in tone. They are separated by audible gasps and the resonance of the vocal chords can be heard. The grunts are mostly used during courtship, when a pig is disturbed, in greeting another, and when a sow is

communicating with her litter. Grunts that transmogrify into a controlled squeal indicate anticipation of food. Pigs produce louder, more prolonged noises during bouts of aggression. There is a definite pecking order in a group, and you will hear these threatening noises when one gets out of line or a newcomer is introduced. Fear produces another sound again—elongated, shrill squeals. There is nothing noisier or more demanding than a pig with its head stuck under a gate. There is one slightly different grunt that the scientists in Nebraska did not detect in their study, which is the sound of a mature pig being fussed over by its human handler—stroking, belly rubbing, and scratching can all induce a soft, rumbling grunt of contentment like no other. The scratching, if you happen to find an itchy spot, can also evoke a highpitched squeal of sheer pleasure.

Among the repertoire of pig vocalizations there are controlled squeals anticipating food; longer, louder noises to signal aggression; and short, deep grunts used in courtship or greeting.

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CO MMU N I CATI O N S & VO CA LI I ZATI O N

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Wild pigs, such as the Asian boar in this nineteenth-century image, can be aggressive toward humans, but generally only sows defending their young are likely to be menacing to people among domestic pigs.

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Aggression & Defense AG G R E S S ION T OWA R D H U M A N S Displays of aggression toward humans are rare and generally restricted to nursing sows. If a mother does not want you around during parturition or when the piglets are young, she will let you know, and it is advisable to respect her wishes. As described in the previous section, if you cause one of her offspring to squeal in alarm, watch out, because even the most placid sow will defend her young vigorously. Occasionally, a boar of working age will start to throw his weight around. Once he realizes his strength and your relative feebleness, he may become domineering. There is little you can do to change this, so it is probably sensible for your safety to change the boar for one that is more docile.

AG G R E S S ION B E T W E E N P IG S It is more common for pigs to become aggressive toward one another, and fights can take place relatively frequently to establish a pecking order and maintain it. Sows that have weaned their litters and are then mixed together again after having been separated for eight or nine weeks must go through a whole new ritual to establish hierarchy in the

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group, even if the returning female was a litter mate of the dominant matriarch. Such bouts can lead to torn ears as well as cuts and scratches around the head, shoulders, and even on the udder. Various tactics have been tried to overcome such problems. Some suggest introducing newcomers when the established group is eating in the belief that they might settle before they are noticed. This can be enhanced by building individual cubicles for each pig to feed in instead of supplying open troughs. Others suggest giving the returning pig a bubble bath in the hope that this will mask her scent. Old books tell you to paint the newcomer’s ears with sump oil. Young pigs are unusual in that stronger piglets of more than three weeks can occasionally gang up and bully a smaller or weaker sibling. If you notice such behavior, it is advisable to remove the victim and hand rear it, because such intimidation can result in death. An experienced farmer told me many years ago that he put such individuals in with his stock boar—one at a time—and that both parties appreciated the company and made the most of it.

The worst aggression, however, occurs between mature boars. In normal circumstances, they are not mixed together, but sometimes—through human error or accident—they do meet up. In these situations, the fighting can be intense, especially if cycling females are around, which has the effect of intensifying their emotions. I have witnessed such a fight end in the death of one of the protagonists, although the hot, humid weather probably assisted in its demise. Such contests begin with posturing, when the boars circle each other on stiffened legs with heads down and hackles raised. They then stand shoulder to shoulder, barging each other and using their snout to try to throw their rival off-balance. The next stage involves the mouth, with the boars initially showing off an array of teeth while foaming, before biting around the head and shoulders of the opponent, and if he turns away, his genitals. This is frightening to witness and hard to break up. It usually takes a group of handlers to force a solid object, such as a door, between fighting pigs, but this should be done carefully, because snapping jaws can miss their target and catch a human instead.

Wild boar males become aggressive toward each other in winter during the mating season, when rutting behavior includes thrusting at their rival openmouthed, with their tusks bared.

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Pigs can be trained to do many things dogs can do, such as racing around a track (top) and, with their acute sense of smell, locating mines (bottom).

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Cognition

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The domestic pig is one of the most intelligent creatures in the animal kingdom. It seems impossible to rank mammals in terms of their intelligence when there are so many criteria against which to judge knowledge and learning, but when scientists have tried to do so, the pig ends up in the top 10 and is beaten by only one other quadruped—the elephant. That, of course, means that the pig is more intelligent—at least based on the criteria used—than man’s best friend, the dog. Certainly, just about any of the tasks modern dogs undertake, pigs can be trained to do, too. There have been several recorded instances of pigs being trained to point and retrieve game. Slut, a nineteenthcentury pig from the New Forest in England, was said to be quicker and easier to train than a pointer and always performed better than any dogs on the same shoot (see page 142). There have also been instances of pigs copying the actions of collies herding sheep and being trained to the same commands. One 1889 report from F. V. Darbyshire of Balliol College, Oxford, England, tells of the peasants dwelling in the Apennines, who were too poor to afford sheepdogs and thus trained the local variety of mountain pigs to aid them with their flocks.

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In West Sussex in southern England in the 1990s, farmer and publisher William Wallace trained his young crossbred Tamworth pigs to act as guards over his property. As well as being naturally nosy, pigs are also noisy and surprisingly quick on their feet over short distances. Ophelia and Gertrude were easy to train, according to Wallace: “Pigs are very intelligent and understand a firm voice,” he said. “It’s like having a toothless, clawless, hairless tiger. It’s as fast as a galloping horse and a lot noisier than the average Doberman.” In the U.S. state of Florida, in the 1980s, a marijuana grower similarly kept and trained a guard pig, which bit two sheriff ’s deputies before being overwhelmed and taken under arrest. Also in the United States, it used to be common practice to turn turkeys out into the stubble after harvest to eat any fallen corn. However, these birds were vulnerable to attack by coyotes—until a Montana farmer found that by grazing full-grown pigs on the same field, the coyotes soon learned to stay away. Aggressively defensive sows would see off the predators and the birds soon realized that the safest place to be was behind the pigs. In the next few pages, I describe some of the work carried out by researchers on pig intelligence. Much of the information is based on Lori Marino and Christina Colvin’s 2015 paper, “Thinking Pigs: A Comparative Review of Cognition, Emotion and Personality in Sus domesticus,” published in the International Journal of Comparative Psychology, and I use the subject divisions of that paper here. Research into the cognitive abilities of pigs is limited and much more work is

needed. There is a perception that the vested interests of the huge organizations controlling the industrial production of pig meat, mainly in North America, may be discouraging such studies, because revelations about the animal’s intelligence might trigger a negative reaction to eating their end products.

One English farmer has trained crossbred Tamworth pigs to act as “guard dogs,” finding their noisiness, nosiness, and speed make them well suited to the task.

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CO G N I TI O N

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M E MORY A N D L E A R N I NG Object discrimination learning All animal and bird subjects in memory and learning studies have demonstrated some degree of understanding in terms of object discrimination, and pigs are no exception. Studies have shown that pigs can learn to identify and differentiate different stimuli and objects, and they can retain this information over a period of time. When exposed to two food sites, pigs have also shown a marked preference for the one with greater nutrition and remembered this information over an extended period, although cynics might claim the behavior was simply greed.

Two Vietnamese Pot-bellies performed as well as dolphins in more demanding tests of the comprehension of gestural and verbal signals, such as “Frisbee,” “ball,” and “dumbbell,” as well as commands combined with actions, such as “sit,” “fetch,” and “jump.” Not only were they able to learn to identify individual symbols and activities, but they also learned to perform complicated combinations, such as “fetch the dumbbell.” Time perception All advanced species have some element of time awareness, and those with a higher capacity demonstrate a probable

P E R F OR M I N G P I G S Being more dexterous than older animals, young pigs are preferred when it comes to performing tricks, with the result that their trainers have the problem of constantly finding and training replacements—and finding homes for those being pensioned off. One story tells of Fred Leslie’s Porcine Circus, part of the American Lemen Brothers’ Show at the end of the nineteenth century. When his pigs grew too large to perform the acrobatic stunts, Leslie bought in a new batch of youngsters, which soon learned the routines. Once he was satisfied that the understudies could take over, Leslie sold the original performers to a nearby farmer. On the opening night of the newly starred show, the band struck up the chords of the musical routine. Hearing this, the pensioned-off crew allegedly used their learned acrobatic skills to scale the farmer’s fences. They arrived at the circus tent almost before the show had begun and went straight to work, pushing the young upstarts aside and taking over in the carts, on seesaws, and climbing ladders. Right

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Barnum and Bailey’s troupe of trained pigs (ca. 1898).

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Pigs are a lot more agile than they look. Young pigs can even be trained to do circus tricks.

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perception of both the past and the future. In one study, sows confined in different crates for either a short period (30 minutes) or a long period (four hours) subsequently showed a clear preference to enter the crate associated with the shorter confinement. They could, however, be coaxed back into the other crate, indicating that the longer enclosure was tolerable at least. Other tests were less conclusive, not least because the equipment was not totally suitable for use by swine. There is a clear opportunity for more work to be done in this area.

CL I MBI NG PIGS A further example of the pig’s adaptability and ability to learn is a revealed in a story from the Shrewsbury Chronicle from England, dated October 25, 1811:

“A gentleman passing through Burslem a few days since, had his attention arrested by the agitation of an oak tree, from whence the acorns fell in showers. On approaching it, he observed eleven young pigs faring on the fruit, while the mother-sow which had ascended the tree, clung with her fore legs to an upper branch, and shook the lower with her left hind leg.”

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Novelty seeking, inquisitiveness, and play Many creatures can be observed to play, and pigs are no exception. Given the opportunity, young piglets will indulge in group games, such as chasing, play fighting, jumping, gamboling, and more. Older pigs will also play, which can be observed when they are seen picking up objects, such as sticks or straw and tossing them around. Given the stimulus of an object such as a ball, they will nose it around their pen. Play satisfies the need for exploration and is essential for healthy development. Marino and Colvin report that pig studies have found that: “When given access to materials allowing for exploration, pigs engaged in more behaviors associated with positive affect, such as play, and especially locomotor play. Also, consistent with these findings is the fact that pigs make more optimistic choices (have a positive bias) when in enriched environments than in others, indicating that they find stimulation rewarding and pleasureable . . . Therefore, opportunities for play and exploration impact emotional development in pigs as well.”

At any age, play meets a pig’s need to explore; it is evident in older pigs when they pick up sticks or straw and toss them around.

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HOM I N G P I G S In the Middle Ages, pigs were kept in communal herds and each owner would take his pigs home at night. It was easy for the owners to extract their pigs from the communal group with a blast on a horn—each horn had a different note and the pigs learned that of their owner. This was supposedly made useful when pirates captured a group of pigs in Tuscany, Italy, loaded them on board their boat, and started rowing out to their ship. Back on land, the owner gave blast on his horn—all the pigs were immediately attracted to it and made their way to the side of the boat. As a result, the boat capsized, drowning many of the pirates, while the pigs swam back to shore.

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N AV I G AT I N G P I G S On many occasions, pigs have demonstrated an acute sense of direction. One lady recalled that in the English county of Devon in World War II, her family acquired nine young pigs in the hope of beating the rationing restrictions. Unfortunately, they could not find enough scraps to feed the pigs properly, so they sold them to a local farmer. He came and collected the animals in a covered wagon and took them to his farm some 4 or 5 miles (6–8 km) away. A week later, all nine pigs appeared back at the family’s doorstep, tired and hungry. Making use of this homing ability, Portuguese fishermen often took a pig onboard their boat when they went off in search of their quarry. If a fog developed and the mariners could not find their way home, they would tie a rope to the pig and cast it overboard—a pig always knows instinctively the most direct route to land.

Spatial learning and memory Spatial learning involves short- and longterm memory and how animals utilize it through navigation and prioritization. Pigs have been shown to be adept at navigating their way through mazes, one of the tasks chosen to test this area.

Pigs also demonstrate the ability to retain essential information; in tests given at 10-minute intervals and 2-hour intervals, pigs were efficient at remembering sites where food was plentiful and avoiding those where no food had been found previously. CO G N I TI O N

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S O C I A L C O G N I T ION Social cognition and complexity Pigs and their ancestors rely on their powers of social cognition, as demonstrated in their social structures. In the wild, a matriarch and her female offspring, along with their own younger offspring, will herd together, being joined by a dominant boar from time to time. This necessitates being able to differentiate between relatives and other members of the species that are unrelated. Pigs as young as six weeks old have been shown, by use of a Y maze, to select pigs closely related to them through normal sensory cues. Furthermore, sows react more strongly to recorded vocalizations of their own piglets than those of strangers. It has also been shown that pigs can recognize humans by sight alone. In one study, young pigs were handled gently and fed treats by a handler for a period of five weeks. They were then allowed to select one of two people in a Y maze; they almost invariably picked out the handler and ignored the stranger, even when olfactory cues were eliminated from the test. Other tests indicate that when two people are dressed the same, pigs appear to use body mass and even facial recognition to pick out an individual.

of higher intelligence. For instance, tests on pigs in pairs foraging for hidden food found that one was usually a lead pig and the other a scrounger. When the lead pig found the food, the scrounger then took its fair share and perhaps more. In these situations, the enterprise of the lead pig was exploited. There is also evidence of pigs relating to human actions for their benefit. In tests, pigs learned to respond to humans pointing toward food sources, providing these were relatively close by. Pointing to a distant food supply failed to engage the pigs. One scientist involved with these tests claimed that the results showed that pigs are on a par with primates in terms of their social competitive behavior.

Pigs can recognize humans by sight and preferred their usual handler, the one who feeds them, even when any olfactory cues were eliminated.

Below

Perspective taking Known as Machiavellian intelligence, perspective taking is basically a creature’s ability in political maneuvering, or its deceit and manipulation—an indication Left Sows respond more strongly to recordings of their own piglets’ vocalizations than they do to others.

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S E L F-AWA R E N E S S Tests with pigs show a high level of selfawareness. In mirror self-recognition tests, for example, young pigs were exposed to a mirror in their pen for five hours. Like primates, they soon showed signs of self-recognition by changing angles and in some cases weaving while watching their reflections. After this initial period, a bowl of food was placed behind the subjects, out of sight but visible in the mirror. Seven out of eight pigs in the study discovered the food by going straight to it in a mean time of 23 seconds. The eighth pig went behind the mirror in search of sustenance. The tests were designed so that the pigs were not familiar with the area where the food was located and the food was effectively odorless. A comparative test was carried out with another batch of pigs that had not previously been exposed to the mirror, and they almost universally went behind the mirror in search of the bowl of food. Subsequent tests by a different team were less successful, however, with only 2 out of 11 and 1 out of 11 pigs tested seeking out the food bowl from behind the barrier from information gleaned from the mirror. It is thought that the breeds used may have had some influence on the outcome. In the initial tests, the subjects were Large White cross Landrace pigs four to eight weeks old, while the second lot were crossbred Durocs six to eight weeks old. While the disparity in results may be disappointing, I would venture to suggest that most three-yearold children, with no previous exposure to mirrors, would fare no better and probably a great deal worse.

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Self-agency Other experiments linked to self-awareness have explored self-agency, which is the ability to recognize the actions you make as your own. These studies utilize computers adapted so that they can be operated by porcine snouts via a reinforced joystick. The computer monitor is protected behind a Perspex screen, allowing for the subject to follow what is happening but protecting the electronics from any displays of frustration. Before the test was started, the pigs were given vision tests—similar to those conducted on young children— to ensure that they could follow a moving cursor on a screen. The pigs were then tasked with moving the cursor and success was rewarded with a couple of chocolate treats. Initially, the computer cursor was within a box and the pig merely had to move it to touch the “wall” to gain a reward, but then one, two, and three walls were removed in stages, making the task more onerous each time. Despite the increasing degree of difficulty, the pigs invariably completed their challenges quickly and were duly rewarded. They learned the skill quicker than other species, including dogs, and retained the knowledge over extended periods, so that they could immediately pick up where they had left off after a long interval. During open days at the Pennsylvania State University, pigs demonstrated their prowess at the computers and scientists invited visiting children to have a go. Many couldn’t grasp the challenge, much to the frustration of their parents— “Gee, honey, a hog can do it!”

In tests using mirrors, pigs soon developed a sense of selfrecognition, while a test involving a pig using a computer demonstrated clear self-agency.

Right

E MO T ION A N D P E R S ONA L I T Y Emotion Emotion in animals can be hard to define and measure, but scientists have devised experiments to determine if pigs pick up on the emotions of others in a group, thus indicating a level of empathy. To do this, they train, say, two pigs from a group that a certain signal indicates a food treat while another indicates being placed in isolation. Once trained, the pigs are then mixed with naive cohorts that have never been exposed to the trigger sounds. Invariably, the naive pigs pick up the emotions of the trained swine and copy them, displaying playfulness, tail wagging, and barking for the positive signals, and flattening ears, urinating, and defecating at the negative triggers. Pigs clearly show empathy for their neighbors.

Tests have shown that an untrained group of pigs, when mixed with a group trained to respond to positive and negative triggers for food, will copy their emotional reactions.

Below

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Researchers have identified three of the five levels of human personality that are present in pigs but are, in general, common among animals: aggression, sociability, and exploration.

Above

Personality At the best of times, personality can be difficult to define, but studies on many animal groups—including fish and birds—have established that all such species demonstrate some level of personality. As established by experts, humans show five levels of personality: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. In tests and studies on pigs, researchers have established three levels of personality—aggression, sociability, and exploration—and equate these to three of the five human traits—agreeableness, extraversion, and openness. These three are especially common throughout the animal kingdom.

Left In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, “Toby the Sapient Pig” was a stage act that showcased the pig’s cognitive abilities.

E X P L OI T I NG T H E P IG ’ S I N T E L L IG E NC E As we have seen, scientists have demonstrated that pigs are among the most intelligent creatures, with welldeveloped learning skills, cunning, and empathy. Given the chance to express themselves, they are complicated, thinking beings that have adapted well to survival. Outside academic and scientific studies, there are many stories of pigs learning and adapting. The most obvious are the many examples of pigs performing in music halls and circuses around the world. In Great Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there was a stage act called Toby, the Sapient Pig, which (like Babe in the eponymous movie) actually involved a large number of performing pigs over a prolonged period. In Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair (1859), Henry Morley describes the amazing Toby: “A peculiarity, however, about the Amazing Pig of Knowledge . . . is, that he knew the value of money. He also could tell black from white, distinguish colours; with a shrewd eye count his audience; and even tell people their thoughts.”

Pigs performed in circuses, trained to respond to the showman’s commands and the promise of tidbits when a trick was well executed.

Below

While undoubtedly some assimilation of learning was involved in this example, most of the actions by the pig were carried out in response to subtle visual and sound signals from the showman-trainer. The same methods were used in training circus pigs. One account describes the porker wearing a harness attached to a broomstick, the far end of which was nailed to the floor, thus ensuring the animal could travel only in a defined circle. The subject was encouraged to stop in response to a click of the trainer’s fingernails and was rewarded with a tidbit for so doing. Once trained, the harness and pole could be dispensed with, and the showman would then entertain the crowd with a spiel, his subtle signals to the pig hidden by his booming voice. A poster from the famous Barnum & Bailey circus shows more demanding tricks (see page 108), which certainly involved the performing pigs undertaking some learning.

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Pigs Behaving Badly

{ Woe betide any hen in the farmyard that gets too close, because hungry pigs have been known to grab themselves a feathered lunch.

Above

Earlier in the chapter, we looked at the pig’s aggression both toward other swine and humans, but such behavior can be even more extreme. While pigs are not designed as hunters, if prey comes within reach, they will take it. In the farmyard, this prey is often a domestic fowl that strays too close while scratching about for grubs.

F L O G G I NG A DE A D HOR S E In nineteenth-century Great Britain, the newly industrialized cities of London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Glasgow were a mixture of rambling buildings fronted by streets that teemed with horse-drawn vehicles—hansom cabs, delivery vehicles, omnibuses, carts, and carriages. The working horses were not necessarily well treated and would often be underfed and overworked. Old and infirm animals would be driven under the whip until they dropped. When they did eventually die of exhaustion and old age, the horses were unceremoniously dragged off to the nearest knacker’s yard for disposal. Bones would be secured for making glue, hides were sold for leather, and meat was used for pet food or sent to cheaper butchers. However, the initial stage in the disposal process involved getting rid

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of all the internal organs, which were of no value. To do this, the knackermen would cut open the abdomen of the collapsed animal, and ravenous pigs kept in the yard for just such a purpose would consume the unwanted inner workings. The pigs would be driven off once the job was done and before they turned their attentions to the more valuable parts, their forequarters stained and bloodied.

FA R M YA R D C ON F E S S ION S In the Middle Ages, a number of trials took place involving animals condemned for crimes and misdeeds. The pig featured prominently in these, although creatures as small as flies and caterpillars were accused of crimes against crops or for making life difficult for humans. The courts were properly organized, with a judge, a prosecutor, and someone standing for the defense. When it came to sentencing the smaller beasts, where it was recognized that only a representative minority had actually been brought before the court, sentence was often by excommunication from the Church. Things were much more serious for accused pigs and other larger animals. Most charges concerned personal injury, murder, or involvement in a sexually incorrect act, such as buggery or bestiality. Many of the

trials took place in France, although some were also recorded in Great Britain and the United States. Accusations of murder committed by pigs are not especially surprising. At the time, the domestic pig was not far removed from the wild boar and was a fearsome brute. If a child disturbed such an animal at its meal, an attack would have been likely. And if an elderly or infirm swineherd mistreated or denied his charges, it is not impossible that they would have turned on him. The porcine perpetrators were often accused in the name of witchcraft, especially if they were a black color. The most celebrated trial took place in Falaise in Normandy, France, in 1386, of a sow accused of killing a child. The whole town turned out to witness the trial and to see the sentence being carried out when the sow was found guilty. She was taken from the court, dressed in human clothes, and brutally flogged before being beheaded. Sometimes, the defense triumphed, or at least partially so. In 1370, a whole herd of pigs was charged with attacking its

swineherd. Following a vigorous defense at the trial, just three pigs were found guilty and sentenced to death. The remainder of the herd was acquitted but admonished for looking on without coming to the rescue of the unfortunate herdsman. The following century, a sow and her litter of piglets were charged with attacking a child. The defense lawyer called an expert witness, a surgeon from Paris, who examined the wounds and declared that they were all caused by the sow. The piglets were placed on probation, in the care of their owner, as the sow was taken to the gallows. However, three weeks after the trial the farmer brought the piglets back to court, because he felt unable to take responsibility for their future good conduct in the belief that they were imbued with evil. In 1662, two sows were executed in the United States for bestiality. Later still, in 1846 a pig was sentenced to death in the Slavonian town of Pleternica for allegedly biting off the ears of a girl, and its owner was ordered to pay compensation to the child. This “Trial of a Sow and Pigs at Lavegny” illustration depicts a sow being convicted of murder and being sentenced to be hanged in 1457, while the piglets were acquitted, because there was no evidence against them.

Left

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CHAPTER 4

Pigs & People

Subtle Inf luence on Humankind { We have already seen just how important the pig is to the human race. Today, it is the number one provider of meat in the world and has a significant impact on protecting our health. However, agriculture has also become increasingly industrialized, so most people today have never meet the source of their bacon or heart valve face to face— although our forefathers had a much closer relationship with the domestic pig. Up until the mid-twentieth century, most people living in rural areas in Western countries would have been familiar with the pig by keeping one or more to provide a basic source of protein to see them through the winter months. They looked after their pig, feeding it, nurturing it, talking to it, supplying its house and bedding, mucking it out to provide valuable fertilizer for the vegetable garden, and perhaps even dispatching it when the time came. Even city dwellers still had family in the countryside and would visit them on holidays and other occasions. And how else would they spend their time other than standing by the pigsty admiring the occupant with its proud owner? The farther back in history you go, the closer the relationship between man and pig. And while it was the man of the house who probably showed off

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Humans and pigs have lived in close proximity for millennia. Until modern times, most people would have come into contact with these animals.

Below

the family’s prized pigs, it was his wife who carried out most of the day-to-day management, collecting scraps from the kitchen and whey from the dairy to feed it, and sending the children off to find additional sustenance from the hedges and woods nearby. With this in mind, it should not be surprising to hear that, in times past, the pig was the most familiar and important animal to everyday folk. Yes, dogs were a companion animal, but they were often a luxury that working people could not afford or justify. Similarly, cattle, sheep, and horses were kept by those of social standing and some wealth. Peasants, who scratched a living in whatever capacity,

may have kept a few hens, but their survival was almost entirely dependent on their pig—colloquially known to the Irish as “the gentleman who pays the rent.” It is for that reason that we find the pig well represented in all aspects of human life, especially in times past. In the coming pages, I explore how this porcine influence extended to the arts, language, and very fabric of life. Included are examples of how great artists and writers have used the pig to illustrate and enhance their works, as well as pig-related words and expressions whose origins have been lost to us by changing social times but that immediately conjure an image we readily understand.

Today, people often keep pigs for pleasure, but in times past the animal was essential to the survival of peasants living on the land.

Above

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Pigs in Literature & Movies { It is easier to find pigs in Western literature and culture than almost any other animal. If that causes doubts in your mind, read on and I’ll demonstrate how widespread they are.

I N ST RUC T I NG T H E C H I L D First, in writings for children we start with the universal culture of nursery rhymes, most of which are ancient. While we might just think they are pleasant rhymes that will appeal to babies and infants, most have a moral dimension and in almost all of them, things end badly for the porker. Of those in the English language I have identified more than 150 featuring hogs in some way or other. Perhaps the best known is This little pig went to market, an innocent enough tale recited while tickling fingers or toes but this is, in fact, a rhyme warning against six of the seven deadly sins. Our forebears evidently believed in starting them young. As children grow older, pigs continue to feature heavily in both poetry and prose. From Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—stated by some to be the first real children’s story—there is the chapter “Pig and Pepper,” where a piglet wrapped in a blanket is mistaken for a baby—right through to today with Peppa Pig, from

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the hugely successful animation creation. Earlier still, pigs appear in Aesop’s Fables. But what have we found in between? Well, there is the nonsense verse of Edward Lear with a number of swinish limericks and the provider of the wedding ring for The Owl and the Pussycat. Beatrix Potter kept Berkshire pigs in the English Lake District and included pigs in a number of her works including Pigling Bland, Pig-Wig, Little Pig Robinson, Alexander, and aunts Pettitoes, Porcas, and Dorcas—strange when you consider that most of her animal heroes were wild creatures; rabbits, squirrels, hedgehogs, frogs, etc. and that other domesticated animals such as horses, cows, and dogs hardly feature at all.

Pigs have featured in children’s stories since author Lewis Carroll turned the Duchess’s screaming baby into a squealing piglet in Alice in Wonderland.

Above

P I G S I N C H I L DR E N ’ S L I T E R AT U R E Here are just a few of the characters and authors occurring in children’s literature in the meantime.

• Anthony Henrypottery Luxulyan Prettypig features in Mary and Rowland Emett’s Anthony and Antimacassar (1943). • Bertie stars in Bertie’s Escapade, a lesser

• Piglet featured extensively in the Winnie the Pooh books by A. A. Milne during the 1920s. • Podgy is the porcine friend of Rupert Bear, which first appeared in cartoon strip form in

known work by Kenneth Grahame, author

the Daily Express from the 1940s and is now a

of Wind in the Willows (1949).

television animation series.

•  C hester the Worldly Pig is Bill Peet’s creation. • Freddy the Pig is the hero of 26 books published between 1927 and 1958, written by the American author Walter R. Brooks. • Gloucester the Pig is one of three adventurers in Pigs May Fly by Richard W. Farrall, 1994.

• Sam Pig appears in a number of stories by Alison Uttley published between 1941 and 1960. • Tamworth Pig stars in a series of books from the 1970s by Gene Kemp. •  T he Sheep Pig by Dick King-Smith was turned into the successful movie Babe.

• Grunter the Pig appears in The Adventures

• Tottie Pig is the hero of a series of books by

of Sarah and Theodore Bodgitt by Pamela

Vivian French from the 1980s and 1990s.

Oldfield, 1974.

• Wilbur was the star in Charlotte’s Web by

• Gub-Gub is the baby pig featured in The Story

E. B. White (1952) and since made into a movie.

of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting (1920) and

And we should not forget Roald Dahl’s lovely

also stars in Gub-Gub’s Book (1932).

poems the “Three Little Pigs” and “The Pig” or

• Mr. Pugstyles is the piggy character in a poem

Hans Christian Andersen’s The Bronze Pig.

of the same name by T. S. Eliot. Peppermint Pig is the title of a book by •  Nina Bawden (1975). • Percy Pig featured in The Marvellous Adventures of Percy Pig and Percy Pig Ahoy! by Rodney Bennett in the early 1940s. • Piggins is a porcine butler in books by Jane Yolen, such as Picnic with Piggins.

Right The Three Little Pigs is a traditional fable favorite among children.

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PORC I N E PROSE FOR GROW N-U PS Adult literature is also well served with pigs in both poetry and prose. There are many references to swine in the early writings of the Greeks and Romans, and also the Christian Bible had a number of references, none of them particularly supportive of the porker. As well as warning against eating the flesh of the pig in the Old Testament, in the New Testament we have the story of the Gadarene Swine, where Christ casts out evil spirits in two men and commanded them to infest a herd of pigs instead, which promptly ran over a cliff and drowned. There is also the tale of the Prodigal Son who has fallen on hard times when he has to seek employment as a swineherd. Shakespeare uses pigs tame and wild to embellish his words and enliven his scenes. References to pigs and their produce are widespread in The Merchant of Venice, which is not surprising, because the isolation of the Jewish faith and their abomination of pig meat were synonymous in the Middle Ages. Shylock: Yes, to smell pork; to eat of the habitation which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into. I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you and so following; but I will not eat with you, nor pray with you. The Merchant of Venice, Act I, sc.iii. The other play to feature our hero on several occasions is King Richard III. With the recent discovery of the king’s mortal remains under car parking facilities in Leicester, England, it has been claimed that the Plantagenet ruler suffered from Tudor period propaganda aided by the Bard himself. Certainly, in his play, he is

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Left References to pigs feature widely in the plays of William Shakespeare.

not portrayed in a good light. His nickname is The Boar from his cognisance on his coat of arms of a white boar. Richmond: The Wretched, bloody and usurping boar, That spoiled your summer fields and fruitful vines, . . . this foul swine, Lies now even in the centre of this isle, Near to the town of Leicester, as we learn.  King Richard III, Act V, sc.ii. There are other Shakespearian references to swine in King Lear, The Comedy of Errors, King Henry IV Parts I and II, King Henry V, The Taming of the Shrew, Titus Andronicus, Venus and Adonis, Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and As You like It, with further references in both The Merchant of Venice and King Richard III. Both before and since then, references to pigs, tame and wild, feature in many pieces of prose. Here are a few ways that hogs have enhanced some great writings.

Mark Twain (1835–1910) uses pigs to help describe certain situations. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it is the intelligence and good sense of the pigs that gets recognition: “There warn’t anybody at the church, except maybe a hog or two, for there warn’t any lock on the door, and hogs likes a puncheon floor in summertime because it’s cool. If you notice, most folks don’t go to church only when they’ve got to; but a hog is different.” In A Tramp Abroad, Twain tells of a tour to Switzerland and, in particular, a perilous walk along a narrow path on a cliff edge. There, he meets a pig coming the other way and decides to turn around and retrace his steps, as do all those following him, giving the pig priority and illustrating the intractability of the swine. Saki (1870–1915) in The Boar-Pig, a short story, describes a social-climbing mother and daughter who had failed to be invited to a prestigious garden party and decided to gate-crash it by approaching through a

T H E S W I N E I N R HY M E Written in the last throes of the eighteenth century, Robert Southey’s poem “The Pig” makes a robust defense of our hero—in this extract, he argues that the pig is not ugly at all.

Again thou sayest, The Pig is ugly. Jacob, look at him! Those eyes have taught the lover f lattery. His face, – nay Jacob! were it fair To judge a Lady in her dishabille? Fancy it drest, and with saltpetre rouged. Behold his tail, my friend; with curls like that The wanton hop marries her stately spouse: So crisp in beauty Amoretta’s hair Rings round her lover’s soul the chains of love. And what is beauty, but the aptitude Of parts harmonious? Give the fancy scope, And thou wilt find that no imagined change Can beautify this beast. Place at his end The starry glories of the Peacock’s pride; Give him the Swan’s white breast; for his horn-hoofs Shape such a foot and ankle as the waves Crowded in eager rivalry to kiss, When Venus from the enamour’d sea arose; Jacob, thou cans’t but make a monster of him! All alteration man could think, would mar His Pig-perfection.

Mark Twain pays tribute to the pig’s intelligence in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Left

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The nineteenthcentury English writer Charles Dickens recorded his observations of pigs in New York.

Right

C H A R L E S DIC K E N S ’ S A M E R IC A N NOT E S American Notes by Charles Dickens (1812–1870) is a nonfiction work describing his visit to the United States. He gives a great description of the street-cleaning pigs in New York City plying their trade along Broadway. Once more in Broadway! Here are the same ladies in bright colour, walking to and fro, in pairs and singly; yonder the very same light blue parasol which passed and repassed the hotelwindow twenty times while we were sitting there. We are going to cross here. Take care of the pigs. Two portly sows are trotting up behind this carriage, and a select party of half-adozen gentlemen hogs have just now turned the corner. They are the city scavengers, these pigs. Ugly brutes they are; having, for the most part, scanty brown backs, like the lids of old horsehair trunks: spotted with unwholesome black blotches. They have long legs, too, and such peaked snouts, that if one of them could be persuaded to sit for his profile, nobody would recognise it for a pig’s likeness. They are never attended upon, or fed, or driven, or caught, but are thrown upon their own resources in early life, and become preternaturally knowing in consequence. Every pig knows where he lives, much better than anybody could tell him. At this hour, just as evening is closing in, you will see them roaming towards bed by scores, eating their way to the last. Occasionally, some youth among them has over-eaten himself, or has become worried by dogs; trots shrinkingly homeward, like a prodigal son: but this is a rare case: perfect self-possession and selfreliance, and immovable composure, being their foremost attributes.

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walled garden and paddock. There they are spotted by a mischievous young girl who has been banished for misbehaving. Seeing the interlopers, Matilda slips down from her viewpoint and releases a pig from its sty into the paddock. Finding their way blocked, the two would-be attendees turn around and are confronted by the pig: “The boar-pig had drawn nearer to the gate for a closer inspection of the human intruders, and stood clamping his jaws and blinking his small red eyes in a manner that was doubtless intended to be disconcerting, and, as far as the Stossens were concerned, thoroughly achieved that result. “Shoo! Hish! Hish! Shoo!,” cried the ladies in chorus. “If they think they’re going to drive him away by reciting lists of the Kings of Israel and Judah they’re laying themselves out for disappointment,” observed Matilda. After some bargaining, Matilda is rewarded financially to go and get help, whereupon she coaxes the boar back to his quarters with a trail of ripe fruit. Animal Farm, written by George Orwell (1903–1950), is far more extensive in its use of pigs as a metaphor for communist rule. The farmer—the dictator of the farm—is ousted by the animals and a new paradise beckons as they become masters of their own destiny. But it soon becomes apparent that total self-rule has its problems and the intelligent pigs quickly take control under the leadership of Napoleon, and the other creatures soon discover that life is just as oppressive under the new system as the old. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding (1911–1993) uses pigs symbolically as a group of young boys are isolated on an island where the only other mammals

are feral pigs. Civilization soon breaks down and the boys become primitive in their actions. The pigs feature heavily and especially when one of the boys slaughters one and places its head on a stick projecting from the ground. As the flesh decays, it is surrounded by buzzing flies, the totem of the book’s title. In Misery, Stephen King (1947– ) has a successful writer crash his car in remote countryside in order to be rescued by a nurse and fan of his books, Annie Wilkes. It soon becomes apparent that Wilkes is psychotic and is keeping him prisoner. The growing evidence for this is the presence of her pet pig, Misery, named after his principle character. Crome Yellow, written by Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)—his first published work—is a country house story looking at the various characters assembled, and the pig in question is a newly farrowed sow and her littler in an outbuilding, carefully described as they suckle. In Jude The Obscure, written at the end of the nineteenth century, Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) describes the poverty-stricken life of Jude Fawley and his wife, Arabella, and the pig is used to enhance their respective characters. Keeping a pig, the time comes for its slaughter but the butcher fails to arrive, so Arabella insists that they must do it themselves and that Jude must carry out the final act. Jude is deeply reluctant but is forced into doing it by his domineering partner. Many books over the years describe the pig-killing ritual, an important event in country life, where the household companion gave its all for the provision of protein. Many more writers have also used swine to illustrate and enrich their works. How many can you think of ?

THE SWI NE ON SCR EE N Pigs on film and TV may seem pretty rare until you consider some of the following.

Arnold Ziffel—The Chester

the United States, as well as

White pig that appeared on

179 other countries.

television in Green Acres,

Peter Pig—A Disney character

made in the United States

created in 1934 who starred

between 1965 and 1971.

alongside Donald Duck and

Babe—The hero of the 1995

Micky Mouse but did not have

movie of the same name,

their staying power.

based on the book The Sheep

Pigasaurus—The piglike

Pig by Dick King-Smith.

waste disposal unit in the

Babe is a Large White with

1994 The Flintstones movie.

a black topknot. Rescued from an intensive breeding unit to provide a prize at a fair, he is won by an eccentric farmer who encourages the pig to work sheep, with the climax being his winning the prestigious sheepdog trials. Hamm—The piggy bank character in the Toy Story series that began in the 1990s.

Pinky & Perky—Two famous television puppets, popular in the 1950s and briefly revived in the 1990s. Specializing in song and dance, they were created by Czech-born Jan and Vlasta Dalibor. The original puppets are insured for £1,000,000. Porky—A main character in the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes series of cartoons, he

McMug and McDull—Comic

made a first appearance in

cartoon pig characters in

1935 in I Haven’t Got a Hat. He

Hong Kong.

predated Bugs Bunny, who

Miss Piggy—Created by

made his debut a couple of

Jim Henson in 1976 for the

years later in Porky’s Hare

television series The Muppet

Hunt. Porky featured in more

Show and subsequently four

than 160 of these cartoons,

movies. Other pig puppets

with the famous tag line,

also appear in the series.

“That’s All Folks!”

Peppa Pig—A major television series for preschool children since 2004 in UK and 2005 in

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Left A copy of a prehistoric cave painting of a wild boar in Altamira, Spain.

Pigs in Art

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PA I N T I NG Pigs—or at least their wild cousins— appeared in art long before there were depictions of gods, kings, princes, beautiful women, or buildings. Wild boars were among the pioneers whose likeness was recorded visually. I refer, of course, to their appearance among creatures in cave paintings in Spain and France, among other locations. Along with other wild creatures that man hunted or had to face down, wild boars are unmistakable and occur frequently in prehistoric art. Once we move on to representations on canvas, paper, and other mediums, it is interesting to see how images of the pig have evolved just as the animal has evolved itself. We start out with creatures that are indistinguishable from wild boar, although probably smaller in stature. By the Middle Ages, Flemish masters, such as Hieronymus Bosch (ca. 1450–1516) and Pieter Bruegel the Elder (ca. 1525–69) show us a more refined animal; still small, but golden brown in color, and with small erect ears and a long snout. Perhaps surprisingly, pigs were sometimes still depicted as boarlike right up until the early nineteenth century. The Prodigal Son (ca. 1496) by the German artist Albrecht Dürer features pigs that

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Hieronymus Bosch, The Temptation of Saint Anthony, ca.1490.

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Left Farmland Friends by John Frederick Herring Jr. (1820–1907).

are totally wild looking. More recently, the works of the English painter Robert Hills (1769–1844, an artist well regarded by the Royal Academy in London, although he is not a household name) include a delightful series of studies of pigs, several of which depict some boarlike animals alongside more domesticated creatures we would recognize as pigs today. Lucas Cranach the Elder (ca. 1472–1553), Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), and Rembrandt (1606–69) also illustrated pigs with the look of wild boar about them. In the nineteenth century, the fashion among artists was to emphasize the most desirable characteristics of an animal to flatter its owner, and pigs—like all farm stock—were shown as grotesque caricatures with huge round bodies, tiny legs, and small heads. However, there were artists who did depict the pig as it was at the time, without embellishment. Among the most prolific were George Morland (1763–1804) and James Ward (1769–1859), who were related by marriage, and John Herring Sr. (1795– 1865) and his son John Jr. (1820–1907).

The French Impressionist Paul Gauguin included pigs in several of his paintings: Les Folies de l’Amour (1890), The Nativity (1896), and The Swineherd (1898). The animal also appeared in other works of the nineteenth century, featuring in works by Camille Corot (St-André-enMorvan, 1842), Gustave Courbet (The Peasants of Flagey Returning from the Fair, 1855), Jean-François Millet (Death of a Pig, 1869), and Émile Bernard’s Bretons Keeping Pigs (1892). Pablo Picasso’s Pigs (ca. 1906), Marc Chagall’s The Drinking Green Pig (1926), Pig No.2 & 3 and Pig No.14 & 15 by photographer Per Maning (1949– ), and James Wyeth’s Portrait of Pig (1970), Pig and Train (1977), and Night Pigs (1979) all demonstrate that the swine in art remained popular through the twentieth century—a love affair that continues today. Wyeth’s Portrait of Pig is a study of Den-Den, a sow that lived on a Pennsylvania farm. The artist was smitten with his subject: “I became purely enamored with her . . . Her eyes are so human, too. Like a Kennedy’s.” PI G S I N A RT

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SCULPTUR E The pig in art is not confined to drawings and paintings: There are many depictions of the animal in sculpture. One of the loveliest is housed in the Vatican and depicts the sow and litter that in legend were Aeneas’s inspiration for the siting of Rome. Also in Italy, Florence boasts a full-size bronze statue of a wild boar by Pietro Tacca, dating to 1612. The animal sits on its haunches, and is a copy of a Roman marble statue in the city’s Uffizi Gallery, which in turn is a copy of an original Hellenistic sculpture. Situated adjacent to a covered marketplace at the Loggia del Mercato Nuovo, the bronze hog is referred to by locals as Il Porcellino—“Little Pig.”

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A water fountain in Florence, Italy, features a sculpture of a boar called Il Porcellino. Rubbing the snout and dropping a coin in the fountain is said to bring good luck.

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This head of a boar is a verraco sculpture located in Madrigalejo, near Cáceres in western Spain. It was made by the Vettones, a pre-Roman people of the Iberian peninsula.

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Elsewhere in Europe, a sculpture of a group of pigs with a herdsman and his horn can be seen in Bremen, Germany. In Great Britain, various aristocratic families have coats of arms that include boars, and the animals consequently appear in various guises in carvings at a number of stately homes—at the Tudor Charlecote Park in Warwickshire, they adorn the majestic gateposts. In Calne, a town in the English county of Wiltshire once famous for the Harris bacon factory, the local government commemorated the plant following its demise in 1982 by placing a bronze of two young pigs in the local shopping center. In Newport in south Wales, adjacent to the ancient covered market there is a splendid bronze of a pig carrying a pannier of produce on its back.

Across the Atlantic, at the Brandywine River Museum in Philadelphia (where you can also see James Wyeth’s paintings), you will find in the grounds a lovely rotund pig called Helen, sculpted by André Harvey (1941–2018). Last but by no means least, the city of Cincinnati in Ohio, otherwise known as Porkopolis for once being the center of the American pork trade, has four magnificent bewinged pigs standing atop dedicated towers at Sawyer Point. The city has occasionally hosted a festival called The Pig Gig, where sculptures of pigs in various guises are richly decorated and displayed. A similar event—Pig in the City—is held in Lexington, North Carolina, where whimsical pig sculptures are exhibited.

This Etruscan sculpture from the second century bce , now housed in the Vatican, Italy, depicts a sow and her piglets— purportedly the inspiration for the myth of Aeneas and the founding of Rome. Above

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Familiar Sayings In nearly all languages, pigs feature widely in everyday expressions, although this seems especially true of English. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the pig is used more commonly in English proverbs and sayings than just about any other creature. Over the next couple of pages, I have included just a few of

{ the more well-known sayings from the 150-plus I have recorded. What is surprising is just how many expressions, still in common use, relate to practices and activities long since superseded. Take, for instance, “To buy a pig in a poke,” meaning an unseen bargain. This relates to medieval markets, when it was common practice to sell a small pig tied up in a cloth sack. This method of trading long since passed, yet we instinctively know what the saying

Somewhat unfairly for the pig, the saying “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” means that it’s impossible to make something attractive out of inferior materials.

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“When pigs f ly” is a common expression to describe something that will never happen.

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means. By the same token, another expression—“Letting the cat out of the bag”—refers to the moment when the buyer opens the sack, only to find that the unscrupulous vendor has substituted a feline for the weaner pig. Another old saying is “You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” It is a given that a fine-crafted item, such as a purse, cannot be forged from such raw materials, but how did the expression come about? It dates back to high society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when lowerclass people who came into money started socializing with the nobility. It basically means that despite all the finery that money can buy, the lack of breeding will always show through. Also common today is “To make a pig’s ear of it,” meaning that you have bought some silk in order to make your purse, but botch the job so completely that it turns out looking like a pig’s ear. “To be led up (or down) the garden path” means to be conned or misled.

While it does not mention our hero, it relates directly to times when every country cottage had a pigsty in the garden. The family pig would be fattened on scraps until late in the year, when the time came for a visit from the village pig killer in order that the owners might enjoy some preserved bacon through the dark winter months. Having been confined all its life, the pig was eventually released for one final short journey, “down the garden path.” To succeed at a given task can be summed up as to “Bringing home the bacon.” This relates to the ancient practice—dating back to the twelfth century—of the Dunmow Flitch, whereby if a couple could swear that neither had regretted a day of their marriage over the last year, they were then awarded a flitch (side) of bacon. Not many successfully won the prize and the practice died out, although it has been revived from time to time. “When pigs fly,” meaning something will never take place, dates back to the seventeenth century, when it was readily understood that something as corpulent as a pig was among the most unlikely creatures to take to the wing. In the 1920s, the Vickers Vulcan airplane was dubbed the “Flying Pig,” not because it could not fly, but because of its piglike shape. FA MI LI A R SAYI N G S

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Two expressions relating to the theater are based on one of the products of a pig, namely “ham actor” and “to ham it up.” These possibly have their origins in the United States and date from the middle of the nineteenth century, when actors wore much more stage makeup than today. At that time, there was no such thing as cold cream to help remove the greasepaint, and instead blocks of ham fat were used. Actors who went over the top were considered “real” actors and therefore needed excessive amounts of such fat, hence they were deemed “ham actors.” Also deriving from the theater is “hogging the limelight,” referring

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to an aspiring actor who pushes himself to the front to attract attention and possibly further his career. Another saying that is possibly American in origin—or at least popularized in North America—is “to go the whole hog.” It was widely used in Andrew Jackson’s presidential campaign in 1828 and became well known in Great Britain by 1850. It may originally have come from Ireland, where a shilling was nicknamed a “hog,” and so “going the whole hog” would mean blowing a large sum of money in one go. Pig-related idioms also exist in other languages. For instance, the German

Below The phrase “to go the whole hog” was widely used in the successful 1828 U.S. presidential campaign for Andrew Jackson, but it may have originated in Ireland.

equivalent of the old English expression “a pig in a parlor is still a pig” is “lead a pig to the Rhine, it remains a pig.” In the United States, we were reminded of a further variation on this during the 2008 presidential campaign, when Barack Obama used the expression, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig.” This caused him problems, however, when some journalists believed he was using it in reference to Republican vicepresidential nominee Sarah Palin. In Albania, the saying “in times of adversity, the pig is called ‘uncle’” indicates the importance of the cottager’s pig. In Italy, it is said that “Poets and pigs are not appreciated until they are dead,” which is certainly true of swine. In France, we hear that “the sow loves bran better than roses,” indicating that a

pig does not appreciate the finer things in life. There is a similar expression in Japan: “A pig used to dirt turns up its nose at rice boiled in milk.” And in relation to a subject in a conversation being changed, the French say that “the pigs have been turned into grass.” Back in Germany, the saying “a pig rarely comes alone” indicates that troubles usually come together. The Germans also say “I have had pig,” meaning that they are lucky to have got away with something or to have avoided a difficult situation. In continental Europe, the image of a pig is one of the main symbols of good luck, along with chimney sweeps, horseshoes, bags of money, and four-leaf clovers.

In Germany, pigs are a symbol of good luck; at New Year, people give each other marzipan effigies of the animal to bring them luck in the year ahead.

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Truff le Hunting I touched on the subject of truffle hunting when I described the amazing olfactory capabilities of the pig’s snout in Chapter 2. Pigs were used widely for centuries in the main truffle-growing regions of Italy and France, but because of the difficulties of restraining hunting hogs, dogs have tended to replace them. Truffles are pungent tuber-shape fungi that grow a little below the soil among the roots of certain trees. The reason for their appeal to pigs and dogs is their musklike scent, which also sends gourmets into ecstasies and gives truffles the reputation of being an aphrodisiac. The reason is that they contain a pheromone— androstenol—a sex hormone also used by pigs to help attract a mate. The boar gives off a similar scent during the courtship process, which is why the most successful hunters are female pigs of breeding age. Now, imagine you are a French peasant in the Périgord region between the wars. You have your gilt, which you have been working with all season (the period for truffle hunting is between the first and last frosts), and you have her secured by a rope harness around her neck and shoulders, with a leash you use to control her. Your pig is kept lean to make her easier to control, and hungry to make her eager to hunt. As you enter the deciduous

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{ forest of beech and oak, with its deep leaf litter, you encourage your partner to snuffle around the bases of the trunks. In your old coat pocket, you have some small pieces of truffle cut up from poor specimens from your last outing, which you can use as a distraction when she finds the scent. You wander deeper into the forest, when, all of a sudden, your pig perks up and starts snuffling enthusiastically among the leaf litter. With all your might, you haul on the rope and manage to pull her back, waving a piece of truffle from your pocket in front of her. You eventually reach a scrubby hazel, to which you tie the leash so that you can return to the beech tree. From your other pocket you produce a trowel. On your hands and knees, you carefully scrape away the soil where your truffle finder showed such interest and, lo! A couple of inches down you uncover black gold—a truffle, not large, measuring about 1½ inches (37 mm) in diameter, but in good shape. You dust it off and lay it carefully in the satchel around your neck. You return to the pig, give her her treat, undo the leash, and move off in search of another. These rare truffles are valuable— chefs pay high prices for good examples— and you can sell as many as you can find,

but you rely entirely on the partnership with your pig to discover them. And while you never find many in any given season, you cannot help but wonder at the numbers that must have been unearthed and voraciously consumed, not by a Parisian gourmet, but by the many wild boar.

SELECTI NG A T RU F F L E H U N T E R Pigs, especially sows, are famously good at finding truffles beneath the forest floor.

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In his 1991 book Toujours

Provence, Peter Mayle explains how to select a truff le-hunter pig. First, visit a local pig farmer and agree a price before selecting which swine to buy from a pen of young ones. Once the sum is agreed, enter the pen, then drop a small piece of truff le on the ground and grind it with your boot. The pig that reacts most swiftly to the aroma is the one to select— and you have already fixed the price to the disadvantage of the farmer.

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Sheep-pigs

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I briefly touched on sheep-pigs in Chapter 3, but here I look in a little more detail at evidence of pigs working in partnership with people. We know from a nineteenth-century reference to sheeppigs from Italy that the concept is not entirely modern, and there are several other recorded instances of pigs being used this way. The movie Babe brought the concept of the sheep-pig to millions around the world, but there are times when truth can, indeed, be stranger than fiction.

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In the 1970s in south Wales, two brothers, Ian and Clive Watters, ran a farm as a working museum open to the public. They had a variety of farm livestock, including a Tamworth and two wild boars. As young animals, these followed the brothers around the farm while they did their chores. The farmers soon noticed that all three pigs began rounding up the flock of sheep of their own accord, copying what they had seen the sheepdogs doing.

On smaller farms, different animal species will often be kept together, and pigs, being naturally curious, are drawn to investigate the other creatures around them.

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Left Just as in the movie Babe, pigs have been trained to herd sheep, responding to the shepherd’s commands with the same alacrity as a dog.

The brothers took the porkers in hand and soon trained them to react to their signals, so that the sheep could be driven to where they wanted and not just randomly herded at the pigs’ whim. Eventually, they sold the farm museum and moved away, taking the two wild boars with them but leaving the Tamworth on the farm to continue its role as honorary sheepdog. Why should pigs behave in this way? On most farms, livestock are carefully managed and kept separate, but on smaller establishments you can often observe the interaction between species. Pigs are naturally curious while most other livestock are correspondingly shy. So, a pig or pigs introduced to a field with cattle, sheep, or horses already present will almost invariably make a beeline for the other animals to investigate them. The other livestock, conversely, will see

this strange creature making straight for them and take evasive action. This is instinctive, and until they get used to pigs, horses, for instance, will show a distinct preference to avoid them at all costs. It is undoubtedly this innate curiosity and desire to meet other creatures that first encourages pigs to move after sheep and for the sheep to draw away. Considering the pig’s intelligence and ability to be trained, it is clearly a short step from this point to utilizing the pig to the shepherd’s advantage. That is not to say that thousands of sheepdogs around the world are about to no longer have a livelihood, but when a good working dog can cost as much as a secondhand car, some poorer farmers might consider the cheaper option of a pig. And, of course, there is also the bonus that, when retirement arrives, the animal will provide plenty of bacon. SH EEP-PI G S

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King George III himself was intrigued by the exploits of Yorkshireman James Hirst, who had trained a dozen pointer pigs, each of which answered to its own name.

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Gun Pigs

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Pigs trained to point and retrieve game have cropped up in sporting history over many years, the most recent being in Indiana in 1949, when Jack Hough trained Barney to hunt. Probably the best known and most widely documented instance, however, is the story of Slut. Slut was a pig that lived in the New Forest in the south of England at the beginning of the nineteenth century. New Forest pigs were barely domesticated; they were allowed to roam freely and were really only fed and looked after when they farrowed. Slut lived the typical life of a forest pig, and because she had avoided pregnancy, she had not been subject to pig husbandry. One day, local gamekeeper Richard Toomer and his brother Edward were attempting to train a number of indifferent pointers. They were speculating that almost any creature would be an easier subject to train than the dogs when the pig walked by. The brothers immediately decided to put their belief to the test. As the gilt had just emerged from a wallow in some boggy land, she was called “Slut,” and before the day was out she had learned her name. Within two weeks, Slut would find and point both rabbits and partridge.

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She improved daily and after a few more weeks, according to William Youatt in The Pig (1847): “would retrieve birds that had run as well as the best pointer, nay, her nose was superior to the best pointer they ever possessed, and no two men in England had better.” As well as being good at her job, Slut obviously enjoyed it—if no shooting was planned, she would travel between the two brothers’ cottages, about 7 miles (11 km) apart, “as if to court the being taken out shooting.”

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, a pig from the New Forest named Slut was trained to find, point, and then retrieve rabbits, partridge, and other game.

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The only drawback to using the pig was the jealousy of the dogs. They would refuse to work with her, dropping their sterns and showing disobedience to their masters’ instructions while she was around. Because the dogs were reluctant to work with the pig, the brothers increasingly left her behind, except when she was used as a novelty to show off. On these occasions, a barnyard hen would be placed in a thicket of undergrowth for Slut to find. She was five years old when her master died, and at that point she was sold along with the other pointers, fetching 10 guineas. As Slut grew older, she also grew fatter, but she would still point given the chance to join the guns. However, at the age of 10—when she

weighed an impressive 700 pounds (320 kg)—she was condemned to death on suspicion of killing a lamb. Another instance of pigs being used as pointers relates to James Hirst, an eccentric Yorkshireman who lived during the reign of King George III. Apparently, he saddled and rode to hounds a bull named Jupiter, and he trained and used a pack of a dozen pointer pigs, each of which answered to their names and pointed superbly. Hirst achieved lasting fame when the king (nicknamed Farmer George), intrigued at his exploits, summoned him to discuss his methods, only to be told that he would have to wait several months as Hirst was busy teaching an otter to fish.

With their superior sense of smell, pigs point better than dogs, but in the case of Slut, the dogs got jealous and refused to work with her.

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Pigs in Harness

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In the days before the internal combustion engine, most domesticated animals were tried in harness, so it should not be surprising that the pig was among them. Records show that even the Romans were not above such experiments—according to French historian and monk Bernard de Montfaucon, the Roman emperor Heliogabulus (ca. 203–222 ce) trained boars, stags, and asses to run in his chariot.  In poor areas, almost any animal could be pressed into service between the shafts of a cart or before the plow. In the early nineteenth century, it was reported that in the area between the river Spey and the town of Elgin in Scotland, it was not unusual to see a sow, a cow, and two young horses yoked together in a plow, and according to William Youatt in The Pig (1849), “the sow was the best drawer of the four.” Mixing species in this way was not unique to Scotland—an incident is recorded from the New Forest in the south of England by George Ewart Evans in his book Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay (1956). In it he recounts that Aaron Ling had a small plow and a donkey to assist him in cultivating his vegetable plot. For some reason, the donkey either could not or would not draw the plow on its own, so Ling trained a sow to team up with it.

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Because of the difference in sizes, the pig was put into a cradle harness and walked the unplowed land, while the donkey walked along the furrow beside her.

HO G - DR AW N C A RT More in the realms of showbusiness and novelty rather than pure practicality is a newspaper story from October 1811 recounted in William Youatt’s The Pig: A man who holds a small farm near St. Albans, and who has ever been looked upon as a most eccentric being, made his appearance into the latter place in the following manner, viz., mounted on a small car which was drawn by four large hogs. He entered the town at a brisk trot, amidst the acclamations of hundreds, who were soon drawn together to witness this uncommon spectacle. After making the tour of the Market Place three or four times, he came into the Wool-Pack Hotel yard, had his swinish cattle regularly unharnessed and taken into the stable together, where they were regaled with a trough full of beans and swill. They remained about two hours, whilst he despatched his business as usual at the market, when they were put to and driven home again, multitudes cheering him. This man only had these animals under training six months, and it is truly surprising to what a high state of tractability he has brought them. A gentleman on the spot offered him fifty pounds for the concern as it stood, but it was indignantly refused.

Pigs have also been recorded working as pack animals. During the Crusades, for example, horses taken from Britain were unable to withstand the heat, and almost any animal found locally was pressed into service to take their place. The following comes from the History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea by the medieval chronicler William of Tyre (ca. 1130–86): “It is hard to know whether one should laugh or cry, when one sees how we load our baggage on wethers, goats or pigs for lack of larger animals. Many a knight may be seen riding on an ox, serving in place of a war-horse.”

This young pig pulling a wagon at one of the Luna Park amusement parks in the United States in 1909 is clearly its owner’s pride and joy.

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Above Just as a pig can do most things a dog can, so it can also pull a cart like a horse or cow, as resourceful pig or even wild boar owners have found.

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A Pig in the Pulpit So far, this chapter has looked at how the pig has been represented in the arts, how it has entered language and expressions, at how we have utilized its talents to our own advantage. This section is also related to the arts, but it describes how images of swine are used to decorate places of Christian worship. This may be surprising, because these images are not widely known and also the pig has never been a popular subject in religion. While Christianity is more tolerant of pigs than some religions, the Bible does not say much about them—certainly nothing overtly positive—and we tend to associate the Holy Land more closely with cattle, sheep, goats, and donkeys. Yet pigs were undoubtedly there, too. Pigs adorn churches and cathedrals in all parts of the Christian world. Many such places are ancient, and the decorations themselves can date back to the Middle Ages and beyond. So, if pigs were never especially welcomed into the church, why are they so frequently depicted therein? The answer lies in what was familiar to the artisans who created the churches and decorated them. Before much was known about exotic species, woodcarvers, stonemasons, and stained-glass craftsmen would have struggled to visualize or

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In Christian iconography, Saint Anthony, the patron saint of swineherds, is often pictured alongside a tantony pig (a runt).

Left

illustrate a camel or a lion. They would, however, have been particularly familiar with the pig, no doubt keeping one at home themselves. They would not even have the same intimacy with sheep or cattle, because these were owned by the squire. They would have therefore found it much easier to render a good impression of a pig than of something altogether more exotic, so they would have chosen to feature them relatively widely in places of worship. Some depictions of pigs have stories associated with their inclusion. For example, the tale behind the founding of the church at Winwick in northwest England was related in Chapter 3. On the outside of this structure is a weatherworn sow and her pigs, originally carved to commemorate the event. In churches dedicated to Saint Anthony, the patron saint of swineherds is often illustrated alongside a tantony pig (a runt). In a similar way, the churches at Evesham show the swineherd Saint Eoves, who established the site of the town with his herd of pigs (see Chapter 3). Many of the decorations, however, seem to have little or no recorded connection to the church where they are found—such as some of the examples illustrated here.

Above right This coat of arms, carved on the bell tower of the cathedral of Salerno in Campania, Italy, depicts the Caledonian boar, the symbol of the city.

This handle in the shape of a pig can be found at the UNESCOlisted Cathedral of St. Servatius in Quedlinburg in northern Germany.

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Contentious Pigs in Religion I have already touched on the fact that some religions prohibit against eating meat from pigs, but here I focus on why this may have come about. On the one side, eating pork is tolerated by Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists, among others, while on the other are the proscriptions of Jews and Muslims against the practice.

U NC L E A N ? The ancient Egyptians were the first people known to have banned eating pork, and they would have almost certainly influenced others in this respect. The Book of Leviticus in the Jewish Torah and Old Testament of the Bible are specific about banning pork, stating that animals that divide the hoof and do not chew the cud are forbidden. But why is this? The texts do not give any explanation for the prohibition, stating only that these animals are unclean. This may be because there was a suspicion at the time the texts were written that pigs infected humans with leprosy, although we now know that this simply is not true. Muslims also consider the pig to be an unclean animal, and on first appearances it may seem to be the case. Pigs, particularly if kept lean and hungry,

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{

will devour the feces of other species to derive what nutrition they can from any undigested foods left therein. Along with its habit of rooting in the dirt, this has often given the animal a reputation for being unclean. Despite evidence that pork was eaten by some of the ancient Eg yptians, the pig’s association with Set, the god of chaos, may have dissuaded others.

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I N DI A N R EVOL U T IO N The final trigger that set off the Indian Rebellion of 1857 arose through a rumor that pig fat and beef tallow were being used by the British military to grease rifle cartridges. The paper cartridges had to be torn open with the teeth, and both the Muslim sepoys—who considered pig products unclean—and their fellow Hindu combatants—who worshiped cows—were outraged.

U N S U I TA B L E ? There are one or two other possible explanations for banning the consumption of pig meat. The peoples of the Middle East were traditionally nomadic, traveling from one place to another. They were not so much farmers as herdsmen, who kept cattle, sheep, and goats, because these could be driven and grazed on whatever pasture they found along the way. Pigs do not suit such a lifestyle—you simply cannot drive them over distances as an everyday occurrence.

No, the pig is an animal of the settled agriculturist, who tills the ground and farms. And the nomad was traditionally the enemy of this group, crossing the farmer’s land and spoiling his crops. A ban on eating pig meat may simply have been developed out of the natural antipathy of one group of people toward another. A more recent conflict along similar lines was seen during the settlement of America’s Wild West, when cattle ranchers would overrun the steadings of pig farmers as they saw them closing the wide-open spaces they needed for grazing. CO N TEN TI O U S PI G S I N RELI G I O N

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T O O C L O S E F OR C OM F ORT ? There is another possibility for the ban on eating pork, which may also form part of the reasoning behind any of the other explanations. As I discussed in Chapter 2, pigs are similar to humans in numerous ways. We see in pigs many of our own vices: greed, dirtiness, idolatry, grossness, idleness, slovenliness, smelliness, and so on. We share many physical features, in our blood systems, teeth, hearts, skin, digestive systems, and organs, and even our outward appearance—pigs and humans share 92 percent of their chromosomes. The pig can be seen as our mirror image, and it could be that we do not like what we see. Perhaps the ancient theologians who wrote the rules of the world’s main religions just saw too much of themselves in the pig. Wild pigs, such as this one on Huahine Island in French Polynesia, were brought to the Pacific by the people who first settled the tiny islands of this vast area.

Above

P IG S B E T H E Y ! There is one final, apocryphal, story that is claimed by some to be the source of the Jewish rejection of pork consumption. This tale, with variations, is told throughout Europe and can be traced back many centuries. According to the devotional book of hours, the holy family dwelled in Egypt at the time Jesus was growing up. He had many of his mystical powers even then, and indulged in them as any young boy might when showing off. Thus, Jesus walked on water and when his companions tried to copy him and drowned, he brought them back to life. Such affairs soon brought Jesus notoriety as a witch—so much so that the parents of children his age banned them from playing with him. The story goes that a father saw Jesus approaching his

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house and hid his children in the oven. Jesus inquired as to where his playmates might be and was told that they had gone out to play. Jesus looked over the man’s shoulder and asked what was in the oven: “Only pigs,” said the man.”Pigs be they!” said the Child. And when the oven was opened, pigs they were. In some versions of the story, the pigs are turned back into children, but in others they perish in the oven, which has led some to claim that this is why Jewish people refuse to eat pork. In contrast, some tribes of Papua New Guinea venerate their swine, which enjoy a pampered existence for most of the time.

T H E P I G L E T OF G OD Among many of the islanders in the South Pacific, pigs are not only vitally important economically but are also revered. In Vanuatu, for example, where sheep do not occur and pigs are widespread, references to Jesus translate roughly as “the piglet of God” rather than “the lamb of God.”

Unfortunately, though, they feature at times of inter-tribal warfare when a large proportion of the hog population will be sacrificed and feasted upon as a prelude to battle. This occurs roughly every 12 years and the sacrifice is known as kaiko. The bigger and more important the kaiko is, the stronger and more influential is the tribe who invite neighbors as potential allies.

In effect, what these wars achieve is a reduction in the population of the pigs and the young men of the tribes which better balances the fragile ecology of their existence. As pig and human populations grow, so the fairly primitive food infrastructure is stretched and these periodic battles rebalance the situation for another period of time.

This boy is feeding domesticated pigs on Tanna Island, Vanuatu, the archipelago of a dozen tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean.

Above

CO N TEN TI O U S PI G S I N RELI G I O N

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Pigs as Pets

{

This is where the head must be made to rule the heart. Pigs have, over the years, appeared on occasion as domesticated pets, and in many ways they fit the job admirably. However, a pig is a farmyard creature and most individuals grow to be large—even the miniature breeds are heavier than most dogs, and those advertised as teacup pigs often end up growing to full size. Pigs make easy pets in many ways. They are not fussy when it comes to food and are naturally housebroken or trained. But because we live in a developed agricultural society, there are rules applicable to pigs that do not affect dogs or parakeets. In the European Union, by law, you cannot feed your pig table scraps. Nor can you simply load your pig into your car and take him for a walk—pigs on farms can be transported only if accompanied by a license (a separate one is required for each journey). Once returned, the pig must be isolated and confined for three weeks. The United States passed its first law to protect pigs while being transported in 1905, and a number of states have their own regulations. In recognition of the growing number of pig pets, some rules have been relaxed, so that a pig pet owner can have a special license that allows restricted movement, providing it is far away from commercial

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A gard’ner, of peculiar taste, On a young hog his favour plac’d; Who fed not with the common herd; His tray was to the hall preferr’d. He wallow’d underneath the board, Or in his master’s chamber snor’d; Who fondly strok’d it ev’ry day, And taught it all the puppy’s play. Where’er he went, the grunting friend Ne’er fail’d his pleasure to attend.



Pigs are sometimes considered as likely pets but there are many drawbacks to bear in mind.

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John Gay, “The Gardener and the Hog” (1727)

pigs, food outlets, and so on. However, there are still many restrictions. Add to this a pig’s natural desire to root—which will soon see your lawn, flower beds, and vegetable patch destroyed—and the problem of what you will do with the animal when you want to go away, you should really be having third or fourth thoughts before making any commitment. If you are still tempted by the idea, heed the words of Charles Cornish in Animals Today (1898): “Pigs organize trespassing parties, which grow bolder daily. One day they come round and look at the back door. The next day one runs into the passage and pokes his nose into the kitchen.” Finally, keep in mind that many of your friends and family may actually fear or even loathe pigs.

PA RT OF T H E PAC K

Top People have kept pigs as pets since before the nineteenth century, but even then the complexities involved were recognized.

A pig in your yard sounds wonderful, but be aware that they are genetically predisposed to dig up the lawn and eat plants.

Above

Due to their intelligence, pigs can become jealous of their human companions in a domestic setting. Like dogs, they are pack animals, living in family groups in the wild. When accepted into the home as pets, they therefore revert to this relationship and adopt you as their family. There have been several newspaper reports of the group hierarchy causing problems in domestic situations. In one, a pet pig was jealous of its master’s girlfriend to the extent that she could not get near him. In another case, a couple started off with a young Vietnamese Pot-belly boar, which was fine until they later introduced a mate for him. He changed character completely, becoming surly and disobedient, and vicious toward the gilt. The only time that he accepted her presence was one week in four when she was in heat, and he spent all that time serving her. PI G S A S PETS

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C A R I NG F OR A P E T P IG If you are determined to keep a pet pig, have two from the beginning so that they are company for each other, and make sure you can supply a dry, draft-free shelter with plenty of straw bedding and an outside run for exercise, along with alternative sites for a run when the first becomes muddy. Pigs do not belong in the house, and if you let them in, you risk all your furnishings being ruined—and even some personal relationships. Recently in London, a pet pig called Rosie, which was 5 feet (1.5 m) long and weighed 170 pounds (77 kg), caused huge damage to her owner’s home. Left alone, she first chewed through a water pipe and flooded the floor below, then she literally ate half

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the couch, including parts of the frame, the cushions, and much of the covering. Remember also that there are strict limitations on what domestic feedstuffs you can give a pig. Visit to your nearest government office as your first port of call, and ask for details on all these requirements and any other restrictions before you decide to buy a pig as a pet. At the height of the recent craze in keeping pet pigs, there were a reported 10,000 pet pigs in the United States. The novelty will soon wear off, especially with so many restrictions in place, but a pig can live for 20 years. There are now rescue centers in the United States for all the unwanted Vietnamese Pot-bellies and other breeds that once graced the homes of the trendy.

Right Pet pigs have a long history as a must-have fashion accessory, but the pigs often suffer when the fashion moves on.

Pigs like to wallow in the mud, so if you are keeping one as a pet, be ready for a lot of hosing down.

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FA MOU S P E T P IG S Despite the drawbacks of keeping pigs as pets, there have been several famous ones. For a brief while, there was even a pet pig in the White House. Theodore Roosevelt’s son Quentin was crazy about animals and bought a small piglet for $1 in Virginia. His mother was less enamored with the new arrival, however, and banned it from the presidential residence. Quentin, showing business acumen, sold it to Schmid’s Emporium of Pets in Washington for $1.25. However, the store went one better, placing the pig in the window under a sign “This pig spent last night in the White House” and selling it within hours for $3.50. Even wild boars have been kept as pets. According to James Harting in British Animals Extinct Within Historic Times

(1880), the writer E. H. Salvin was given a wild boar in the 1860s by Maharajah Duleep Singh. The animal became completely tame and would accompany its owner on walks in the park; in summer, it would even swim behind a rowing boat, covering large distances. More recently, in the south of France, a farmer by the name of Monsieur Evesque obtained a wild boar piglet, naming it Chirac. Again, the animal became tame and would walk to heel, beg, and stand on its hind legs. However, when it reached 10 months of age, the authorities heard about it and ordered its destruction on the grounds that it is illegal to keep wild boar in domestic circumstances in France. The villagers organized a petition, and Chirac was saved on the orders of the mayor, who explained to the press that the boar was like a baby to its owner.

Pigs are large and strong and great care should be taken before considering one as a pet.

Above

PI G S A S PETS

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The demand for pork has soared as increasing numbers in a growing world population have become aff luent enough to afford meat.

Right

Industrial Pig Production { A G ROW I NG DE M A N D Intensive pig production began only once the Industrial Revolution was well underway. For the first time, huge populations of people were crowded together in cities for work, and there was no room for the means to feed them as had happened in an agrarian economy. Food production and processing therefore had to be speeded up to get the maximum amount of food to the people who needed it—the workers in the new mills and factories.

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Free-range pigs that are allowed to roam with continued access to pasture still have the kind of lives that all pigs once led, before industrial farming.

Below

As discussed in earlier chapters, the efficiency of the pig made it a favorite among meat producers. However, the oldfashioned systems that saw slow-growing animals lying about in fields simply could not provide sufficient volumes of lean meat quickly enough to cope with demand. Consequently, the pig was sent inside and industrial-scale pig farming began. And the demand just keeps growing—to understand it, just consider the growth in the human population: YEAR

ESTIMATED/PROJECTED WORLD POPULATION

1900

1.6 billion

2000

6.1 billion

2010

6.8 billion

2030

8.6 billion

2050

9.8 billion

2100

11.2 billion

Left Most pork products eaten today come from pigs reared in the cramped and frankly inhumane conditions of the modern factory farm.

It is easy to see that to support such rapid population growth, there must be a similar acceleration in food production. In fact, when it comes to meat, we can see already that the growth not only has to match that of the human population, but must exceed it. As developing countries grow and become more industrialized and prosperous, their populations demand the same kind of foods eaten in developed countries. Today, we are consequently seeing a growth in meat consumption in countries such as China and India that far outstrips their population expansion.

T H E FACTORY FA R M The move to industrial farming was pioneered with pigs and chickens, and these methods are now being applied to some extent in the dairy and beef sectors. Assuming people will continue to eat meat, it is clear that protein must be produced on an industrial scale as the human population explodes. In this respect, the pig is the ideal choice, but knowing what we do about the animal, surely there must be a more humane and caring way of farming the animals?

In the United States, pork production is big business. Four or five companies control most of the factory-farming operations, from birth right through to the packaged chop on the supermarket shelf. Every year, 100 million pigs are grown in the country, 97 percent of which are intensively farmed in units called concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Farmers contract themselves to the operations, providing land, buildings, and labor, into which the company’s pigs and equipment are moved. The conditions in which the animals are kept, the feed, the medication, and the processes are all carefully controlled by the company, and the farmers know that the plug can be pulled at any moment, leaving them high and dry with expensive loans to pay off. Many companies operate on a pyramid basis, with one unit limited to breeding, the second taking in the weaned pigs and rearing them for most of their growing life, and a third “finishing” unit then getting them ready for slaughter at a combined abattoir and meat-processor plant. Few intensive plants nowadays carry out the whole process. I N D U STRI A L PI G PRO D U CTI O N

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T H E B R E E DI NG U N I T In the CAFO maternity units in the United States, thousands of sows are housed in individual crates and are impregnated using artificial insemination. The crates let them lie on the bellies or stand—they cannot lie on their sides or turn around. They stand on a slatted floor and all their waste drops into a lagoon below. The only reason they survive the foul stench and gases is due to the constant whir of industrial extractor fans sucking the fetid air out into the surroundings. As farrowing approaches, the sows are moved to the maternity units, where they enter a slightly larger crate. Here, they give birth and provide nutrition to their offspring through their udder for a matter of days, before the piglets are weaned and the mother is moved back to the impregnation stage. The sows give birth every five months, and if they don’t manage to raise a minimum number of 25 piglets— sometimes 30—a year, they are culled.

T H E G ROW I NG U N I T The piglets routinely have their tail docked and their teeth clipped, and they are usually castrated and housed together in pens with those of a similar age. At first they have plenty of room, but as they grow over the months, they remain in the unit, their movement becomes restricted, so there is no opportunity for exploring, playing, or expressing any of their natural instincts. Feed is provided ad lib to ensure maximum growth, and the animals are routinely fed antibiotics, because the intensive methods encourage the rapid spread of disease. Because individual

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pigs do die in such circumstances and the pressures of work mean that their bodies may not be disposed of promptly, flies can be a major issue in such plants—and for anyone living in the surrounding areas.

T H E F I N I S H I NG U N I T Finishing plants are similar to growing units but operate on a larger scale. From here, the animals are sent to an abattoir, where sometimes 30,000 pigs a day are slaughtered and butchered. At that level of production, animal welfare can sometimes be overlooked—there are often reports of inefficient stunning before the animals are killed, along with other issues that would also be classed as animal cruelty.

The life of an industrially reared pig is nasty, brutish, and short, with piglets routinely having their tails docked and their teeth clipped.

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T H E DR AW B AC K S The huge volumes of pig sewage that such production units create are spread on fields, but when heavy rain falls, the sewage often gets washed into local waterways. More alarmingly, when flooding occurs and the contents of the massive pig-unit lagoons are washed into rivers and watercourses, huge damage is caused to the entire ecosystem. This occurred as recently as September 2018 when Hurricane Florence caused many such lagoons to flood in North Carolina resulting in pollution and damage that can take years to rectify. At the same time it was reported that thousands of pigs were drowned, locked in the CAFOs.

While it is clear that we cannot feed the planet through the small-scale farming of years gone by, we owe the pig a great deal and must treat this intelligent animal with the respect it deserves. There has to be a better way of factory farming that achieves a humane outcome and gives the animal a reasonable form of life during its brief period on the planet. One day, laboratory-grown meat may replace the pig and other farm stock, but we are a long way away from that point. In the meantime, millions of pigs around the world continue to suffer from inhumane treatment.

As if the conditions they are reared in are not bad enough, for industrially farmed pigs, transport conditions on the way to the abattoir can be little better.

Above

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Extensive Systems In most parts of the world, some pigs are still reared using “old-fashioned” methods of farming, where they are kept in a much more humane and environmentally friendly way. This can either be on smallholdings or on regulated organic farms. By shunning the mass market and making the effort to source your meat from a speciality retailer or direct from the farm, you are doing a great deal to support such farmers. In addition, you are helping the environment, ensuring that the meat you buy has come from an animal that has had a more natural and fulfilling life, and reducing the risk of furthering antibiotic resistance. You will not have on your conscience the image of a sow locked in a tiny cell, never coming into contact with any of her like until she is loaded onto a truck to make her final journey. You will also find that the pork, bacon, ham, and other produce from extensively raised stock is darker in color, carries more fat (which will baste and flavor the meat), and provides you with a gourmet’s delight that its mass-produced cousin cannot come anywhere near. However, this type of farming operation is not a complete picture of Utopia. It can have its own flaws, but in contrast to intensive farming, it does come closer.

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{ C ON T R A ST I NG C ON DI T ION S On small-scale farms, the sow goes to a live boar to be mated, as described in Chapter 2. On her return, she will normally be put in a field or large pen so that she can mix with other sows again as gestation takes place. There will be a weatherproof shelter with straw bedding where the sows all sleep together. The sow and her cohorts will live a reasonably natural life, interacting with each other and the humans who come to feed and tend to them. Antibiotics will normally be applied only in the unlikely event of an illness, as prescribed by a veterinarian. Up to a week before farrowing is due, most sows are taken inside a dedicated building. They will be provided with straw as nest-building material and a safe, warm environment where they can give birth and raise their offspring—usually to about eight weeks of age, when they will be weaned. Some farmers do use a farrowing crate, but for no more than 48 hours, to keep the little pigs out of the sow’s way so that they cannot be squashed by her as she moves about. Right Pigs reared in the traditional way are able to express themselves naturally, and their meat is darker and tastes better. These preindustrial methods are also better for the environment.

EXTEN SI VE SYSTEMS

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A H E A LT H I E R L I F E The young pigs may be housed in a barn or kept outside with a shelter to sleep in. If kept inside, they remain warm, dry, and comfortable, and they put on more weight, because they do not expend so much energy in keeping warm. If kept outside, they will develop firmer muscles from moving about more and will enjoy supplementing their rations by finding treats through rooting. Either way, their lives are immeasurably better than those of their counterparts on intensive farms. They will probably spend their whole lives on the one holding. There are never lakes of slurry to dispose of or to leach into the waterways; instead, the more solid waste mucked out of the buildings is piled into a manure pile that is then used on the farmer’s fields or garden. The neighbors will not be plagued by flies or intense obnoxious fumes.

The pigs raised in these conditions also generally live longer before going for processing. Pigs of the rare and traditional breeds grow more slowly than those developed specifically for intensive systems. They will generally go to slaughter at six or seven months, or 150–200 pounds (70–90 kg) liveweight— intensively reared pigs take just 16 or so weeks to reach the same weight. This slower growth rate of rare breeds and the fact that most will not thrive in intensive conditions makes them unsuitable for modern farming systems. From this account, it is easy to see that extensive husbandry methods—which let the animals interact normally within the herd as well as express normal actions and habits—is far superior than those used in intensive systems. More care is also taken at slaughter. Major processing plants—used to receiving and processing consignments of hundreds of animals—

Free-range pigs that are free to roam tend to live healthier as well as longer lives, with firmer muscles gained from being able to move around in search of rooting treats.

Below

cannot cope with just three or four pigs from a smallholder, who must therefore go to a small artisan slaughterhouse. These nearly always treat the animals more humanely and carefully than their industrial counterparts.

WORT H T H E E F F ORT To support such extensive farming methods will take more effort on your part than simply going down to the supermarket, as convenient as that might be. The big retailers are—like the big meat companies—all about profit, and they are masters of obfuscation and clever labeling. A label depicting a charming rural scene on a package of supermarket meat is almost certainly fiction, as are many of the marketing words used to describe the product, which have no legal basis to substantiate them. If you believe that your local supermarket outlet—which

is part of a company with thousands of other branches, a major online sales activity, and a turnover larger than the gross domestic product of many smaller countries—is buying pigs from small-scale farmers as described in this section, then I must disillusion you. Instead, go to a farmer’s market or a speciality butcher who can tell you exactly which farmers supply him or her, or, better still, direct to the farmer. Be skeptical—ask questions and don’t be fobbed off by unsatisfactory responses, and make sure you are completely satisfied before you buy. Then, when you’ve found the real thing and really tasted the difference, tell all your friends and family about it and encourage them to change their supplier, too. The meat will cost more—nobody in pig production ever makes a fortune from pigs, but pigs raised slowly and properly will always cost more to raise than the factoryfarmed animal—but it is surely worth it.

Everything Bar the Squeal The pig’s carcass produces a higher ratio of meat to bone than that of any other domesticated mammal, and all of it is edible—the saying goes that you can eat “everything bar the squeal.” But surely you cannot eat the curly tail, I hear you ask? That is not true. Traditionally, communal pigs were gathered together from a village and taken to root and graze in nearby woods, where they came under the control of the village swineherd. Depending on the size of the village and thus the herd, he may have had a young assistant or two. In England during much of the Middle Ages, the earnings of the swineherd were strictly governed, such that he would receive one suckling pig per year (or two small ones) from each householder, the entrails of the best pig slaughtered, and the tails of all the pigs killed. While not on a par with an oxtail, a pig’s tail is muscular and thus meaty.

Chicago was known from the late nineteenth century as the “hog butcher for the world.” The Armour Company built the first large-scale slaughterhouse in the city’s meat-packing district.

Right

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{

Andouille is a French sausage made from pig chitterlings (small intestine), tripe, onions, wine, and seasoning.

Below

N O N M E AT P I G P R O D U C T S Blood Used to make blood sausages (or black puddings), as an agent in fabric printing and dyeing, as a treatment in leather production, in producing adhesives for the production of plywood, and as a protein source in animal feeds. Bones Ground to bone meal for use as a garden and farm fertilizer; in the production of glass, porcelain, and enamels; as part of the mix to create water filters; and as a mineral source in animal feeds. The bones themselves are used in the production of glues and other adhesives. Dried bones are used in the manufacture of bone china and in fashioning speciality buttons. Skin Tanned to make high-quality leathers used for gloves, shoes, saddles, and so on. Fat As fatty acids and glycerin, used in antifreeze, cement, chalk, crayons, cosmetics, fiber, insecticides, insulation, linoleum, floor waxes, lubricants, matches, nitroglycerin, oil polishes, paper sizing, phonograph records, plasticizers and plastics, printing rollers, putty, rubber, softeners, waterproofing agents, and weed killers. Wax made from pig fat was once widely used to style gentlemen’s mustaches. Bristles Used in speciality brushes, insulation, and upholstery.

F R E NC H F E A ST S Even today, the French eat far more of the pig than the British and Americans, including the tail. This may be preserved in a brine (salty) or pickle solution, or in a fancy way, but they will not be wasted. The French also prepare and cook the pig’s snout, ears, and brains as dishes in their own right or use them in a special saucisson (sausage). Cervelle de canut, for example, is a traditional peasant dish of pig’s brain and was a favorite among silk-mill workers in the early nineteenth century. Andouilles or andouillettes are tripe sausages, which also are a part of Louisiana Creole cuisine influenced by French ancestors, but they use Boston shoulder roast instead of tripe. Left The bristles of a wild boar, being especially stiff, are good for making hairbrushes.

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TAC K L I NG T H E TAC K L E

P ORC I N E P OL I S H Instances when the penis has been eaten or used in other ways are harder to find. Fortunately, Thomas Hardy came riding to my rescue with words from his novel Jude the Obscure (1895). Here, we discover that in the nineteenth century, the boar’s penis was used as a device for greasing a person’s boots: In his deep concentration on these transactions of the future Jude’s walk had slackened, and he was now standing quite still, looking at the ground as though the future were thrown thereon by a magic lantern. On a sudden something smacked him sharply in the ear, and he became aware that a soft cold substance had been f lung at him, and had fallen at his feet. A glance told him what it was—a piece of f lesh, the characteristic part of a barrow-pig, which the countrymen used for greasing their boots, as it was useless for any other purpose. Pigs were rather plentiful hereabout, being bred and fattened in large numbers in certain parts of North Wessex. On the other side of the hedge was a stream, whence, as he now for the first time realized, had come the slight sound of voices and laughter that had mingled with his dreams. He mounted the bank and looked over the fence. On the further side of the stream stood a small homestead, having a garden and pig-sties attached; in front of it, beside the brook, three young women were kneeling, with buckets and platters beside them containing heaps of pigs’ chitterlings, which they were washing in the running water. One or two pairs of eyes slyly glanced up, and perceiving that his attention had at last been attracted, and that he was watching them, they braced themselves for inspection by putting their mouths demurely into shape and recommencing their rinsing operations with assiduity. If you do want to try eating a pig’s penis instead of using it to grease your shoes with it, try the Guolizhuang Restaurant in Beijing, which specializes in dishes containing genitalia from various animals!

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How about any possible use of the pig’s sexual organs? Well, the testicles of young animals are highly prized by those in the know, much in the same way as sweetbreads (the thymus and pancreas), and are sometimes known as white kidneys, prairie oysters, or mountain oysters. I was told once of a veterinarian who used to make any pig castrating appointments his first call of the morning. It is normal to carry out such operations on pigs when they are around three to six weeks old and still with their mothers, and on a reasonably sized pig farm there might be two or three litters to deal with at once, or about 15 pairs of testicles. After the work was done, the veterinarian would take a plastic bag from his pocket and fill it with the best of the crop. He would then take it straight home and fry it for breakfast.

M E AT P IG S Meat pigs come in different sizes and weights, as noted in the section “Name Your Pig” (see page 216). To expand on this, here is a guide to the different types of pigs and how their meat is utilized. The youngest and most delicious is the sucking or suckling pig. Roasted whole, the meat and crisp skin just melt in the mouth. In the United States and United Kingdom, pigs at about eight weeks of age and approaching 26 to 44 pounds (12–20 kg) are usually used, but in continental Europe, they take them when they are purely milk-fed at 13 to 22 pounds (6–10 kg). Pork pigs are increasingly rare, because the commercial market now converts most meat from the next category.

Traditionally, pork pigs were raised only in the United Kingdom, China, and Southeast Asia, being younger and lighter in weight than bacon or meat pigs. The pork from the younger pig is paler in color, rich, and tender, and it is highly appreciated by those in the know. Bacon or meat pigs are heavier— another name for them is “manufacturing pigs,” not indicating any industrial tendency but that the meat is often

“manufactured” into bacon, sausages, hams, and so on. Because commercial pigs grow so rapidly and economically nowadays, nearly all pig meat is now from such pigs, but the fresh pig meat— rather than pork—is darker, less tender, and stronger flavored. Finally, we know that nothing is wasted with the pig, and older sows and boars going for slaughter are converted into bacon, sausages, pies, and so on.

US E S F OR A P I G B L A D DE R

Pig bladders were once highly prized for a number

pouch. For those looking to reduce the risk of

of uses. Smugglers in the southwest of England

adding further to their family, the pig’s bladder

used inf lated pig bladders as buoys to mark the

was again useful as a homemade contraceptive.

hiding places of their booty. The same organ

In more recent times, the ancient game of churdling

formed the inf lated interior of early soccer balls,

the spurdle has allegedly been revived in the

or families would make them useful as a child’s

English county of Somerset, which sees individuals

balloon or, dried and with seeds inside, a baby’s

racing each other while balancing a lard-f illed pig

rattle. Also dried, they made an effective tobacco

bladder on their head.

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The Gourmet’s Delight Unusual pig dishes may be enjoyed by some, but for most of us it is the more well-known cuts that delight the taste buds. Traditionally, the pig was considered particularly valuable because its meat could easily be cured and smoked to preserve it for the cold winter months. Ham, gammon, and bacon all spring to mind, each with lip-smacking regional variations. They include Italian Parma ham; Spanish Ibérico ham, with a hint of acorn; Black Forest ham from Germany—slivers of smoky delight; and the tangy, deep red Bayonne ham from France. Then there is hand-cured English ham from a slow-reared pig; when it is served with a crusty loaf and some English mustard—Nirvana is close at hand. Charles Campion, a British restaurant critic and food writer, once wrote that his favorite dish was not something exotic from the finest kitchens, but a simple sandwich made with thick slices of good white bread, unsalted butter, slices of smoked bacon streaked with 60 percent fat, and a little drop of ketchup. In all its forms, pork from a well-farmed pig is also truly wonderful. What could be better than slow-cooked belly pork? Except perhaps for a shoulder of pork, its skin finely scored and then slow-roasted until

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{

it falls off the bone. Or what about meaty sausages, barbecued to perfection? On the subject of barbecues, this style of cooking has been elevated to an art form in the southern United States. Here, the focus has always been on the pig, and today there are different rubs, marinades, sauces, and recipes to savor around the region. Head to Lexington, North Carolina, the self-styled “Barbecue Capital of the World,” for its annual October barbecue festival to enjoy prime pork cuts treated with the respect they deserve. And no less a person than the former president of Argentina thinks that the meat of the pig can also help your sex life. Cristina Kirchner caused chaos among shoppers and farmers in 2011 by advising the population to avoid beef and eat chicken instead, because it was healthier, or pork, which could improve one’s sex life. As a result, beef consumption slumped by 10 percent during the first four months compared with a year earlier. According to industry experts, chicken consumption increased by one-third, while pork rose by 8 percent in five years. As Kirchner said, “It’s a lot nicer to eat a bit of barbecued piglet than to take Viagra.”

Pork is among the most versatile of meats, better suited than any other to curing as well as to smoking in a smoking chamber, such as this one. Left

A N C I E N T E XC E S S Two thousand years ago, the Romans gorged upon the most sumptuous pig dishes. Along similar lines to the modern production of foie gras, where geese are force-fed rich foods to fatten their livers, so the Romans practiced porculatio. In this, the pigs were fed dried figs and honeyed wine to enlarge their livers and add fat, and they were tortured to death in the belief that this enhanced the f lavor. The ancient Greek playwright Plato, meanwhile, describes a dish called porcus trojanus (after the Trojan horse), which was eventually outlawed; in this, a whole roast pig was stuffed with songbirds and oysters, then drenched in wines and rich gravies.

These local women at a market in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, are cooking various meats, including pork sausages, for an asado or South American barbecue.

Right

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CHAPTER 5

The Breeds

Pigs in the Middle Ages The process by which pigs gradually evolved from the wild boar was long and seemingly largely unmanaged. As mentioned in Chapter 4, domestic pigs resembling their wild boar cousins were still being depicted in art at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Before the Industrial Revolution, there was little incentive to change the pig radically; it was a cottager’s animal that was fed on waste and scraps, and it converted these into meat that was harvested for the winter. While the unimproved swine did the job, and were hardy and healthy, there was little reason to try to change them. In addition, pigs were considered the least fashionable of farm animals, so that when animal improvement did come along, it was horses, cows, and sheep that received special attention from agriculturalists, such as Robert Bakewell and Thomas Coke. Pigs were seen as peasants’ animals and were left to their own devices. It wasn’t until the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that radical change came about. As explained in Chapter 1, ships would carry pigs with them on long voyages to provide a source of fresh meat, and such vessels arriving in the West from Asia brought with them curious small pot-bellied pigs unlike the large slab-sided hogs familiar to Europeans.

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Although different, these Asian pigs had certain advantages over the native swine. They were light boned and fast growing, the sows produced more piglets, and the flesh was pale and sweet. Enterprising dockworkers were soon trading with the sailors for these Asian pigs, and crosses with native pigs were then tried and found to be successful. The resulting progeny were soon noted to have many benefits, and over time the Asian imports significantly influenced the improvement of native European pigs.

C OU N T Y T Y P E S Before breeds were formally recognized from the mid-nineteenth century onward, writers on agrarian matters referred to many county “types” in Britain, although the descriptions of these were not always consistent and, one suspects, neither were the pigs. The probable reasons for During the eighteenth century, pigs such as these were imported from Asia to help improve European breeds. Right

such regional developments in pigs were the different methods of husbandry and the undue influence of certain boars. With a system of mainly cottagers’ pigs, no one other than the local squire had either the need or incentive to keep a stock boar. Most cottagers would have been beholden to the local landlord and would have taken their sow to his boar to produce the next litter. Over time, the squire’s boar would have influenced the types of pigs in the area, especially as replacement boars would almost certainly have been his offspring and there would

have been little concept or concern about inbreeding. If it was a good boar—quiet and producing large, healthy litters—other landowners from farther afield would have been drawn to him to source their next stock boar, and so the influence grew. Thus, a medium-size black boar with prick ears might, from a village domain, gradually influence the look of the pigs bred for miles around. Over years, this influence could spread so far afield that a visiting writer might describe such pigs as the predominant type of the county concerned.

Above At the heart of rural life in medieval Europe, as here in Ghent in sixteenthcentury Flanders, pigs were fed waste products from the threshing of cereal crops at harvest time.

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C H A NG I NG T I M E S The Industrial Revolution led to the rise of commercial pig farming, with demand growing for a system of disseminating food efficiently (see Chapter 4). As dairy farms became larger, there was a need to utilize the whey from cheese production— pigs proved useful in this respect, and were then marketed for their meat. In a similar way, breweries made room for pigs on their premises so that the malted barley and other waste from the beermaking processes could be converted into salable protein—a win–win situation. As the nineteenth century neared its conclusion, pig production was reaching serious levels. Both the Danes and Americans were designing the first industrial pig units, where pigs were housed on a permanent basis for ultimate productivity. This was certainly a different approach from the tradition of keeping pigs in a makeshift shelter at the bottom of the yard or even in the family home itself.

T H E I N F LU E NC E OF AG R IC U LT U R A L S HOWS Agricultural shows were developed to encourage good practice in crop growing, mechanical development, and animal husbandry. They started to appear in Europe in the mid- to late eighteenth century and were especially popular in England. These events gradually led to the establishment of breeds as we might recognize them today, but it was not until the second half of the nineteenth century that pedigree recording first took place. At the time, Great Britain was considered the stockyard of the world,

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The rise of agricultural shows in the late eighteenth century made celebrities of some of the prize-winning animals, such as Mr. Rowley’s York hog.

Below

and with its influence throughout the British Empire, it was the first port of call for emerging countries to source breeding stock. The agricultural shows helped promote this trade by staging exhibitions of the finest livestock, allowing for potential customers to contrast and compare animals, and then select those they wanted to purchase. Again, it was horse, cattle, and sheep that dominated at the agricultural shows, but soon the emerging pig breeders wanted to join in. In the early days, pigs were staged after sheep classes and assessed by the same experts, and it was said that in pigs, as in sheep, the judges looked especially for a long, flat back. There were no breed classes, but if enough pigs were entered, they were separated by color and/or size. This led inevitably to the development and fixing of the first recognized breeds, most of which were determined and established by the end of World War I.

Pigs are still exhibited at agricultural shows today, the shop window for pedigree breeders.

Above

Left A prize Middle White pig being washed prior to being exhibited at the Surrey County Show in England in the 1920s.

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The Advent of Breeds In terms of pigs, breeds have been around for less than 150 years. A breed in this regard is a group of animals that have been fixed by carefully controlled breeding to have the same appearance and characteristics, and, when bred together, produce offspring of the same type. In order to maintain this state, a record of such individuals—a pedigree register otherwise known as a herdbook— must be in operation and maintained. This section concentrates on British breeds, not through any jingoistic claim but because, for an important period, the United Kingdom was considered the stockyard of the world and British breeds have been used widely in most parts of the world, both in their pure form and to help develop and improve other breeds.

F I R ST H E R DB O OK S In fact, the recording of British pig breeds began in the United States, which shamed the British into following suit. It all began in the early 1880s, when so-called popular breeds were being exported to the United States to help develop its growing pork industry. The Americans began the first Berkshire pedigree record (herdbook) after they found that some of the imported pigs, although looking like Berkshires, failed

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to breed true. They therefore sorted out the mess and began a record of those animals that met their requirements. The American importers also went back to their suppliers and demanded that, before they bought any more, a pedigree record be established and properly run in the United Kingdom. The British Berkshire Society published its first herdbook of pedigree Berkshires in 1885, just weeks before the National Pig Breeders Association (NPBA) published its first volume covering Berkshires, Blacks (generally Small Blacks), Large

A painting of an unimproved Berkshire pig by William Shiels, ca. 1840. The pedigree Berkshire was popular in the nineteenth century.

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Whites, Middle Whites, Small Whites, and Tamworths. There were therefore two British organizations maintaining separate Berkshire breed records. Eventually, the British Berkshire Society was subsumed into the NPBA and one central record was maintained—as it is to this day. Interestingly, I have a copy of the first NPBA herdbook and the second entry is of a Berkshire boar called Cannon Ball, which was the property of Queen Victoria and was acquired from the breeder Joseph Clark of Maidenhead. The record states that Cannon Ball was farrowed on April 7, 1870, making him 15 years old—a remarkable age for a breeding boar.

These first herdbooks saw British pigs joining other domestic animals in the move toward maintaining strict standards and records, a practice that lasts right up until today. The twentieth century was, for the most part, the heyday of pedigree pigs but today, unfortunately, they are in decline and many breeds are now considered rare.

Originating from the eponymous Staffordshire town, the Tamworth pig is one of the most recognizable British breeds.

Above

Left The prick-eared Berkshire pig produces what some say is the best pork in the world, prized for its juiciness, tenderness, and f lavor.

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P E DIG R E E P IG S Pedigree pigs have many attributes and benefits, but they failed to keep up with the march of progress. Modern industrial pig farming does not regard pedigree breeds as being fit for purpose, and instead highly developed hybrids are created by biologists and geneticists working in laboratory conditions. They may well use a touch of Large White here or a trace of Piétrain there, but the needs of the industry simply cannot be met by pedigree breeds. Instead, these commercial breeders focus on the individual performance of certain animals—growth rates, lean meat ratios, muscle development, fecundity, adaptability to intensive production systems, and so on. And as soon as they have produced an improved specimen and flooded the market with its genes, they immediately start work on an even better version—the treadmill never ceases. So, having argued myself into a corner that pedigree pigs are a thing of the past, why am I going on to describe a selection of those self-same pedigree animals? Well, despite continued growth of the intensive pig farming sector, there is a growing awareness of the need to conserve and protect the old breeds. Yes, it’s nice to preserve something old—for example, a vintage car, a stately home, or a magnificent tree—but I am not suggesting that our pedigree pigs should be saved simply as living museum pieces. In truth, each has proven benefits that could be invaluable for circumstances that we cannot yet envisage in the future. For one thing, the eating quality of the meat is an aspect that scientists seemingly overlook, and our old breeds have superior qualities

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in this respect compared to hybrid pigs farmed intensively. It may be that at some stage we could reproduce such animals using cloning, but we are not there yet. In the United Kingdom, five pig breeds were lost in the years immediately before the Rare Breed Survival Trust was established in 1973. One of those probably failed to meet the criteria of being an actual breed, but the Cumberland, Lincolnshire Curly Coat, Large White Ulster, and Dorset Gold Tip certainly were classed as such. And while some individuals have claimed that they can re-create these lost breeds, they can actually do no more than develop a “lookalike”—the equivalent of a tribute band. The reason the old breeds cannot be re-created exactly is that no one ever recorded how each was originally made up. Instead, they generally came about when persons largely unknown

Left This Lincolnshire Curly Coat boar is one of four British breeds to have died out within living memory.

An on-farm pedigree pig sale that attracted a lot of potential buyers for these Wessex Saddlebacks in the 1920s.

Above

D A N I S H P ROT E S T P I G The Rotbuntes Husumer is a German type that is red in color with a white saddle and—it is claimed—the remnants of a white horizontal stripe running along its sides. With some

simply bred pigs together—mostly of types rather than breeds, and using almost random selection—until one day a useful kind of pig emerged that was so exceptional that inbreeding or linebreeding was carried out to fix the type. That such pigs were good enough to become established as a distinct and longlived breed, both nationally and overseas, indicates to me that they are well worth preserving. I hope that readers with an interest in pigs, wherever they may be, will be inspired to go out and acquire some pedigree stock to help conserve these valuable genes.

creative thinking, this pig earned the title of Danish Protest Pig based on its supposed similarity to Denmark’s flag— a white cross on a red ground. In the nineteenth century, Denmark and Prussia had a number of disagreements and minor wars resulting in those Danes living in North Schleswig as the twentieth century arrived being banned from raising their national flag there. The story goes that they developed the Rotbuntes Husumer from crossing breeds, such as the Angeln Saddleback with the Tamworth, and the resulting pig flew the flag for those expatriate Danes. As a breed it was recognized only in 1954 and declared extinct in 1968—surely the shortest life of any breed of pig—but it was re-created in 1984 and a few red Saddlebacks still exist under this banner.

TH E A D VEN T O F BREED S

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Wild Boar USED FOR

Pork TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive and feral COLOR

Black-brown

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Eurasia

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Profile Wild boar are included here, because they are sometimes farmed for the gourmet market. Throughout Europe, the wild boar still roams free and in many parts is considered a pest. There are large culling programs to control numbers, but in France, in particular, the demand for the meat exceeded the supply and much had to be imported. In the latter half of the twentieth century, this led to wild boar farming. The boar is slow growing but demands only low-input feedstuffs; robust, tall fencing is required to enclose the animals and most must be slaughtered on site. Wild boar are farmed in the United Kingdom, where escapees have established feral populations 200 to 300 years after the species became extinct there. A big breakout came in 1987 in southeast England, when a storm felled trees and destroyed fences; the escaped animals have since formed a large colony on the Sussex–Kent border. Behavior & use Wild boar can only be farmed extensively. They are prodigious jumpers and therefore need taller fencing compared with domestic breeds—up to 7 feet (2 m) high. Being essentially wild animals, they can be unpredictable and need careful management. They are slow growing and produce smaller litters than domestic pigs.

Berkshire USED FOR

Pork TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Intensive and extensive COLOR

Black or dark brown with white points

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Profile Originating around Wantage on the Berkshire–Oxfordshire border, and now a rare breed in its native England, the Berkshire is more widespread in North America, where it has been adapted over the years to a more commercial animal. Originally golden or sandy in color with black splotches (see page 176), Berkshires were improved around 1830 by Lord Barrington and are now black (or dark brown) with a white tail tip, white feet, and a white blaze on the face. Their short snout indicates a good degree of influence of Asian breeds, which were probably introduced when Barrington was working to improve the breed. Berkshires were also used in the development of a number of American breeds, notably the Poland China. They have been labeled “a lady’s pig,” because most of their better-known keepers have been women, including Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth II, and the children’s writer Beatrix Potter. Behavior & use Berkshires are an easy-care breed with a good temperament. They are a speciality pork producer, being small-boned and putting on flesh rapidly, and are not as suitable for taking to heavier weights. Sows are quiet, attentive mothers.

England

TH E BREED S

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Gascony USED FOR

Pork, bacon, and lard TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

Black

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

France

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Profile The Gascony or Gascon is an Iberian-type black breed of medium size, and it probably represents the oldest type of pig in France. Its home ground is the Pyrenean foothills in the southwest of the country, and its coloration makes it ideally adapted to cope with the sun and heat close to the Spanish border. Although once popular, the breed was reduced to a population of just 80 sows by 1984, and plans were put in place to try to recover numbers and put the Gascony on a safer footing. Behavior & use Gasconies are renowned as good mothers, are docile and prolific, and will produce excellent eating-quality meat from low inputs. They are unsuited to modern farming methods, but will happily stay outside throughout the year and supplement their diet by vigorous rooting and grazing, which locals believe helps to give the dark meat its unique flavor. The breed is probably related to the black Spanish pigs that are prized for their Ibérico hams. Like many older breeds, it can easily run to fat, especially because the local habit is to wait until the pig reaches around 330 pounds (150 kg) liveweight at close to two years of age before sending it to market.

Meishan USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

Black

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

China

Profile The Meishan is one of the Taihu group of Chinese breeds and originates in central China, north of Shanghai. Individuals are black with white feet and a heavy, wrinkled skin, notably on the face and on top of the legs, and they have large, pendulous ears. The back is straighter than in many Chinese types, but the belly almost touches the ground. Within the last 30 years, examples have been exported to the United States, France, and the United Kingdom due to one notable difference compared with developed Western breeds: their breeding capacity. Meishans have been used in experimental breeding programs to try to improve the prolificacy of hybrid pigs used in mainstream pork production. They reach puberty at 60 to 65 days and have high ovulation rates, and they produce large litters—the record claimed in China is 42, of which 40 were born alive, but this has not been verified. Studies have shown that while the average numbers born is high, averaging 16.10, the numbers still alive at weaning average only 12.10—better than in Western breeds but not significantly so. Behavior & use The Meishan is noted as being docile and lazy—difficult to handle even—and its estrus lasts a day longer than in European breeds. Despite this better fecundity, however, it has higher fat levels and slower growth rates.

TH E BREED S

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Tamworth USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

Red and ginger

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

England

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Profile The Tamworth is the only red- or golden-colored British breed. It is named after a town in the English county of Staffordshire, where the breed originated. It is said that the pigs are descendants of the old English forest pig that roamed the Midlands through the Middle Ages. Their snout is the longest among British breeds, indicating minimal influence from the Asian imports used to improve most breeds and demonstrating a close association with the wild boar. Tamworths have never been a mainstream breed and could easily have become extinct after World War II, but they enjoyed a revival under the banner of being an official rare breed. With their prick ears, they have no restriction to their vision and hear well, so they are alert to all around them. They are prodigious rooters and their coloration protects them from sunburn. In summer, adult pigs can sometimes shed their bristles, which then regrow as winter arrives. In 1998, the escapades of the “Tamworth Two,” a pair of escapees from an abattoir in Wiltshire, although cross-breds, brought the breed a measure of fame. Behavior & use Originally a bacon pig, the Tamworth today is more likely to be finished for pork. It is essentially an outdoor breed and has a lively, inquisitive nature, although it is not as prolific as some breeds.

Duroc USED FOR

Pork, bacon, and terminal sire TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Intensive COLOR

Red-brown

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Profile The Duroc came about from an amalgamation of the Jersey Red of New Jersey (an especially large breed by all accounts), whose line is traced back to English pigs imported in 1832, and the more compact Duroc of New York, named by Isaac Frink after a notable stallion bred by the neighbor from whom he bought the pigs. Known for decades as the Duroc-Jersey, it has been simply called the Duroc since the 1930s. Individual pigs can be more brown than red, a coloration that originates in Guinea hogs imported into the Atlantic states via slave ships arriving from West Africa. The ideal is a shade of cherry red, although tones of yellow are known. Perhaps from the early influence of the Jersey Red, the Duroc was originally a solid, heavy pig with short ears, and it has since evolved into a much more muscular animal today. The hair follicles on purebred Durocs are deep rooted, so the breed is unpopular with abattoirs; in the United States, the bristles are not removed—instead, the carcass is skinned. Behavior & use The Duroc is the most populous of American breeds and is widely used across the world as a terminal sire, producing lean, strong carcasses in the resulting hybrids. Suitable for intensive systems but will adapt readily to steading.

USA

TH E BREED S

185

Hereford USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

Red and white

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

USA

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Profile Just like the Hampshire, which has only a tenuous link to the English county that named it, the Hereford is not named after its place of origin but for its color markings, which are similar to those of the famous Hereford breed of cattle. The body is red, but the head, semi-lop ears, legs, belly, and tail tip are all white, and it is this color pattern above all else that has appealed to American farmers. The breed was developed in La Plata, Missouri, by R. U. Weber, probably from crosses of Chester White, Poland China, Duroc, and Hampshire pigs in the early part of the twentieth century. Weber refused to sell breeding stock and the breed died with him, but others re-created it and in 1934 a breed society was formed, funded in part by the Polled Hereford Cattle Registry Association in Iowa. Behavior & use A docile breed, the Hereford produces good litters and is fast growing; its supporters claim it needs less input to reach finished weights compared to other breeds. The breed has never been overly popular and is mainly suited to extensive farming systems such as homesteading, although it is adaptable enough for indoor production systems. It is usually found only in the Midwestern United States and has never been exported.

Kunekune USED FOR

Laboratory and pet TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

Black, white, red-ginger, and combinations thereof

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

New Zealand

Profile The Kunekune is a miniature New Zealand breed, numbers of which have increased dramatically since its demise was forecast in the late 1970s, mainly due to its suitability for the pet market. Adult pigs weigh up to 110 pounds (50 kg) and can reach a height of 24 inches (60 cm). Kunekune are believed to be Asian in origin and were either brought to New Zealand by the Maori when they arrived in the fifteenth century or were left by nineteenth-century European whaling ships calling in to replenish supplies. They come in a variety of colors— white, black, brown, and golden, or an admixture of any of these. The face is short and dished, and the ears are pricked. Many carry wattles—known as pire pire—under the jaw, suggesting a background of hotter climates. Kunekune are also known as Pua’a or Poaka. Numbers have also now been established in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Behavior & use Kunekune are naturally friendly toward humans, following their owners around and appreciating being petted. They are late maturers, but they will fatten on very little—kunekune means “fat and round” in Maori—and the meat can be eaten. Their small stature and short snout have led some to claim that they don’t root, but this should be taken with a pinch of salt—I would not recommend letting any near your local golf course.

TH E BREED S

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Poland China USED FOR

Pork, bacon, and lard TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

Black with white points

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

USA

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Profile The Poland China has been evolving and changing since before the 1820s, and although it was once the most populous in the United States, it is now a minority breed. The name was adopted in 1870 and a breed association was established in 1878. The original pigs were huge, coarse-boned creatures kept for the production of lard, but they were gradually refined over time. The breed was developed in Ohio, based initially on a handful of pigs called Big Chinas from Philadelphia. These were crossed with Byfields and Russians, and became known as Warren County hogs. The Irish Grazier was added to the genetic mix, along with some input from pigs owned by a Polish farmer in Butler County, which gave the breed the first part of its name. The Warren County pigs were then extensively crossed with Berkshires, which accounts for the color pattern, and the Poland China breed was established. Mostly black with six white points on the face, feet, and tail tip, and with drooping ears, the Poland China is still a large breed but has been trimmed down from previous incarnations. Behavior & use The Poland China is not outstanding in terms of prolificacy and does not adapt well to intensive conditions, but it is a large-framed breed producing a meaty carcass and still has its adherents for extensive systems.

Large Black USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

Black

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

England

Profile The Large Black hails from the same part of England as the British Lop, and in Germany is known simply as the Cornwall. It is similar in appearance to the British Lop, with long lop ears covering the face, but it is deeper in the body. It is the only completely black British breed. In the early days of the National Pig Breeders Association in the late 1800s, there were two black types—the Large Black of Cornwall and the Small Black of East Anglia. However, the latter was in terminal decline, and when numbers reduced to just a few individuals, they were subsumed into the Large Black herdbook and disappeared. While accurate records of the development of the Large Black do not exist (in common with nearly all old breeds), there is some evidence that Neapolitan pigs imported from Italy by Lord Western in the early part of the nineteenth century were used to improve the Cornish pig. Behavior & use The Large Black has never been a mainstream breed, largely due to the commercial meat market’s prejudice against colored pigs. However, it is a smallholder’s favorite, being docile and hardy, and with sows making excellent mothers. It is kept primarily as a pork producer. The Large Black is fine boned and temperamentally unsuited to intensive methods, as are most rare pig breeds.

TH E BREED S

189

Mangalitsa USED FOR

Pork, bacon, and lard TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

Blond, black, red, and blond-black

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Serbia/Hungary

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Profile The Mangalitsa is the dinosaur of the European pig world, and although it is mainly associated with Hungary today, it began its existence in Serbia. There, from the 1830s, a small lard pig evolved that was basically the forerunner of the breed. By the end of the nineteenth century, the large Mangalitsa was completely formed as a blond pig with black hooves, and a black version evolved from crosses with the Black Syrmian. By World War I, it had been modified in size to medium, but it was still deep and long, with short legs, a medium head, and a large belly. What is different about the Mangalitsa is that it is covered by a mat of dense, curly hair, which stops it from getting sunburned in summer or too cold in winter. The skin is slate gray, and as well as blond or black types, there are also red and dark tan variations, and a “black belly” (blond above and black below) or the reverse, known as a “swallow belly” (as in photograph above). In recent times, numbers in Hungary have crashed, but Mangalitsas do occur in other parts of Europe. They are now found in the United States and United Kingdom. Behavior & use Mangalitsas are now kept exclusively in extensive systems and are hardy grazers. Being a speciality lard breed, they still run to fat despite efforts to breed them leaner, but the produce can be used to make fine sausages.

Vietnamese Pot-belly USED FOR

Laboratory and pet TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

Black, white

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Vietnam

Profile Properly, the breed name of the Vietnamese Pot-belly is Í. Pig and poultry production are highly important in Vietnam, which has a pig population of around 13 million. One might therefore expect that intensive production is the norm, but this is not the case. Pig farming is carefully linked to the river deltas and rice paddy fields, and 80 percent of pigs are kept on small family units. The pigs are fed on aquatic plants, such as water hyacinth, and water snails. Some pigs are housed above fishponds so that their manure falls into the water, encouraging aquatic plants to grow and feeding the fish, which their owners also consume. Highly bred animals demand better-quality feed, so the Í is more suited to its natural environment. It grows to around 220 pounds (100 kg) and has a wrinkled black skin, a dished face, a narrow forehead, and short prick ears. It also has a sway back, causing the belly to drag on the floor. The boar has a line of bristles down his neck and the feet are plantigrade, with all four toes touching the ground—ideal for swampy conditions. Behavior & use Vietnamese Pot-bellies were exported to Europe and North America in the 1960s for laboratory use, but soon found their way into zoos and, eventually, the pet market. Despite the breed’s appeal, its temperament makes it less than ideal for keeping as a pet.

TH E BREED S

191

Angeln Saddleback or Angler Sattelschwein USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

Black and white saddleback

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Germany

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Profile Originally a local pied type, the Schleswig land pig was taken in hand in 1926 and improved by judicious crossing with Wessex Saddlebacks from England and Swabian Halle pigs. The result was a pig with a saddleback marking but a wider white band than most others. These deep pigs with semi-lop ears were fast growing but tended to carry too much fat for the modern market. To overcome this, they were crossed with Danish Landrace and Dutch Landrace, but this took them too far from their origins. To help save the breed, pigs of the original type were brought back from Hungary and East Germany. The result was a leaner pig, but this did not stop the decline in numbers—by 1986, only 50 remained. A conservation plan has halted the decline, but the Angeln Saddleback is still a minority breed. Behavior & use The commercial meat market is prejudiced against pigs with pigmentation and, by selection, breeders are gradually increasing the width of the white saddle to mitigate the effect. As an outdoor animal, it should be attractive to the smallholder community who value traditional traits rather than out-and-out commercial benefits; a good, milky mother pig that is not adapted to intensive systems.

Piétrain USED FOR

Bacon and terminal sire TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Intensive COLOR

White with black markings

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Belgium

Profile This spotted, prick-eared breed almost became extinct before its qualities were recognized. It was a local pig kept around the village in the Brabant region of Belgium after which it was named, and it was not appreciated until after World War II, because it was too lean. However, as the market for such meat grew, it was discovered and numbers rocketed. What is it about Belgium, a small country with few native livestock breeds, that it has produced the Belgian Blue cattle, Beltex sheep, and Piétrain pig, all with one distinctive feature—a double-muscled rump? It has been suggested that Piétrains were developed from crossing the French Normand breed with Large Whites and Berkshires in around 1920. Although the spots are usually black, they can sometimes be red, and they are usually surrounded by a blue-gray ring. A herdbook was established in 1958. Behavior & use The pig from Brabant is now used around the world for crossing with commercial hybrids to improve muscling and growth rates. Unfortunately, the breed is also susceptible to the halothane gene, which produces stress-related conditions, and it is not unknown for individuals simply to lie down and die in stressful situations. Piétrains are usually kept intensively.

TH E BREED S

193

Swabian Halle USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive and intensive COLOR

Black and white

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Germany

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T HE B R E E DS

Profile Germany is the largest pig-producing country in Europe, but the old native breeds have largely been usurped by the various European and American breeds. The Swabian Halle suffered like the rest, but it has made a significant comeback in recent years. It is not so much a saddleback-marked pig as a white pig with a black head and neck and a black rear end. Markings may also include a large black spot on the back, and the pigs have semi-lop ears and a large build. They were not originally regarded as a breed but as a type from the Württemberg region, and in the nineteenth century had some input from Chinese masked pigs. Later, crosses with Berkshire and Essex pigs added to the breed’s genetic melting pot. A herdbook was established in 1925, but just a couple of years later further improvements were made using the Wessex Saddleback. The breed society was defunct by 1970, but was revived about 10 years later; numbers of Swabian Halles have since increased, especially following the award of Protected Geographical Status (PGI) by the European Commission. Behavior & use Swabian Halle pigs are fertile and early maturing, and the sows make excellent, milky mothers. Having achieved a PGI award, the pigs are now widely appreciated for their meat and demand is strong.

Ossabaw Island USED FOR

Pork TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive and feral COLOR

Various

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

USA

Profile These miniature feral pigs are based on a 26,000-acre (11,000-ha) island off the Georgia coast. Unlike other feral pigs, they have had little, if any, interbreeding with domestic breeds and so retain many original characteristics. They are probably the smallest domestic pigs, being 3 feet (90 cm) in length and weighing less than 55 pounds (25 kg), although they do grow larger when taken off the island. They almost certainly derive from early Spanish pigs and display the similar characteristics of heavy coats, long snouts, prick ears, and the ability to survive from scavenging. Unlike the bristles of domestic pigs, those of Ossabaws split at the ends. As with most feral pigs, they come in a wide variety of colors and patterns, and many have wattles hanging from their neck. Behavior & use In the wild, Ossabaws can be aggressive, but when taken in hand they will moderate their behavior. The sows will eat sick or injured piglets, and at times of deprivation, the Ossabaw can live off its substantial reserves of fat (up to 3 inches/80 mm thick). The pigs have a negative impact on the island’s ecology and regularly destroy nests of loggerhead turtles and ground-nesting birds. As a result, the population is limited to 500 to 800 through trapping and removing them to the mainland, where they are fattened for meat.

TH E BREED S

195

Gloucestershire Old Spots USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

White with black spots

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

England

196

T HE B R E E DS

Profile The Gloucestershire Old Spots (GOS) is a breed that has known more ups and downs than most. Pedigree recording began in 1913, although it was said that the pigs had been known since time immemorial in their native habitat to the south of England’s river Severn. A large white pig with black spots (local folklore claims these are the bruises from windfall fruit in orchards), the GOS was the most populous breed in the United Kingdom in the early 1920s, but because greedy breeders sold poor-quality stock to meet demand, numbers crashed and it could easily have become extinct on a number of occasions. Behavior & use For a short period in the 1990s and early 2000s, the GOS was popular again based on its reputation for high-quality meat. In 1993, it set the British record for the highest price paid for a pig at auction, at 4,000 guineas (around US$6,300), and in 2010 it was the first breed of any species to be awarded Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) status by the European Commission as part of its heritage food protection initiative. GOS are laid back and make excellent mothers. There is now also a viable population in the United States, which may help save the breed in the event of a disaster in the United Kingdom.

Puławy USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

Pied black and white

Profile The Puławy is a Polish breed whose origins lie in primitive native pigs that were improved by the addition of Berkshire blood at the Borowina Research Station at Puławy in the early part of the twentieth century. The native animals were slow growing and produced dry, stringy meat, but crossing them with Berkshires resulted in faster-growing, earlymaturing pigs with fattier, more succulent meat. This was fine up until World War II, but they were not awfully prolific and as fashions changed in the 1950s, their fat content was deemed too high. A British breed again came to the rescue—the Large White was used to improve the Puławy, so that it has a longer, leaner carcass and now completely meets the demands of both Polish farmers and consumers. It has semi-erect ears and is pied black and white, with the black color predominating, and sometimes also has some red in the coat. Behavior & use Puławy pigs are prolific and docile. In a scientific study comparing the Polish native breeds with modern hybrids in terms of meat quality, the Puławy did well, which should help it maintain its popularity into the future.

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Poland

TH E BREED S

197

Spotted USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive and intensive COLOR

Black and white

Profile The Spotted breed was known until 1960 as the Spotted Poland China, because it was based on the original type of that breed. Just like the Berkshire before it was “improved,” the Poland China was originally a white or ginger pig with black spots or blotches. Three men from Indiana brought Ohio Poland Chinas back home to the counties of Putnam and Hendricks, and crossed them with their own stock to establish the breed. In 1914, breeders took this original type and crossed it with two Gloucestershire Old Spots called King of England and Queen of England that were imported specifically for that purpose. A breed association was formed in Indiana the same year, but changed its name 46 years later to the National Spotted Swine Register. The Spotted has semi-lop ears and is white or off-white with black blotches instead of distinct spots, although some modern examples are more black than white. Behavior & use Primarily an outdoor breed for pork production, the Spotted is a strong, thickset pig with sturdy legs, and has a more level topline than most American breeds. Sows make good mothers, and the breed is suited to both extensive and intensive systems.

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

USA

198

T HE B R E E DS

Limousin USED FOR

Pork, bacon, and lard TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

Black and white

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

France

Profile Anyone familiar with the sleek, muscular Limousin breed of beef cattle may be surprised at the first sight of the Limousin pig, although in fairness there are so few surviving today that this French breed is unfamiliar to most. Its color pattern is unusual but similar to that of the German pasture breeds, having a black head and a black rump. The body in between is white with irregular black spots or patches. The head is conical, with a long, narrow snout (it is sometimes said to be “mole-headed”) and the ears are semi-lop. The breed is said to be of the Iberian type. Behavior & use The Limousin was originally highly regarded for lard production. The pigs were traditionally kept on root crops and then finished in the autumnal season on sweet chestnuts, before being slaughtered at 18 months with a carcass around 440 pounds (200 kg) in weight, 50 percent of which comprised high-quality creamy fat. The pig could not adapt quickly enough to modern tastes, however, and populations went into sharp decline. In the last 40 years, efforts have been made to conserve the remaining animals and increase numbers. Even today, Limousins are such slow growers that they can take 10 to 12 months to produce a carcass of 220 pounds (100 kg). They are suited only to extensive systems.

TH E BREED S

199

Hampshire USED FOR

Pork, bacon, and terminal sire TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Intensive COLOR

Black and white saddleback

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

USA via Great Britain

200

THE B R E E DS

Profile The United States’ fourth most-populous breed, the Hampshire, is not named for the state of New Hampshire but for the county in southern England from where it was exported. At that time (about 1825), Hampshire pigs were recorded as black, and there is some evidence that the saddleback-marked swine destined for Boston actually originated in Scotland. For decades, the American breed was called the Thin Rind, and the Hampshire name really stuck only around the turn of the twentieth century. The breed was also variously known as the Mackay (after the gentleman who imported them), Ring Middle, and Ring Necked. Behavior & use A prick-eared black pig with a white saddle, the Hampshire has evolved into a long-legged, lean, muscular animal favored as a crossing breed. Some modern pig breeds carry a stress gene known as the halothane gene, which causes a stress-related disorder and results in meat that is wet and fat that separates. The Hampshire has no such problems, and therefore hybrids using a Hampshire boar are less likely to be so affected. The Hampshire sow is a good mother, long-lived, and milky, but some bloodlines have arrived in Europe that often do not breed true for color pattern. Hampshires are widely used as a terminal sire.

Mulefoot USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

Black

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Profile The rarest of the North American breeds, the Mulefoot is a medium-size black pig with semi-erect ears. Its leading characteristic is that the foot is not cloven but formed into one, like that of a mule. Known as syndactylism, this feature has been noted in individual pigs for thousands of years, although the American Mulefoot is the only known breed to display it. The origin of the Mulefoot is unknown, but it is thought to descend from Spanish hogs brought to North America by the early explorers in the sixteenth century. The breed was relatively popular across the Corn Belt and through Missouri (where it is known as the Ozark Hog) until the mid-twentieth century, but it declined as production levels became more streamlined. The population now stands in the low hundreds, and the Livestock Conservancy—the organization that looks after rare farm animals in the United States—has classified the breed as “Critical.” Behavior & use The Mulefoot is a hardy outdoor breed. Along the Mississippi River, farmers used to turn out their Mulefoots onto the islands in the spring, leaving them to their own devices until fall, when they would return by boat to collect them for slaughter. The pigs are said to fatten economically and to be resistant to disease.

USA, possibly from Spanish stock

TH E BREED S

201

Danish Landrace USED FOR

Bacon and terminal sire TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Intensive COLOR

White

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Denmark

202

T HE B R E E DS

Profile One of the most important breeds in the modern world, the Danish Landrace was developed deliberately in the small country of Denmark. Up until the 1870s, Denmark was exporting to Germany live pork pigs based on Berkshires and Middle Whites crossed onto local types. However, the German market dried up and the Danes instead turned their attention to the Wiltshire-cure bacon market in the United Kingdom. In turn, they imported Large Whites, and by judicious crossing onto local types, eventually established the Danish Landrace around the beginning of the twentieth century. The main driver behind this was government livestock commissioner P. A. Mørkeberg, who arranged the importation of the finest foundation stock from the leading Large White breeder, Sanders Spencer. Behavior & use The Landrace is a long, lean white breed with semi-lop ears and an extra rib, meaning that the sides of bacon are particularly productive. The Danes refused to let the British have breeding stock, worrying it would mean the collapse of their enterprise; the British did import some in 1949 via Sweden, but despite the Danes’ concerns, it did not adversely impact their production. The Danish Landrace have since been exported all over the pig-keeping world. Developed for the intensive pig industry, the breed is rapid growing.

Chester White USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Intensive and extensive COLOR

White

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Profile The Chester White is British in its genes, but 100 percent American in its breeding. Various breeds went into its makeup, including the Lincolnshire Curly Coat, Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Cumberland, and Yorkshire, as well as the Irish Grazier. Originally developed in Ohio, it is named after Chester County, Pennsylvania, and was developed as a large lard pig when the production of lard was important. Its herdbook society was established in 1884, but it was some years before all the disparate breed factions came together. Historically, the pig was chastised by various writers for not being consistent, suggesting that continual efforts to improve it were being tried by different breeders. However, it is now a fixed breed that is especially useful for crossing. Behavior & use A long, well-boned all-white pig with a short head and semi-lop ears, the Chester is especially appreciated for its mothering abilities, being quiet, a good milker, and producing large, healthy litters. It can have prodigious growth rates and is adaptable for both intensive and extensive production systems. As well as being found in the United States and Canada, Chester Whites are kept in Japan and South Africa.

USA

TH E BREED S

203

Welsh USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Intensive and extensive COLOR

White

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Wales

204

T HE B R E E DS

Profile Pigs have been associated with Wales since ancient times. Most pig farming went on in the south, which is where the modern Welsh breed began, originally known as the Old Glamorgan. A breed society was formed in 1918 and was then amalgamated into the Welsh Pig Society in 1922. The Welsh pig has always been white with lop ears, and has remained a localized breed. In 1949, just 33 boars were registered, but following crosses with Danish Landrace pigs, numbers rocketed and, just six years later, some 528 Welsh were registered. The breed became more popular as it took on the appearance and performance of the Danish Landrace. The deep body disappeared, replaced with an elongated one with heavy muscling. Today, at a show, you may well see three white lop-eared breeds: the British Landrace, the Welsh, and the British Lop. The easiest way to tell them apart is the set of the ears. The Landrace has short ears that cock forward; the Lop has ears that completely cover the face; and the Welsh is in between, with ears that fall forward but are carried in the halfway position. Behavior & use The Welsh is now recognized as a rare breed. Dams make good mothers and the pigs are used primarily for bacon production. They can be farmed extensively or intensively.

British Lop USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

White

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

England

Profile The British Lop has always been among the rarest of British pig breeds, even after the concept of conserving native livestock became reality in the early 1970s with the establishment of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. All the other rare pig breeds highlighted by the trust in its first three decades looked distinctive, but at first glance the British Lop appears too similar to the British Landrace and Welsh breeds. As a result, smallholders ignored it in favor of other breeds. The Lop comes from the far southwest of England at the border between Devon and Cornwall, where the locals were happy to keep this useful all-rounder to themselves. After government legislation forced local pig types to become established as breeds in the first half of the twentieth century, a breed society was formed and a herdbook published in 1920 under the cumbersome name of National Long White LopEared Pig, which lasted until the 1960s. In 1926, the society jointly published a herdbook with the Old Glamorgan Pig Society and the Welsh Pig Society, but the relationship was uneasy and the Lops soon broke away. The breed is also known as Devon Lop and Cornish White. Behavior & use The British Lop is hardy and robust, producing a good carcass for pork or bacon, and is a quiet breeding pig. It is not suited to intensive systems.

TH E BREED S

205

Large White, Yorkshire, or Large Yorkshire USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive and intensive COLOR

White

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

England

206

T HE B R E E DS

Profile Arguably the most important and influential breed in the world, the Large White was not developed by one of the great livestock improvers or someone from the landed gentry, but by a humble weaver in a northern English mill town. Joseph Tuley and his wife liked nothing better than pig racing (the early term for pig showing) in their spare time. Joseph kept and bred his pigs in the backyard of his cottage in Keighley, Yorkshire, and was determined to breed the best. The result was the Improved Yorkshire, or Large White, which appeared in the 1850s and was so successful that the Tuleys soon moved to a larger property bought from the sales of breeding stock. Amazingly, Large Whites are now classified as a rare breed in their native country, because pedigree stock is no longer required for the intensive pig industry. Behavior & use The Large White is a large breed with prick ears and a reasonably long snout, and it was developed primarily for the bacon market. It has been exported around the world and used in many improvement and development programs. The sows make excellent mothers and produce muscular, fast-growing offspring. Large Whites can be farmed both intensively and extensively, and they have a quiet temperament.

Middle White USED FOR

Pork TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Extensive COLOR

White

Profile The Middle White is another breed originating in the English county of Yorkshire, and it came about from crossing the Large White with the extinct Small White. It is a speciality early-maturing pork breed, all white in color and with a snub snout, indicating a great deal of Asian influence via the Small White. Middle Whites have distinctive prick ears, which give their face an almost batlike appearance. They can also have a long coat of fine bristles. Nominally hardy, the pigs are best moved indoors at the arrival of winter, because they do not thrive in wet, cold conditions. Behavior & use In the 1930s, the Middle White was the most populous breed in Great Britain, but legislation that effectively concentrated the market on bacon production to try to counteract the Danish dominance in this area saw numbers fall and they never recovered. Although among the rarest of British breeds, it is still farmed in Japan, where the quality of its pork is highly prized—there is even a shrine in the breed’s honor. In the United Kingdom in recent years, the Middle White has found a niche in supplying the suckling pig trade.

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

England

TH E BREED S

207

Göttingen Miniature USED FOR

Laboratory TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Intensive and extensive COLOR

White

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Germany

208

T HE B R E E DS

Profile As discussed in Chapter 2, pigs have a high value in terms of medical research, but scientists in confined laboratories find it difficult to cope with the more conventional breeds due mainly to their size. There have been international efforts to produce dedicated small pigs that suit medical research. One such pig, developed in the United States by the Hormel Institute, known as the Minnesota Miniature No. 5, was selected as the basis for a new miniature pig by Göttingen University in Germany in the 1960s. It was crossed with Vietnamese Pot-bellies, producing a pig with good ear veins and a low inbreeding coefficient. Unfortunately, the pigs were black, brown, or piebald, colors that are not ideal for research purposes, so genes from German Landrace pigs were introduced, resulting in all-white stock. In 1992, the Danes perfected the breed for biomedical research purposes. Behavior & use While the Minnesota Miniature No. 5 has since become extinct, the Göttingen Miniature has become probably the most important speciality breed for research work throughout Europe, the United States, and Japan, because it is small, docile, and workable. The adult weight of the Göttingen Miniature is less than 90 pounds (40 kg).

Lacombe USED FOR

Pork and bacon TYPE OF HUSBANDRY

Intensive COLOR

White

COUNTRY/REGION OF ORIGIN

Canada

Profile It might be surprising that a country as big as Canada has contributed just one pig breed to the world, but the climate in large parts of it is unsuitable to swine production, so it is unfair to compare it with the neighboring United States in this respect. After the Danish Landrace arrived in Canada in 1934, the Canadian Department of Agriculture set up a breeding development program at the Lacombe Experimental Farm. They settled on breeding Danish Landrace with Chester Whites, and then putting the progeny to a Berkshire boar. The final result—the Lacombe—was 56 percent Danish Landrace, 21 percent Chester White, and 23 percent Berkshire, and it looks similar to the first of these. The intention was to develop a well-fleshed white breed ideal for crossing with the Yorkshire Large White to provide hybrid vigor. A herdbook for the breed was established in 1958. Behavior & use The Canadians export about 40 percent of their pork production to the United States, and the Lacombe is a popular breed. The pigs are docile and make successful mothers, and in production terms they are fast growers with a good carcass. Breeding stock has been exported to the United States, Europe, Mexico, and South America as well as to Cambodia, Singapore, and Malaysia.

TH E BREED S

209

Pig Populations

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Presented here are the 2013 figures from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). (More recent figures are available, but the sources are less reliable.) Total pig population

977,274,246

The top 30 pig-keeping countries and their pig populations, in descending order, are as follows: China 482,398,000 64,775,000 United States Brazil 36,743,593 Germany 27,690,100 Vietnam 26,261,400 Spain 25,494,720 Russia 18,816,357 Mexico 16,201,625

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T HE B R E E DS

France 13,487,588 Canada 12,879,000 Netherlands 12,212,300 Denmark 12,075,750 Philippines 11,843,051 Poland 11,162,472 Myanmar 10,530,000 India 10,130,000 9,912,204 South Korea Japan 9,685,000 Italy 8,661,500 Indonesia 8,246,000 Nigeria 8,080,000 Thailand 7,923,654 Ukraine 7,576,700 Belgium 6,592,978 Taiwan 6,300,000 Colombia 5,340,890 Romania 5,234,313 4,885,000 United Kingdom Belarus 4,292,900 Venezuela 3,900,000

Below Venezuela, another 158 countries are listed, all boasting their varying populations of pigs, until we come to the last: Falkland Islands 40. What is surprising, however, in light of the fact that pigs are the biggest contributors to the global meat supply (see Chapter 1), is the number of pigs relative to other species. Here are the FAO figures from a year earlier, 2012: Pigs Goats Sheep Cattle Chickens

966 996 1,169 1,485 21,867

million million million million million

Of course, many more chickens are produced than other animals, because they are much smaller and a high percentage are in the egg-producing sector. In a similar way, many cattle and goats are kept for dairy purposes. But why should there be fewer pigs than sheep? This just goes to demonstrate the huge advantages that pigs have over other domestic mammals: They reproduce twice a year or up to five times in two years. Cattle, goats, and sheep tend to breed only once a year. Pigs have multiple births (the current official record 37 at a single farrowing), so they can easily produce 20-plus viable offspring a year. Cattle and sheep tend to average fewer than two offspring a year, or up to four in exceptional circumstances. Pigs grow faster and utilize less grain to achieve a pound of flesh than other livestock. In a commercial unit, a pig will reach 220 pounds (100 kg) liveweight in 16 to18 weeks from birth. In comparison,

a lamb will achieve 90 pounds (40 kg) in closer to 24 weeks, and a steer 1,200 pounds (550 kg) at 60 to 75 weeks. These figures help to explain why a lower population of pigs can achieve so much in helping to feed and nurture humankind. To finish off demonstrating the magical powers of the pig, I have undertaken an exercise to show how many pigs a single sow could potentially be responsible for over a period of 10 years. My calculations are theoretical, and I know that many pig keepers would protest that they could never get 10 viable gilts from a sow a year, but it is worth considering as a possibility. Assume we start with a single sow that farrows first at one year old and produces two litters a year, with nine litters in total. In each of those litters, there are five gilts that are kept for breeding over exactly the same time frame. Assume also that all the male pigs go off to the meat market. As the years go by, of course, you get offspring from not just the first sow, but from her daughters, then her granddaughters, and so on. On a linear equation based on these assumptions, from that single initial sow, the total living female population after 10 years is 510,725,975, or just over half the world population of pigs in 2012. The pig is indeed a remarkable animal. PI G PO PU LATI O N S

211

The Future

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Everything discussed so far in this book tells us where we are today in pig terms and how we got here. But what of the future? Does the pig have a future? In light of human population growth, that seems a silly question when the pig is currently the prime provider of animal protein. It would seem that it can only become more important in the world. Yet science is telling us that, in times to come, we may not need animals to provide us with meat to eat. Exciting developments have been taking place at research facilities such as Maastricht University in the Netherlands, where they can now produce a hamburger grown in the laboratory. Using stem cells from a cow, Professor Mark Post has proven that such technology is feasible and may play a part in feeding the world in the future. To scale this up to mass-production levels will take decades and huge investment, but with the pressures on land and water, and the associated problems of pollution, this type of development must be the way forward. Yet how many times in recent years have we seen new breakthroughs in medical techniques and new drugs come to nothing? The idea that pigs could grow replacement organs for humankind has been around for 40 years, but we are still not there, so there may well be huge

212

T HE B R E E DS

unforeseen hurdles to the mass production of laboratory-grown meat that no one has yet even imagined. On the one hand, growing meat on a commercial scale in a laboratory would eliminate the need for pigs to be kept in unnatural intensive conditions. The huge pig factories currently in production in the United States and China might become redundant, and with them their inhumane treatment of the animals they farm. But on the other hand, can we really contemplate the extinction of the domestic pig, which has meant so much to humankind for nearly 10,000 years? Consider how people and pigs have interacted over time—could we really envisage a world without pigs? Will our great-grandchildren stare in disgust at the sight of a pork chop in an old cookbook? Will images of Peppa Pig or Miss Piggy be greeted by expressions of puzzlement? In terms of our planet, 10,000 years is but a drop in the bucket, but in human terms it is significant—500 generations of human development have taken place alongside the pig. Indeed, little is known about human existence before we teamed up with old grunter. This chapter has described how the breeds we have held dear for the last

century or more are now being sidelined by the needs of the intensive farmer. A hundred years is not long, but in porcine terms it is 100 generations, and during that time we have carefully recorded every development of our pedigree breeds since their establishment. That means that you can trace every ancestor of every Large Black pig, for example, back 100-plus generations, which is the equivalent of

having a written record of every one of your forebears back to the time of Jesus. To me, that and everything else recorded in these pages is something that should not be discarded lightly. I am an old dinosaur, but for what it is worth, I believe that the domesticated pig will continue to play an important role throughout the existence of the human race. Or at least I hope so.

With the advent of lab-grown meat sometime in the future, there may no need to breed animals for consumption as we have for thousands of years.

Above

TH E FU TU RE

213

Name Your Pig

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There are countless descriptive words for pigs, a few of which are included here.

Gilt A young female up to when she rears her first litter.

Baconer A pig of 181 to 223 pounds (82–101 kg) liveweight that is suitable for the production of bacon. Barrow An American term for a male pig castrated when young for meat production. Boar An uncastrated male pig of sexual maturity. Boor A medieval term for a wild boar that leaves the sounder at four years of age and goes solo.

Gorgeant A medieval term for a young wild boar after weaning. Hog A castrated male pig raised for meat. Also used in the United States as a more general term for a pig, usually one that has reached 100 pounds (45 kg) in weight.

Runt The smallest pig in the litter; regional dialect variations include parson’s pig, squeaker, and tantony pig. Shoat A newly weaned pig. Shot A pig considered fit to kill for pork. Sire The father pig, used in pedigree recording. Also grandsire, etc.

Market pig See “butcher pig.”

Sow A female that has produced a litter of pigs.

Pig A medieval term for a young wild boar while with his dam. Now used generally to refer to the domestic pig.

Stag An American term for a male pig castrated late for meat production.

Piglet or pigling The newborn pigs in a litter up to the point of weaning.

Store pig The term for a young pig between a weaners and a porker. See also “runner.”

Brawn An old name for a young boar.

Porker A pig weighing 110 to 149 pounds (50–68 kg) liveweight.

Swine A collective name for pigs.

Brawner A boar castrated after having been used for service.

Rig A boar with only one testicle visible.

Weaner The young pig after weaning.

Brimming Of a female pig, being in heat.

Runner An American term for a store pig, between a weaner and a porker.

Butcher pig An American term for a pig that is ready to kill at 220 pounds (100 kg) liveweight. Also called a market pig. Cut sow A spayed female, once common for fattening. Cutter A pig at 150 to 180 pounds (68–82 kg) liveweight. Dam Referring to the mother pig, used in pedigree recording. Also granddam, etc. Doylt A tame swine. Feeder pig An American term for a store pig between weaning and slaughter.

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NAME Y OUR P I G

Tusker An old solitary wild boar. Wilgil or wildew A hermaphrodite pig with both sets of sex organs but invariably sterile.

Glossary of Terms Artificial insemination The remote mating of a pig whereby semen is removed from a boar and a human operative then inseminates the female by means of a catheter. Deadweight The weight of the animal after it has been slaughtered and the internal organs, blood, etc. have been removed. Dewclaws The hindmost two toes of the pig. Factory farming Intensive production facilities where all pigs are housed. Farrow To give birth. From the Old English “fearh,” meaning “young pig.” Farrowing crate A metal structure in which the sow is confined during parturition and nursing to minimize the risk of her crushing the piglets. Gestation The period between mating and giving birth Halothane gene A stress-related gene carried by some pigs/breeds that gives rise to poor meat quality and increases the risk of the animal dying in stressful situations. Homestead The home and adjacent land that belongs to a family; the ancestral home. In pig Pregnant. Intensive farming See “factory farming.” Let-down The act of releasing milk by the nursing sow.

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Litter A group of piglets from a single birth to the point of weaning.

Syndactyl Having toes connected together.

Liveweight The weight of a pig measured while it is alive.

Teats The pig’s mammary glands, of which there should be at least 12 and preferably more in farm stock kept for breeding.

Nippers Colloquial name for the frontmost forward-pointing teeth. Nonruminant An animal with a single stomach and matching digestive system. Omnivore A creature that eats both vegetable matter and meat, for example, humans, bears, and pigs. Pedigree Relating to a breed that is fixed so that members all have the same appearance and characteristics, as do the offspring when mated together. The pedigree is the written record of all their ancestors.

Udder The double-banked row of teats as a whole. Ungulate An animal that has hooves. Xenotransplant A scientific term relating to the possibility of harvesting specially adapted animal organs for transplanting into humans.

Rare breed A designation recognized by the United Nations for breeds with low numbers that are in danger of extinction. Rooting Of pigs, digging in the soil by use of the snout. Service The act of mating. Smallholding A piece of land for raising lifestock adjacent to a family’s living quarters; the livestock is often raised for the family’s own needs. Sounder The name given to a group of wild boar. Sow stall A metal structure used in intensive farming systems in which the sow is confined between weaning and the next parturition, and she can only stand up or lie down.

G LO SSA RY O F TERMS

217

Bibliography

{

B O OK S Andrews, W. (1877) History of the Dunmow Flitch of Bacon Custom. William Tegg & Co., London.

Henderson, R. (1814) Treatise on the Breeding of Swine and Curing of Bacon. Archibald Allardice, Leith.

Clutton-Brock, J. (1981) Domesticated Animals from Early Times. Wm Heinemann Ltd, London.

Keeling, L. J., Gonyou, H. W. (2001) Social Behaviour in Farm Animals. CABI Publishing, Wallingford.

Coburn, F. D. (1877) Swine Husbandry. Orange Judd Co., New York.

Lamb, C. (n.d.) A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig. Sampson Low, Marton & Co. Ltd, London.

Darwin, C. (1905) The Variation of Animals & Plants Under Domestication. John Murray, London.

Long, J. (n.d.) The Book of the Pig. The Bazaar, Exchange & Mart Office, London.

Davidson, H. R. (1948) The Production & Marketing of Pigs. Longman, Green & Co., London.

Low, D. (ca. 1867) On the Domesticated Animals of the British Isles. Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans.

Davies, R. E. (1923) Pigs and Bacon Curing. Crosby Lockwood & Son, London.

Lutwyche, R. (2003) Rare Breed Pig Keeping. Gloucestershire Old Spots Pig Breeders’ Club, Essex.

Druid, The (1870) Saddle and Sirloin. Vinton & Co Ltd, London.

Lutwyche, R., et al (2003) Shetland Breeds. Posterity Press, Chevy Chase.

Estabrook, B. (2015) Pig Tales. W. W. Norton & Co. Inc, New York.

Lutwyche, R. (2010) Higgledy Piggledy. Quiller Publishing, Shrewsbury.

Frandson, R. D., Lee Wilke, W., Fails, A. D. (2009) Anatomy & Physiology of Farm Animals.Wiley Blackwell, New Jersey.

Lutwyche, R. (2010) Pig Keeping. National Trust Books, London.

Fream, W. (1920) Elements of Agriculture. John Murray, London. Halnan, E. T., Garner F. H. (1944) The Principles and Practice of Feeding Farm Animals. Longmans, Green & Co., London. Harris, M. (1974) Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches. Random House Inc., New York.

218

B I L B I OGR AP HY

Markham, G. (1666) Cheape & Good Husbandry for the well-Ordering of all Beast & Fowles. W. Wilson for Geo Sawbridge, London. Mayall, G. (1910) Pigs, Pigsties and Pork. Bailliere, Tindall & Cox, London. Morris, D. (1965) The Mammals. Hodder & Stoughton, London.

Muskett, A. E. (1956) A. A. McGuckian— A Memorial Volume. The McGuckian Memorial Committee, Belfast.

Trow-Smith, R. (1957) A History of British Livestock Husbandry to 1700. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

Nelson, S. M. (1998) Ancestors for the Pigs: Pigs in Prehistory. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.

Trow-Smith, R. (1959) A History of British Livestock Husbandry 1700–1900. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

Newall, Capt. J. T. (1867) Hog Hunting in The East. Tinsley Bros, London Nicholls, G. J. (1917) Bacon & Hams. The Institute of Certified Grocers, London. Porter, V. (1993) Pigs—A Handbook to the Breeds of the World. Helm Information Ltd., East Sussex. Quittet, E., Zert P. (1971) Races Porcine en France. Institut Technique du Porc, Paris.

Watson, L. (2004) The Whole Hog. Profile Books Ltd, London. Wood, Rev J. G. (1892) Bible Animals. Longmans Green & Co., London. Youatt, W. (1847) The Pig: A Treatise on the Breeds, Management, and Medical Treatment, of Swine. Cradock & Co., London. Zeuner, F. E. (1963) A History of Domesticated Animals. Hutchinson & Co. (Pubs) Ltd, London.

Rice, V. A., Andrews, F. N., Warwick, E. J. (1953) Breeding Better Livestock. McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. Ltd, London.

W EBSITES

Richardson, H. D. (ca. 1872) The Pig— Its Origin & Varieties. Frederick Warne & Co., London.

The Pig Site

Sanders, S. (1910) Livestock Handbooks No. V: Pigs, Breeds & Management. Vinton & Co Ltd, London.

All the latest pig industry news, including pig diseases, health and welfare information, nutrition, and much more.

Sillar, F. C., Meyer, R. M. (1961) The Symbolic Pig. Oliver & Boyd Ltd, Edinburgh.

Porkopolis

Spry-Marques, P. (2017) Pig/Pork. Bloomsbury Publishing plc, London. Towne, C. W., Wentworth E. N. (1950) Pigs from Cave to Cornbelt. University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma.

www.thepigsite.com

www.porkopolis.org A collection of arts, literature, philosophy, and other varied considerations of the pig.

BI LBI O G RA PH Y

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Index

{

A African Swine Fever 24 afterbirths 95 aggression 104–5, 118–19 agricultural shows 174–5 alcohol 34–5 alkaloids 79 American Mulefoot 64, 201 amino acids 79 anatomy 28–9 digestive system 55 skeletal system 30–1 ancestry 14–15 anemia 99 Angeln Saddleback (Angler Sattelschwein) 192 Aristotle 64 art, pigs in 130–3 artificial insemination 43, 90

B Babe (film) 8, 125, 129, 140 babirusas 49 bacon 8, 166 Baldred, King 86 Bath, Somerset 86 Berkshires 176, 177, 181 Big Bill 97 birth 41, 94–5 birthing areas 92–3 bladders 167 blood, uses for 165 bones, uses for 165

220

I NDE X

Bosch, Hieronymus 130 brains 53 Brannock, St. 80 breeds, development of 172–9 bristles see hair British Lops 50, 205 brushes 68–9

C Campion, Charles 168 carpal glands 88, 89 Carroll, Lewis: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 124 cervix 42 Chappall, W.J. 97 cheese 100 Chester White 203 chimpanzees 36 China 21, 58, 101 Christianity 80–1, 126, 146–7, 148 Churchill, Winston 9 Cincinnati, Ohio 58, 133 circuses 108, 117 Clark, Joseph 177 claw clipping 63 cognition 52–3, 106–17 collars, electronic 55 coloration 66–7 Columbus, Christopher 23 Colvin, Christina 107, 110 Cook, Captain James 23 Cornish, Charles 153 Cortés, Hernán 23 CRISPR 32

Cuino 70 Cumberland 178 curly-coated breeds 70

D Danish Landrace 55, 202 Danish Protest Pigs 179 Darwin, Charles 50, 64 Darwin, Erasmus 52 detusking boars 49 piglets 47 Dick, Thomas 56 Dickens, Charles American Notes 56, 128 Bleak House 37 diet see food digestive system 55 direction, sense of 111 dodos 23 domestication 18–19 Dorset Gold Tip 178 dreaming 75 drugs, detection of 44 Dunmow Flitch 135 Duroc 114, 185

E ears 50 eating 54–5, 74 see also food emotions 116 entelodonts 15

Eof (Eoves) 80 Evans, George Ewart 144 Evesham Abbey, Worcestershire 80, 147 extensive farming 10–11, 160–3 eyesight 51

F factory farming see industrial production family trees 16–17 farrowing 40–1, 94–5 fat, uses for 165 feed balls 53 feral pigs 24 films, pigs in 129 fishmeal 61 folk tales 80–1 food 56–61 foraging 39 plant toxins 78–9 foot-and-mouth disease 60 forebears 14–15 forensic entomology 36

G Gadarene swine 89, 126 garbage disposal 56–9, 118 Gascony, the 182 George III, King 143 gestation period 40 Gloucestershire Old Spots 50, 67, 196 glycosides 79 gods, pigs as 151 Goff, Lee 36 Golding, William: Lord of the Flies 128–9 Göttingen Miniature 208 Green Acres (TV series) 129

growth rate 74 guard pigs 107 gun pigs 142–3

H hair 68–9, 165 curly-coated breeds 70 Hampshire, the 50, 200 Hardy, Thomas: Jude the Obscure 129, 166 harness, pigs in 144–5 Harting, James 155 Harvey, André: Helen 133 hearing 50 heart valves 30, 32 heaviest pig 97 Heliogabulus 144 Henderson, Robert 86 herd books 176–7 herding abilities 106, 140–1 Hereford, the 186 Herring, John Jr. 131 Hills, Robert 131 Hirst, James 143 homing abilities 110, 111 Hough, Jack 142 humans aggression toward 104, 118–19 recognition of 51, 113 similarity to 30–1, 150 hunting 142–3 Huxley, Aldous: Chrome Yellow 129 Hyotherium species 15

I Île aux Cochons 25 industrial production 10, 77, 92, 156–9, 174 intelligence 52–3, 106–17 iron 99

J Jackson, Andrew 136 Jagusak, Matt 44 jaws 48 Jewish beliefs 148, 150

K Kentigern, St. 80 King, Stephen: Misery 129 Kirchner, Cristina 169 Kunekune 83, 187

L L-cysteine 68 laboratory meat 212 Lacombe 209 lactation 98–101 Lamb, Charles 21 Large Blacks 50, 189 Large White Ulsters 178 Large Whites 50, 176–7, 206 Large Yorkshires 206 latrines 58 Lear, Edward 124 learning abilities 108–11 leather 68 Leslie, Fred 108 Lexington, North Carolina 169 life cycles domestic pig 40–1 wild boars 38–9 Limousin, the 199 Lincolitsas 70 Lincoln, Abraham 9 Lincolnshire Curly Coats 70, 178 Ling, Aaron 144 Linnaeus, Carl 56 literature, pigs in 124–9 lop-eared pigs 50

I N D EX

221

M Machiavellian intelligence 113 McCarthy, Eugene 36 Major, John 9 Mangalitsa 67, 70, 190 manure 19 Marino, Lori 107, 110 mastitis 47 mating 42–3, 88–90 Mayle, Peter 139 medical uses 30–3 Meishan 50, 51, 183 melanoma 31 memory 108–11 Middle Whites 15, 70, 83, 177, 207 milk 100, 101 Milne, A.A. 8, 125 Minnoch, Jon Brower 97 Miss Piggy 125, 129 Monselet, Charles 164 Montfaucon, Bernard de 144 Morley, Henry 117 Mulefoot 64, 201 music 53 Muslim beliefs 148–9

N nail clipping 63 narcotics, detection of 44 Native Americans 22, 23 Neolithic man 14, 18, 19, 22 nest-building 92–3 nippers 48 nose rings 83

O Obama, Barack 137 organ transplantation 32 Orwell, George: Animal Farm 128

222

I NDE X

Osborn, Henry Fairfield 46 Ossabaw Island 195

P paintings, pigs in 130–1 pedigree pigs 178–9 penises 42–3, 166 Peppa Pig 124, 125, 129 performing pigs 108, 117 personality 116 pests, pigs as 24 pet pigs 152–5 Peter Pig 129 pharmaceutical products 32, 33 phenolics 79 Piétrain 193 pig feed 61 Pigasaurus 129 piglets birth 41, 94–5 bullying 105 growth 96–7 tusk injuries 47 Pinky & Perky 125, 129 plant toxins 78–9 Plato 169 play 53, 110 Poland China 188 police work 44 porcine endogenous retrovirus 32 pork gourmet dishes 168–9 production rate 24, 97 prohibitions against 148–50 world consumption 20–1 Porky 129 Potter, Beatrix 8, 124 Prosthennops 46 Puławy 197

R razorbacks 24 Roosevelt, Quentin 155 rooting 40, 44, 52, 53, 76–83 ropes 68 Rotbuntes Husumer 179

S Saki: The Boar-Pig 127–8 Salvin, E.H. 155 sayings 134–7 scent-marking 88 sculpture 132–3 seed dispersal 79 self-awareness 114 Shakespeare, William 126 sheep, herding 106, 140–1 “sheep-pigs” 70 sight 51 skeletal system 30–1 skin 30, 66–8, 165 skin cancer 31 sleep 74–5 Slut 106, 142–3 smell, sense of 44–5 Smith, Grafton Elliot 46 snouts 44–5 social structures 113 Soto, Hernando de 22, 23 sounders 38–9 Southey, Robert: “The Pig” 127 spatial learning 111 sperm 42 spontaneous human combustion 37 Spotted breed 198 springs, discovery of 86 St. Asaph’s Cathedral, Wales 80 St. Malo, Brittany 81 St. Oswalds, Winwick, Cheshire 80, 147

suckling pigs 166 Swabian Halle 194 swill 60 swine fever 60 swine flu 30

T tails 65, 164, 165 Tamworths 15, 67, 177, 184 teeth and tusks 46–9 television, pigs on 129 testicles 166 time awareness 108–9 Toby, the Sapient Pig 117 Toomer, Richard and Edward 142–3 toothbrushes 68 Toy Story (film) 129 trials of pigs 118–19 Trollope, Frances 56, 58 trotters 30, 62–4 truffle hunting 45, 138–9 Truman, Harry S. 9 Turbary pigs 14 tusks and teeth 46–9 Twain, Mark 127

V

weapons testing 34 Welsh breed 204 wet nurses 101 wild boars as ancestors 14–15 as a breed 180 domestication 18–19 intelligence 53 life cycle 38–9 as pests 24 skin 67 world proliferation 22 William of Tyre 145 world populations 210–11 world proliferation 22–3 Wyeth, James 131

X xenotransplants 32

Y Yorkshire, the 206 Youatt, William 142, 144

Z Zeuner, Friedrich 14

Victoria, Queen 177 Vietnamese Pot-belly pigs 31, 153, 154, 191 vocalization 102–3

W Wallace, William 107 wallowing 77, 84–7 warthogs 83 Watson, Lyall 46 Watters, Ian and Clive 140–1

I N D EX

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Acknowledgments Richard Lutwyche Richard’s life has revolved around pigs from an early age. Born on a farm in England with arable, a dairy herd and a herd of pedigree Wessex Saddleback pigs, early life included helping the pigman by testing electric fences by touching them in exchange for a threepenny bit and spending much of the summer showing stock at local and national agricultural shows. It was only later when he started work in business that he became aware of the ignorance and prejudice against pigs and spent the next five decades collecting information and facts about the swine to better educate their detractors. This has resulted in the publication of four books (Rare Breed Pig Keeping (2003), Shetland Breeds – co-author (2003), Pig Keeping (2010), Higgledy-Piggledy (2010), and numerous magazine articles including in The Field, Country Life, and Country Living. He edited The Ark magazine for the charity Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) for over ten years. He has been involved in the organization of agricultural shows for most of his life on a voluntary basis and is currently a Council Member of the Three Counties Agricultural Society where he is Chief Steward and organizer of one of the largest pig shows in Britain. He set up and ran for many years the Gloucestershire Old Spots Pig Breeders’ Club (GOSPBC) and also ran the equivalent for the British Saddleback breed for over 10 years. Among his achievements at the GOSPBC was negotiating special recognition of the breed with the EU Commission and being granted Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) status for its meat—the first breed of any species in the world to achieve this—and successfully inviting HRH Princess Anne to become the Club’s Patron. In the mid-1990s he persuaded the RBST to set up a scheme to promote the eating qualities of rare breeds to help conserve them. In 2010 he was honored to win a lifetime achievement award in the BBC Food & Farming Awards for his work with both pigs and in helping the conservation of rare breeds.

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