Buying Guide: Welsh

Chris Graham introduces a breed of pig which he argues can offer keepers at all levels just about all they could ever wish for

Lots of people who are keen to get started with pigs these days tend to look no further than the so-called coloured breeds, when deciding which to keep. While spotty pigs, or those with coloured coats, certainly have a visual attraction, they are, of course, no more worthy as productive pigs than the plainer, white breeds.

In fact, in some cases, it’s actually the traditional-looking ‘pink’ pigs that can prove more practical at a domestic level. The Welsh, for example, offers everything that the hobby keeper could wish for apart, that is, from a fancy coat. But if this isn’t an issue for you then, aswe’ll see, you could be on to a winner with the Welsh.

Well-established

The earliest references to this breed date back to the 1870s, when there was a considerable trade in Welsh and Shropshire pigs that were moved to Cheshire for fattening on milk by-products.

Increased demand for pork and bacon during the First World War (imports were restricted to animals from Canada and the USA), led to the creation of the Old Glamorgan Pig Society in 1918; the first pig breed society in Wales, and the first herdbook followed a year later.

Pigs of a similar type were also bred in Cardigan, Pembroke and Camarthen, and the growth in popularity here led to the formation of the Welsh Pig Society in West Wales, in 1920. These two breed societies amalgamated in 1922, to become the Welsh Pig Society then, in 1952, the Welsh breed joined the six other pedigree breeds already represented by the National Pig Breeders Association (now known as the British Pig Association).