Berkshire

The eighteenth-century Berkshire looked nothing like today's: a large tawny pig with lop ears, often with darker patches. Crosses with Asian black pigs in the late 1700s and early 1800s made the modern black, prick-eared type. The American Berkshire Association, established in 1875, was the first breed society for a pig breed anywhere.

Japan is the other half of the story. Berkshires were exported there from the 1860s; the Kagoshima Berkshire was derived from British imports in the 1930s, its meat marketed as kurobuta, and by 2007 more than 330,000 Berkshires were in Japan.

They are black with six white points: four feet, the face and the tail tip. The face is dished and the ears erect. Wikipedia puts boars at about 280 kg and sows at 220, about 620 and 485 pounds.

The Rare Breeds Survival Trust, the British conservation charity, describes the Berkshire as docile and easily managed.

Easy to manage is not the same as safe to be careless around. The Pork Information Gateway's handling guidance treats every breeding pig as dangerous and says boars can be the most aggressive, and University of Minnesota Extension names a solid sorting panel as the tool for moving boars. Sows can defend newborn piglets: if the piglets squeal while you work them, expect the sow to respond, and keep a panel between you and her.

The meat is why they persist. Berkshire pork is darker, more marbled and higher in pH than commercial white pork, which means it holds moisture and does not go pale and watery, and it has been highly rated in American taste tests. In Japan it is sold as kurobuta and priced accordingly.

The Trust calls the Berkshire well suited to outdoor systems, for a stated reason: the dark coat makes it less prone to sunburn than a white pig. It is also slightly smaller than many breeds, which the Trust says reduces its impact on the land.

Outdoors, it still needs what every pig needs. Pigs do not sweat and overheat easily, so Oregon State University Extension calls shade essential, along with unlimited cool drinking water and a wallow kept in the shade. The same guidance treats pasture as a supplement to a balanced ration rather than a pig's main source of nutrition, and names good fences, shelter, rotation and daily checks as what helps keep pigs from damaging the ground.

In Britain the breed that started it all is rare: the Rare Breeds Survival Trust listed it as vulnerable in 2020, and in 2008 fewer than 300 breeding sows remained there, though numbers have risen with the pork's renewed popularity.

Ask for the registration. The American Berkshire Association has kept the book since 1875 and runs a public pedigree search, so papers are checkable before you bid.

The trade is growth and carcass shape. Berkshires grow more slowly and yield a shorter, fatter carcass than a modern commercial hybrid, so the breed only pays if you are selling into a market that recognizes the meat quality.

Recent sale prices on HoofnHorn, where there are any, are further down this page.