The Large White is a British

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

domestic 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 s ...

. It derives from the old Yorkshire breed from the county of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, in northern England.

History

First recognised in 1868, the breed is the progenitor of the

American Yorkshire The American Yorkshire is an American breed of large domestic pig. It is the most numerous pig breed in the United States. It derives from pigs of the British Large White or Yorkshire breed imported from the United Kingdom or from Canada at va ...

in North America.

Characteristics

The Large White is a big, white pig, with erect ears and a slightly dished face.

Use

The Large White is one of the most numerous of all pig breeds, widely used in crossbreeding for

intensive pig farming Intensive pig farming, also known as pig factory farming, is the primary method of pig production, in which grower pigs are housed indoors in group-housing or straw-lined sheds, whilst pregnant sows are housed in gestation crates or pens and g ...

around the world. It was originally developed as an outdoor breed, but today it is one of those favoured by commercial pig breeders, lending uniformity to pigs produced for meat on a large scale.

References

{{British livestock, R.2 Pig breeds originating in England