Pietrain

From Belgium it spread into Germany around 1960, and it is now used in more than 40 countries. The other landmark is genetic: in the 1980s and 1990s the University of Liege developed a stress-resistant strain, bred free of the gene for porcine stress syndrome by crossing to stress-resistant Large Whites.

The muscling is extreme, particularly on the hams, over a stocky body with fairly short legs and a short, light head with a straight profile. The coat is piebald: a gray-white ground with dark spots ringed in pale gray-blue. Wikipedia puts boars at about 300 kg and sows at 280, about 660 and 615 pounds, standing about 35 and 33 inches.

Handling is where the Pietrain's genetics show. The Merck Veterinary Manual lists it among the breeds highly susceptible to porcine stress syndrome, and in a susceptible pig the trigger can be ordinary stress: excitement, transport, or handling before a procedure. An episode brings rigid muscles and a sudden rise in body temperature, and death can follow within 20 minutes. Merck's advice is to keep susceptible animals calm; know an animal's stress status before you haul it.

Oklahoma State University's breed reference says the sows are prolific but lack some mothering ability and milk. Boars, as in any breed, can be the most aggressive animals on the farm, and a solid sorting panel is the standard tool for moving them.

A Pietrain carcass yields more lean meat per pound than anything else, with enormous ham and loin development, which is why it is used as a terminal sire in Europe wherever lean yield is the payment criterion.

Low stress, before anything else. Stress during transport or before slaughter is among the triggers the Merck Veterinary Manual lists for porcine stress syndrome, so plan handling and hauling to keep a susceptible pig calm.

The coat is white with black spots, by Oklahoma State's description, so outdoor pigs need shade against sunburn as well as heat, Penn State Extension notes, plus unlimited cool water and a shaded wallow, because pigs do not sweat.

The trade is stress. The muscling comes with a high frequency of the halothane gene, and that gene causes porcine stress syndrome: pigs that die under handling or transport stress, and meat that turns pale, soft and exudative. The gene is testable and stress-negative Pietrain lines exist, but buying this breed without asking about halothane status is buying the problem.

There is no American breed registry to consult, so the seller's documentation is what you get: ask for the halothane test result and the line's origin.

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