The Danish Landrace, da, Hvid Dansk Landrace, italic=no, is a Danish breed of

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

. It is of medium to large size, white in colour with a long body, fine hair, a long snout, and heavy drooping ears. There are two distinct varieties, the white (') and the

piebald A piebald or pied animal is one that has a pattern of unpigmented spots (white) on a pigmented background of hair, feathers or scales. Thus a piebald black and white dog is a black dog with white spots. The animal's skin under the white backgro ...

(').

History

During the second half of the nineteenth century, Denmark became a major supplier of bacon to the United Kingdom: exports grew from 1000 tons per year in 1850 to in 1900; they grew still further in the twentieth century, reaching in 1932. From about 1865, and particularly between 1879 and 1896, breeding stock of the British Large White or Yorkshire breed was imported and

cross-bred A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

with local animals to supply the bacon trade. The cross of a Large White boar with a sow of the traditional

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

breed was found to be particularly successful. In 1896 the Danish government drew up a national plan for pig production, under which the Large White x Jutland hybrid would become a new breed, the Danish Landrace. A

herd-book A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry and the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders ...

published in 1906 listed 126 boars born from 1893 to 1904; some 60% of them were from

, 21% from

Fyn Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as ...

and 10% from

Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

. Performance testing was started in 1899. Herds of purebred local and Large White pigs were separately reared; farmers could buy stock to produce the first-generation hybrid, which soon became the predominant pig of Denmark. From about 1925 the use of Large White boars was reduced, and the new breed

selectively bred Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant m ...

for characteristics including more length in the body and less fat on the back. After the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, limits were placed on exports of breeding stock; the Danish Landrace had already been exported to many countries of the world, and had given rise to numerous regional breeds, among them the American, Dutch Landrace,

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

, South African and Swedish Landrace. In the 1960s it was essentially the only pig breed in the country, but in the 1970s it came to be considered insufficiently productive for

intensive farming Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of ...

. A comparison with imported Large White in 1977 found it to grow more slowly while consuming more feed. From about this time it was cross-bred with newlyimported Large White boars to create the Dan-Hybrid sow line, on which a variety of Duroc,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

and Large White boars were used. By 1983 approximately 3500 of the original breed remained.

Characteristics

The Danish Landrace is a medium-to-large, long, lean, pig. It is white, and is scantily clad with short hairs. The snout is long, and the large ears droop forwards. It has deep flanks and lacks the wrinkles and excess fat found in some other breeds.

References

{{Landrace pig breeds navbox Pig breeds Pig breeds originating in Denmark