Wessex Saddleback

The Wessex Saddleback or Wessex Pig is a breed of domestic pig originating in the West Country of England, (Wessex), especially in Wiltshire and the New Forest area of Hampshire.

Description

The Wessex Saddleback is black, with a white band about the forepart of the body, extending from one fore-foot over the shoulder to the other, making a white band resembling a saddle. It is a tall, rangy animal, adapted to foraging in woodland, its traditional use. This use survived longest in the New Forest, where pigs are still allowed to forage in woods for mast (acorns, beech-nuts and chestnuts).

History

The breed is one of the few British pig breeds to have been little affected by crossing with "Neapolitan" pigs of Far Eastern origin, and so is perhaps one of those closest to the landrace pigs which foraged in woods throughout Britain for many centuries.

The Wessex Saddleback breed society began in 1918 in Britain, but by the middle of the 20th century pig farming was becoming more and more intensive. The more extensive systems to which the Wessex is suited declined, and the breed declined with them. Meanwhile, the similarly coloured, but otherwise rather different Essex Pig had followed a similar course, and in 1967 the two breeds were merged in an effort to prevent both becoming extinct. This formed a hybrid breed, the British Saddleback (confusingly, "Wessex Saddleback" is often used loosely to refer to British Saddlebacks). A few herds of Essex Pigs did survive in a pure form in Britain and efforts are being made to revive that breed, but the Wessex is currently considered extinct in its country of origin.

However, before amalgamation some Wessex Saddlebacks had been exported to other parts of the world, and the breed survives in small numbers in Australia, New Zealand, and perhaps elsewhere. In Australia in 2008 there are less than 100 registered breeding sows, and they are considered critically endangered by the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia. In 2006 embryos and semen from Wessex Saddleback pigs were imported into Britain to re-establish the breed.Fact|date=September 2008

In the early 19th Century, similar pigs from Hampshire were exported to North America, and formed the basis of the Hampshire pig, one of the commonest commercial breeds there. The Hampshire has since been re-imported to Britain, but it is now of a different type to the Wessex.

Uses

Regarded as an excellent eating pig, the Wessex Saddleback was traditionally used as a "baconer" and grown out for bacon and hams.

Other

Devizes Rugby Football Club in Devizes, Wiltshire, a local rugby union team are nicknamed "The Saddlebacks".

External links

* [http://www.rbst.org.uk/watch-list/pigs.php Rare Breeds Survival Trust (UK) rare pig breeds watch list (no mention of Wessex pigs)]
* [http://www.rarebreeds.co.nz/wessex.html Page about the Wessex Pig from the Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand]
* [http://www.rbta.org/pigs.htm Article about rare pig breeds in Australia from the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia]
* [http://www.britishpigs.org.uk/breed_hp.htm Information on the Hampshire from the British Pig Association]
* [http://www.britishpigs.org.uk/breed_bs.htm Information on the British Saddleback from the British Pig Association]