Landrace

Twenty-four pigs came from Denmark in 1934, imported by the US Department of Agriculture under a restriction against commercial breeding. The restriction was lifted in 1949, the American Landrace Association was established in 1950, and in 1954 thirty-eight more pigs of Scandinavian Landrace stock were brought in to widen the genetic base. The association joined the National Swine Registry in 1998.

They are white with unpigmented skin and heavy drooping ears that fall forward over the eyes, close to the snout, and they are the longest-bodied of the common breeds, with 16 or 17 ribs in many lines and a nearly flat back, which is exactly what a bacon market wants. The registry standard allows no colored hair at all.

The Merck Veterinary Manual lists the Landrace among the breeds highly susceptible to porcine stress syndrome, with the Pietrain and the Poland China. In a susceptible pig, stress such as excitement or transport can set off rigid muscles and a sudden rise in body temperature, and death can follow within 20 minutes. Move them calmly, and ask whether a breeding animal has been tested; DNA analysis identifies the condition.

The sows are the breed's product, prolific and exceptionally heavy milkers by the registry's account, and a sow with newborn piglets can react aggressively to a caretaker. Boars need a solid sorting panel between you and them, as they do in any breed.

The sow is the breed's real product: very large litters, heavy milking that peaks at about five weeks, and excellent mothering. Landrace and Yorkshire crossbred sows are the standard maternal base worldwide. The 2023 US population was 15,324 head, the fourth most numerous American breed.

Shade comes first. The Landrace is white, and Penn State Extension notes that shade limits sunburn in breeds with white hair and skin as well as giving relief from heat. Pigs do not sweat, so outdoor pigs also need unlimited cool water and a shaded wallow, by Oregon State University Extension's guidance.

A sow feeding a big litter needs feed to match. The registry sells the Landrace on litter size and heavy milking, and Oregon State's guidance is that pasture is not widely recommended for lactating sows because of their higher nutritional needs.

The trade is the ears and the skin. Vision is genuinely obstructed, which affects handling, and the white skin burns outdoors.

Papers come from the National Swine Registry, which requires at least a 6-6 underline to record an animal, and the buying logic is maternal: a Landrace earns as the mother of crossbred litters, not as a market hog.

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