A Complete Guide to High-Quality Piglet Breeds and How to Choose Them
Pigs are common livestock and are raised in many regions. The first step in raising pigs is buying piglets, but do you know which high-quality piglet breeds there are? And how to choose high-quality piglets? Let's take a look below.
What are the high-quality piglet breeds?
1. Landrace pig
The Landrace pig is a famous bacon-type pig breed. It grows quickly and has a high feed conversion rate. It has thin skin and a lot of lean meat. Each litter produces 11 to 12 piglets. An adult boar weighs 400 to 500 kg, and a sow weighs about 300 kg.
2. Large White pig
The Large White pig is also called the "Large Yorkshire pig." It originated in the United Kingdom and is specifically called the "British Large White pig." After being introduced to the Soviet Union, through long-term acclimatization and breeding, it became the "Soviet Large White pig." The latter has a sturdier and more robust body than the former, with strong and powerful limbs, making it suitable for grazing.
3. Chenghua pig
The Chenghua pig is commonly described by the saying "every household has a black-haired pig." This black-haired pig is the Chenghua pig, with black hair all over its body, short and small limbs, and a fat, plump body type. Chenghua pigs are distributed across 13 counties, including Xindu, Jintang, Guanghan, Shifang, Pengxian, Guanxian, Chongzhou, Dayi, Xinjin, as well as Deyang, Mianzhu, and Longquan.
4. Duroc
Duroc is also called the "universal pig breed." It originated in New Jersey and New York in the eastern United States. The main parent stock was developed by crossbreeding Duroc from New York with Jersey Red from New Jersey. It was originally called Duroc-Jersey and later shortened to Duroc. It is divided into American Duroc and Canadian Duroc.
5. Ningxiang Spotted pig
The Ningxiang Spotted pig originated in Ningxiang County. Because its coat color is only black and white, it is also called the "panda pig." As one of the four nationally famous local pig breeds, it has a breeding history of more than 300 years. Ningxiang pigs have a high content of unsaturated fatty acids, more elastic muscle, good taste, rich meat flavor, and no unpleasant or fishy odor.
How to choose piglets?
1. Look at the piglet's mental state: bright eyes, agile movement, strong curiosity; when lifted, it squeals loudly and struggles forcefully; the piglet has a normal body temperature and is fully developed, with no external injuries on the joints, tail, or ears, and after being put down, it immediately rushes back into the group.
2. Choose piglets with broad shoulders and back, a long and large body, well-proportioned development, a straight waist, a full rump, strong legs and hooves, and a tail that wags flexibly.
3. Observe the piglet's feeding and drinking behavior. When feed is given, it shows hunger, squeals, competes to eat first, pushes its mouth deep into the bottom of the trough, swallows in large bites, and makes a rhythmic crunching sound, eating vigorously; after eating, it drinks water regularly.
4. Look at the piglet's breathing. Healthy piglets breathe deeply and calmly, with even airflow, and a breathing rate of 10-20 times per minute.
5. When going to a pig farm to select piglets, first learn about the farm's disease situation and the piglets' vaccine situation, and check the piglets' related breeding records, etc. This can minimize the possibility of buying poor-quality piglets.
The above is an introduction to piglets. In addition to the piglet breeds introduced above, our country still has many high-quality piglet breeds, but no matter which kind of piglet it is, they can all be selected according to the methods described in this article. We hope this is helpful for everyone in buying piglets!
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