The last thing that we looked at at ‘Walk The Pork’ was the benefits that a rare breed animal such as The Large Black Pig can
offer commercial producers today and Rob spoke briefly about this:
‘Large Black Pigs are like all rare breed animals – you need
to use them or lose them. They are our heritage, part of our rich farming
history and so like a great cathedral should be preserved, however if there is
no commercial reason to keep them then they become like a zoo animal that is in
danger of distinction.
Fortunately The Large Black Pig has many favourable
attributes that will appeal to the small producer so we have every confidence
that they will survive.
As a sow they have a
very docile temperament, they are great mothers, they produce reasonable size
litters, milk very well and produce great pigs.
The Large Black is white skinned but black haired so they don’t
get sunburnt and as they have more fat than a commercial pig are able to cope
better with the cold in the winter. Another benefit is that they cope well with
both indoor and outdoor systems.
Finally, Large Blacks have a great conversion rate - I feed
these sows about 20% less than I would a commercial pig which brings feed costs
down and although we don’t do it this way they would probably survive on a
forage based diet as they are natural grazers.'
