The Wessex Saddleback or Wessex Pig is 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

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucesters ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, (

Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

), especially in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

and the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

area of

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

. It is black, with white forequarters. In Britain it was amalgamated with the

Essex pig The Essex is a breed of domestic pig originating in the United Kingdom. Characteristics The Essex, in its traditional form, was a smallish pig with 'pricked' ears and a black ground colour, with a broad band of white 'sheeting' across the sho ...

to form the

British Saddleback The British Saddleback is a modern British breed of domestic pig. It was created in 1967 by merging the surviving populations of two traditional saddleback breeds, the Essex and Wessex Saddleback. It is an endangered breed, listed on the watc ...

, and it is extinct as a separate breed in Britain. However, the Wessex Saddleback survives in Australia and New Zealand.

Description

The Wessex Saddleback is black, with a white band about the forepart of the trunk, extending from one fore-foot over the shoulder to the other, forming a white band resembling a saddle (or "sheet"). It is a tall, rangy animal, adapted to foraging in woodland, its traditional use. This use survived longest in the

, where pigs are still allowed to forage in woods for mast (

acorn The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne ...

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

-nuts and

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

s) – but the New Forest pigs no longer include pure-bred Wessex Saddlebacks.

History

There is some confusion about the origin of the Wessex Saddleback. Some sources state that it began as a cross of "the black breed of the New Forest" and "the Old English Sheeted breed", spreading through Hampshire and the

Isle of Purbeck The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the n ...

in the 18th century.Malden, W J, "The Wessex Saddleback Breed" (original publication unknown), reprinted i
''Saddleback Times'' 2:2, Summer 2005.
/ref> However others simply say that the breed is "of unknown origin". The breed has been claimed to be one of the few

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

pig breeds to have been little affected by crossing with "Neapolitan" pigs of

Far Eastern The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

origin, and if this is true, it is perhaps one of those closest to the

landrace A landrace is a domesticated, locally adapted, often traditional variety of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through adaptation to its natural and cultural environment of agriculture and pastoralism, and due to isolation ...

pigs which foraged in woods throughout Britain for many centuries. The Wessex Saddleback breed society began in 1918 in Britain, but by the middle of the 20th century pig farming was becoming more and more intensive. The more extensive systems to which the Wessex is suited declined, and the breed declined with them. Meanwhile, the similarly coloured (but otherwise rather different)

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 ...

had followed a similar course, and in 1967 the two breeds were merged in an effort to prevent both becoming extinct.Hall, Stephen J G and Clutton-Brock, Juliet (1989), ''Two Hundred Years of British Farm Livestock'', British Museum (Natural History), , p 210 This formed a hybrid breed, the

(confusingly, the name "Wessex Saddleback" is often used loosely in Britain for the British Saddleback). A few herds of Essex Pigs survived in a relatively pure form in Britain, and efforts are being made to revive them as a separate breed, but the Wessex is currently considered extinct in its country of origin. However, before amalgamation some Wessex Saddlebacks had been exported to other parts of the world, and the breed survives in small numbers in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

,''Wessex Saddleback Pigs: A Rare Breed of British Origin''

Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand __NOTOC__ The Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand (RBCSNZ) was founded in 1988 to conserve, record and promote rare livestock breeds with the aim of maintaining genetic diversity within livestock species. The area of coverage is broad ...

and perhaps elsewhere. In Australia in 2008 there are less than 100 registered breeding sows, and they are considered critically endangered by the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia. In the early 19th Century, similar pigs from

were exported to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, and formed the basis of the Hampshire pig, one of the commonest commercial breeds there. The Hampshire has since been re-imported to Britain, but it is now of a different type to the Wessex.

Uses

Regarded as an excellent eating pig, the Wessex Saddleback was traditionally used as a "baconer" and grown out for bacon and hams.

Gallery

File:Wessex Saddlebacks in the mud.jpg File:Queensland State Archives 1692 Champion Wessex Saddleback sow Royal National Association Exhibition 1951.png File:Farmer and stockbreeder (1920) (14774931601).jpg

References

External links

Information on the British Saddleback from the British Pig Association
{{British livestock, R.2 Pig breeds originating in England Wessex