Berkshire pig

Berkshire
Traits
Champion Berkshire boar at the 2005 Royal Adelaide Show
Conservation status	Rare breed
Country of origin	England
Pig Sus scrofa domesticus

Berkshire pigs are a rare breed of pig originating from the English county of Berkshire.

Herds of the breed are still maintained in England by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust at Aldenham Country Park, Hertfordshire, and by the South of England Rare Breeds Centre in Kent. The Berkshire is listed as vulnerable; as of 2008, fewer than 300 breeding sows were known to exist.^[1] Some pigs of the breed are also kept in New Zealand and Australia, but fewer than a hundred purebred sows are there now.

In the United States, the American Berkshire Association, established in 1875, gives pedigrees only to pigs directly imported from established English herds or to those tracing directly back to such imported animals.^[2] The pig is also bred in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, under the trademarked name Kagoshima Kurobuta (かごしま黒豚, "Kagoshima black pig").

Appearance

While the original Berkshire pig was sandy-brown,^[3] modern Berkshire pigs are almost entirely black, with white points on the feet, nose, and tail. They are an average to large breed of pig, with an average weight at maturity of 600 pounds (270 kg). They are a short-legged breed. They have prick ears and a relatively short snout with an upturned nose.^[4]

Culinary uses

Berkshire pork, prized for juiciness, flavour and tenderness, is pink-hued and heavily marbled. Its high fat content makes it suitable for long cooking and high-temperature cooking.^[2]

In literature

The Empress of Blandings in P. G. Wodehouse's Blandings Castle series of novels and stories, and the sow Pig-Wig in Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Pigling Bland, were both Berkshires.
The antagonist pig Napoleon in George Orwell's novel Animal Farm is a Berkshire boar.

Gallery

References

↑ Rare Breeds Survival Trust watch list Archived 31 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine. accessed 21 May 2008.
1 2 Zeldes, Leah A. (27 January 2010). "Eat this! Berkshire pork, a meaty heritage". Dining Chicago. Chicago's Restaurant & Entertainment Guide, Inc. Retrieved 27 January 2010.
↑ American Berkshire Association (18 April 1996). "Breeds of Livestock - Berkshire Swine".
↑ Ekarius, Carol (19 February 2009). "Berkshire Pigs For Small Farms".

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Berkshire pig.

Livestock breeds of the British Isles

Cattle
Beef cattle	Angus Beef Shorthorn Belted Galloway Blue Grey Devon Dexter English Longhorn Galloway Hereford Highland Luing Shorthorn South Devon Sussex Welsh Black
Dairy cattle	Ayrshire Guernsey Jersey Milking Shorthorn
Dual purpose	British White Gloucester Pembroke Red Poll Shetland Whitebred Shorthorn
Primitive	Chillingham wild cattle Vaynol White Park cattle

Sheep
Extant	Beulah Speckled Face Bluefaced Leicester Border Leicester British Milk Cheviot Clun Forest Cotswold Dalesbred Derbyshire Gritstone Devon Closewool Devon Longwoolled Dorset Down English Leicester Exmoor Horn Galway Greyface Dartmoor Hampshire Herdwick Hill Radnor Kerry Hill Lincoln Llanwenog Lleyn Lonk Norfolk Horn Oxford Down Portland Romney Rough Fell Ryeland Scottish Blackface Shetland Shropshire Southdown sheep Suffolk Swaledale Teeswater Welsh Mountain Wensleydale Whitefaced Woodland Wiltshire Horn
Primitive	Boreray Castlemilk Moorit Hebridean Jacob Manx Loaghtan North Ronaldsay Soay
Extinct	Scottish Dunface

Pigs
Extant	Berkshire British Landrace British Lop British Saddleback Essex Gloucestershire Old Spots Hampshire Large Black Large White Middle White Oxford Sandy and Black Tamworth Welsh Wessex Saddleback
Extinct	Cumberland Dorset Gold Tip Grice Large White Ulster Lincolnshire Curly-coated Small Black Small White Yorkshire Blue and White

Goats
Anglo-Nubian Bilberry British Alpine Golden Guernsey Irish

Poultry
Chickens	Cornish Derbyshire Redcap Dorking Ixworth Marsh Daisy Modern Game Modern Langshan Norfolk Grey Old English Game Old English Pheasant Fowl Orpington Rosecomb Scots Dumpy Scots Grey Sebright Sussex
Ducks	Abacot Ranger Aylesbury Orpington Khaki Campbell Magpie Shetland Welsh Harlequin
Geese	Brecon Buff Shetland

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