Berkshire pig

“ The Berkshire and the Chester White sows appear to have been used to build up the Victoria pig, which is very similar in appearance to many of the cross Middle White and Berkshire fat pigs shown in the Middle White and cross bred classes at the Smithfield Show in London. The pork packers in the States have been endeavouring of late years to induce pig breeders to pay more attention to the length and quality of flesh and bone of their pigs, in order that they may capture a share of the high class English bacon trade ”

“ This breed was formerly considered as superior to any but the Berkshire in point of form and value, they being easily fattened, and the flesh being tender, and of a fine flavor; with care they will reach 600 to 700 lbs.; and many, at a year and a-half old, will weigh 350 to 400 lbs. They certainly do not attain to their maturity as early as some of the smaller breeds, but are, notwithstanding this, profitable animals, and good, sound, handsome stock. A cross between the Lincoln and Chinese pig is productive of an animal presenting great tendency to fatten, and a small eater. ”

“ Just why our American cousins should have decided to call these sheeted pigs Hampshires is not on the surface, since the oldest writers on pigs give to the county of Sussex the credit of being their original home. The description given by Sidney of the Hampshire pig is that "it is a coarse and useful black pig, inferior to the Berkshire, and not in the same refined class as the Essex." Richardson writes "The Hampshire breed is not infrequently confounded with the Berkshire; but its body is longer and its sides flatter; the head is long and the snout sharp. ”

“ At one time white pigs of a small size were by no means uncommon in Suffolk, Essex, Middlesex, Yorkshire, and parts of Berkshire, and other counties. The origin of these small, compact, and early maturing pigs appears to have been a cross of the imported Chinese on the neater and shorter country pigs of a white colour. For a period these handsome [Pg 25] pigs were quite fashionable amongst the well-to-do, but the general public objected to the pork produced by them, owing to its excessive fatness. ”

“ The Berkshire pigs belong to the large class, and are distinguished by their color, which is a sandy or whitish brown, spotted regularly with dark brown or black spots, and by their having no bristles. The hair is long, thin, somewhat curly, and looks rough; the ears are fringed with long hair round the outer edge, which gives them a ragged or feathery appearance; the body is thick, compact, and well-formed ”

“ It is one of the oldest breeds [36] of swine, originating in Berkshire, a county of England. The early Berkshire was a bacon, not a lard hog. It was large, rough, and late maturing. Numerous crosses with Chinese and Neopolitan pigs of fine quality have been instrumental in producing the modern, medium sized, compact animal.
This breed has a broad back, a good spring of rib and thick rump and hams. Berkshires are early maturing and breeders claim that the meat is second in quality to none. Like the Poland China, it has white on the feet, face and tip of tail.
9. Duroc-Jersey ”

“ He considers them far superior to, and more profitable than the larger breeds.
Other breeders have crossed with the Chinese and Neapolitan breeds, and with some considerable success the extremes of the large and small kinds happily correcting each other. The Berkshire pigs have also been employed as a cross, and hardy, profitable, well-proportioned animals obtained. The original breed, in its purity, size, and defectiveness, is now hardly to be met with, having shared the fate of the other large old breeds, and given place to smaller and more symmetrical animals. ”

“ The work of teaching and organising the others fell naturally upon the pigs, who were generally recognised as being the cleverest of the animals. Preeminent among the pigs were two young boars named Snowball and Napoleon, whom Mr Jones was breeding up for sale. Napoleon was a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker but with a reputation for getting his own way. Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character. ”

“ It is his owner more than himself that is to blame. If he had his own way he would be clean enough. Like all thick-skinned animals the pig loves to wallow in the mire and cover himself with mud to protect him against insects. But left to himself he will keep his sleeping place clean. Those who know how to keep pigs soon learn this and supply the animals with dry and clean places to sleep in.
A Fat Berkshire Hog. A Monarch of the Sty
Pork, or the flesh of the pig, has long been used as meat. ”

“ The Middle White, formed by crossing the large and the small breeds, is not so symmetrical as the parent stocks, and the type is not uniform. The Lincolnshire Curly Coated or Boston pig is a local breed of great size and capacity for producing pork. It is very hardy and prolific, but somewhat coarse in the bone. It has an abundance of long curly hair, a short face and a straight nose, and the ears, not too long and heavy, fall over the face. It crosses well with the Large White, the Large Black and the Berkshire. ”

“ Again, the Japan pig or S. pliciceps of Gray is so distinct in appearance from all common pigs, that it stretches one’s belief to the utmost to admit that it is simply a domestic variety; yet this breed has been found perfectly fertile with the Berkshire breed; and Mr. Eyton informs me that he paired a half-bred brother and sister and found them quite fertile together.
Fig. 3—Head of Wild Boar, and of “Golden Days,” a pig of the Yorkshire Large Breed
The modification of the skull in the most highly cultivated races is wonderful. ”

“ The stock was meagre: a single cow, whose bones were too prominent even for an Alderney, a scatter of ragged, long-legged fowls, three draggled ducks, an old loose-skinned black sow. This was all, save for "my little pig," as I learned fondly to call him, the one bright, cheerful thing in all the valley; a whimsical creature of quaint moods, full of an odd humour that had in it some quality of sadness. ”

“ They are the city scavengers, these pigs, ugly brutes they are; having for the most part scanty brown backs, like the lids of old horse-hair trunks, spotted with unwholesome black blotches; they have long, gaunt legs too, and such peaked snouts that if one of them could be persuaded, to sit for his profile, nobody would recognize 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 any body could tell him. ”

“ These pigs are well-made, of middle size, with a thin skin, and scanty bristles; the snout is tapering and fine, the ears upright and pointed, the jowl deep, the body compactly rounded. These pigs arrive early at maturity, and fatten quickly; the bacon hogs averaging a weight of 280 lbs. The flesh is excellent. Their bone, perhaps, is larger than in the Essex breed, but then the improved stocks of this latter race are remarkable for smallness of bone, and we doubt whether they are more bony than the improved stocks of the old Berkshire strain. ”

“ Let us now take a glance at that grunting brute known to us by the various names of pig, hog, and swine, which dwells in the pig-sty when tame and in the forest when wild. Clad in bristles, with thick skin, short legs, curled-up tail, no neck, and round snout, no one would buy the pig for a beauty. But in his case use goes ahead of beauty, and who will say that he is not of use?
Though the pig is a very docile brute in man's care, he is far from mild and gentle in his wild state. In fact, the wild hog is not an animal to be played with, nor is it a safe one to fight with. ”

“ The pure large Yorkshire is not as economical as the Berkshire if growing pigs for the pork trade, as it takes longer to mature. The sows, however, average about ten to the litter, and some have fifteen or sixteen. Only the fine-haired ones seem to scald, otherwise they stand the sun as well as the Berks. They are good doers under a wide range of conditions, prolific, vigorous, and more likely to do well under the rough circumstances to which they are accustomed on most farms than the more delicate Berkshires. When sold at the same time as other breeds and crosses, they always top the market ”

“ More mature pigs came to market on their own legs, and very long, feeble legs they were, for a more unsightly beast than a Breton pig was never seen out of a toy Noah's ark. Tall, thin, high-backed, and sharp-nosed, these porcine victims tottered to their doom, with dismal wailings, and not a vestige of spirit till the trials and excitement of the clay goaded them to rebellion, when their antics furnished fun for the public. Miss Livy observed that the women could manage the pigs when men failed entirely. ”

“ There are few counties in England into which the Berkshire breed of pigs has not penetrated; it is everywhere valued for its excellent qualities, its fair, moderate size, its small bones, its thin skin, its fattening qualities, and excellence of its flesh. First-rate hogs of this breed have been reared in distant counties. Through Middlesex, Hartfordshire, Bedfordshire, and Leicestershire, the Berkshire breed has extended itself, modifying the old races, not without other crossings ”

“ Some forty years since when Small Whites, Small Blacks, and short thick Berkshires were fashionable, the number of pigs in each litter was few, and the number reared still fewer, owing to the limited quantity of milk furnished by the sow. Now, the Large Black, the Large White, the Middle White, the Lincolnshire Curly Coat, the old Gloucester Spots, the Tamworth, the Cumberland, and even the sows of most of the local breeds of pigs are expected to rear nine or ten pigs each litter. ”

“ I know how important pigs are just now, and we are making arrangements to raise our share of them, but that doesn't make me like them a bit better. Until this year we have contented ourselves with raising an occasional pig for our own use, but when preparing for this year's meat supply I felt expansive and bought a couple of plump little pigs. I admit that I like little pigs—both alive and roasted. Their perpetual smile, which even a session in the oven can't take off, appeals to me. But a full-grown, able-bodied pig is another matter—especially at feeding time. ”

“ Bees worked and sang over the thyme and marjoram, blooming early in a sunny nook; and in a homely sty lived a solemn black pig, a pig with a history.
It was no common utilitarian pig, but the honoured guest of the old couple, and it knew it. A year before, their youngest and only surviving child, then a man of five-and-twenty, had brought his mother the result of his savings in the shape of a fine young pig: a week later he lay dead of the typhoid that scourged Maidstone. Hence the pig was sacred, cared for and loved by this Darby and Joan. ”

“ Every morning I hear the blast of a horn, when, proceeding from almost every door in the street, behold a pig! The pigs generally proceed of their own accord; but shortly after they have passed, there comes a little bare-headed, bare-footed, stunted child about eleven years old. This little attendant of the old pig-driver facetiously called at Langen-Schwalbach the 'Schwein-General, knows every house from which a pig ought to have proceeded: she can tell by the door being open or shut, or even by footmarks, whether the creature has joined the herd, or is still snoring in its sty. ”

“ There is fishing at Chenies (vide an admirable essay of Mr Froude’s) in the early summer, a visit to Switzerland in the later, and in September “the pigs are grown very large and handsome, and experts advise their conversion into bacon.” But Mrs Arnold “does not like the idea.” Indeed this is the drawback of pig-keeping, which is otherwise a most fascinating pastime; but you can escape it, and unite pleasure with profit, by merely breeding the pigs and selling the litters young. ”

“ So long as the pigling remains quiet there is peace, but as soon as the youngster endeavours to get to the teat and especially if in the endeavour it utters a cry or a squeak, the young sow will jump up from her nest and endeavour to seize the youngster in her mouth, when unless prevented the sow quickly squeezes all life out of the pig; and in some cases when the pressure has been so severe as to break the skin of the piglet, and the sow tastes blood, she will proceed to eat the dead pig. ”

“ It is plain to see that whatever may be found of ill account in the pig is due to the contaminating influence of man. A wiry, well-groomed wild pig is a decent citizen of the animal community, unpleasantly ready with his tusks, of course, but clearly dignified and with intelligence. ”

“ The sows are quite as prolific as those of the Large White breed, and, as their produce matures earlier, they are much in demand for breeding porkers.
The Small White pigs are beautifully proportioned. The head and legs are very short, and the body short, thick and wide; the jowl is heavy, the ears pricked, and the thin skin laden with long silky, wavy, but not curly, hair, whilst the tail is very fine. A deficiency of lean meat is a common characteristic of the breed, which is almost extinct. ”