The Small Black or

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

pig was a breed of

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 ...

originating in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

during the nineteenth century. It is now

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

History

The origin of the breed is uncertain, but it was thought to have been created through crosses of the

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

pig with foreign breeds in efforts to 'improve' it. A herd of Neapolitan pigs belonging to Lord Western may have contributed to its makeup, with much breeding work being carried out by Thomas Crisp of Butley Abbey,

Wickham Market Wickham Market is a large village and electoral ward situated in the River Deben valley of Suffolk, England, within the Suffolk Coastal heritage area. It is on the A12 trunk road north-east of the county town of Ipswich, north-east of Wood ...

, in the mid 19th century. The Small Black was said to closely resemble the Small White, originally a Yorkshire breed, with the exception of the colour;Long, J. ''The book of the pig: its selection, breeding and management'', Gill, 1886, p. 155
/ref> like the Small White, its pricked ears, small size and short upturned snout indicated a contribution to the breed from imported Chinese pigs. The Small Black was also often known as the Suffolk, Improved Suffolk or Black Suffolk, although an earlier and unrelated small white breed of pig had also been known as the Suffolk.'' History, Gazetteer and Directory of Suffolk, Comprising a General Survey of the County, and Separate Historical, Statistical and Topographical Descriptions of All the Hundreds, Boroughs, Towns, Ports, Parishes, Townships, Chapelries, Villages, Hamlets, Manors and Unions'', 1874, p.29 The Small Black seems to have had a rather mixed reputation amongst agriculturalists. By the turn of the 20th century it was dropping rapidly out of favour, and the breed was said to have "a delicate constitution" and "a too large percentage of fat", although it matured early.Walker, J. ''Pigs for Profit'', W. H. & L. Collingridge, 1905, pp. 27–28
/ref> The breed appears to have disappeared in the early 20th century, when it was eventually merged into the Large Black.

References

{{British livestock, R.2 Extinct British pig breeds