1 Animal Husbandry
The Origins of the Domestic Pig
These are confused as the traditional view was that the pig was domesticated in Southeast Asia and then was brought westwards to Central Asia and on to Europe. There is some genetic evidence that domestication occurred also in Eastern Europe and there may well have been some crossing of early domestic pigs. Certainly the European wild boar (Sus scrofu) was involved in the 4th millennium BC in Europe (Fig. 1.1). Equally, there is evidence of domestication 9000 years ago in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. By referencing the pig genome some authors (Groenen et al., 2012) have discovered that there was a deep phylogenetic split between European and Asian wild boars around one million years ago, substantiating the hypothesis that pigs were independently domesticated in western Eurasia and East Asia. The pig has become part of the culture of Southeast Asia (Fig. 1.2).
The pig is a forest animal (Fig. 1.3). It does not lend itself to being driven like cattle, sheep and goats and so its domestication will have been delayed until man had a more sedentary existence.
Breeds of Pig
Aksai Black Pied
This large breed of pig with its distinctive black and white colouring originates from Kazakhstan.
Arapawa Island
These small pigs from New Zealand probably are descended from pigs allowed to become feral, having been released by Captain Cook. They are pigs with a light body, normally sandy with black spots. They do not have wattles.
Auckland Island Pig
This small breed of pig from the North Island of New Zealand is black or black and tan in colour.
Ba Xuyen
These pigs are derived from crossing Berkshire pigs and Chinese pigs from the Mekong Delta.
Fig. 1.1. Commercial wild boar in Austria.
Fig. 1.2. A carved pig. Pigs have become part of the culture of South-east Asia.
They are a medium-sized pig with a very thickset body. They are mainly black with some white markings.
Bantu
The origins of this breed are obscure. They come from Southern Africa. They are a small medium-sized pig with an athletic build. They are mainly black or white with multiple black spots (Fig. 1.4).
Bazna
This large pig, which is black and white, originates from Romania.
Beijing Black
As the name suggests, this is a Chinese black pig of medium size (Fig. 1.5).
Belarus Black Pied
This black and white pig is similar to the Bazna but is normally larger.
Bentheim Black Pied
This very large black and white pig originates from Germany.
Berkshire
This large British pig is mainly black. It is not a rare breed as such but the numbers are now small. Small amounts of white on the pig are acceptable.
British Lop
This large white British pig has lop ears.
Bulgaria White
This is a large white pig with upright ears.
Fig. 1.3. Pigs are forest animals.