Buying guide: Middle White

Chris Graham introduces another of our native breeds that’s in desperate need of support, yet which should be nothing but a pleasure to own

Middle White’ may seem like an odd name for a pig to many of you but, in fact, it’s actually perfectly logical, given the breed’s origins. The Middle White was first recognised in 1852, albeit for somewhat unusual reasons. Pig breeder and weaver, Joseph Tuley, was exhibiting at the Keighley Agricultural Show in West Yorkshire. On show were several of his famous Large White sows along with a number of other pigs, and it was these ‘others’ which caused the consternation.

The problem was that some of them were neither large enough for the Large White class, nor small enough to be eligible for the Small White class. They fell neatly between the two (you can see where this is going already, can’t you?), and yet the judges felt that these pigs displayed enough quality to avoid disqualification. So a committee was summoned and, after much deliberation, the very unusual decision was made to create a third class for what they termed the ‘Middle Breed’. And so it was that the Middle White was born.

Piggy in the middle! The Small White had been developed for showing, and was created by crossing local pigs with imported Chinese and Siamese stock (from which it inherited the dished face that became a characteristic of the Middle White). Tuley then made a second cross, using a Small White boar on the best females from his Large White herd. The resulting progeny were as heavy as the pure Large White, although in type and lightness of official and head, they much resembled the best that the Small White had to offer.