Беркширская порода свиней - относится к породам мясо-сального направления продуктивности. Животные этой породы обладают крепкой конституцией, хорошей скороспелостью, высокими откормочными и мясными качествами. Свиньи скороспелые, молодняк используют для мясного (до массы 95-100 кг) и сального (до массы 130-140 кг) откорма. Взрослые племенные хряки весят в среднем 220-250 кг, свиноматки 180-220 кг. Поросята достигают массы 100 кг в возрасте 197 дней. Среднесуточный прирост живой массы 672 грамма. На 1 кг привеса расход корма составляет ориентировочно 4 кормовые единицы. Плодовитость свиноматок не очень высокая, 8-9 поросят за опорос. По убойным качествам беркширы одна из наиболее продуктивных пород свиней. Убойный выход составляет 88%. При убое в молодом возрасте подсвинки дают нежное и вкусное мясо.
|
Родина породы свиней Беркшир - одноименное графство в Англии. Местные свиньи носили черты примитивности, были грубыми и крупными. Их улучшение вели сначала через скрещивание с китайскими свиньями, потом перешли к разведению помесей «в себе». Этот процесс продолжался в XVIII-XIX вв. минимум 50 лет, с тех пор порода мало изменилась.
Масть Беркширских свиней черная, но обязательно наличие белых отметин на бабках, хвосте и кончике рыла; туловище длинное, округлое и глубокое; голова маленькая, легкая; уши прямые, небольшие по размеру; щетина тонкая и плотная; тип конституции плотный нежный, мясо высокого качества. Свиньи склонны к ожирению, поэтому очень требовательны к составу рациона.
Беркширские свиньи гармонично сложены. Грудь широкая и глубокая; спина прямая, широкая и ровная; поясница широкая и прямая; бока округлые; крестец широкий, хорошо выполненный; окорока хорошо развиты, спускаются до скакательного сустава. Беркширы неприхотливы к условиям содержания и кормления, прекрасно используют пастбища и приспособлены к содержанию под открытым небом.
|
Беркширская порода свиней была завезена из Англии еще до революции. и оказала большое влияние на свиноводство России. С ее участием выведено 7 пород свиней: северокавказская, ливенская, миргородская, кемеровская, каликинская, украинская степная рябая, белорусская черно-пестрая. В настоящее время беркширов используют ограниченно, главным образом для промышленного скрещивания с крупными белыми свиньями и их помесями. У потомства, как правило, повышается многоплодие, сохранность поросят и скороспелость. Помесный молодняк свиней используют для мясного откорма.
К преимуществам Беркширской породы свиней относится их довольно крепкая конституция, быстрый рост, хорошая скороспелость, высокий убойный выход - до 88%, также свиньи неприхотливы к условиям содержания и кормления. Из недостатков следует отметить не высокую плодовитость свиноматок, встречается такой недостаток экстерьера как иксообразность конечностей.
|
Berkshire pigs
Berkshire pigs are an excellent
choice for farmers who want to raise heritage livestock with a taste
consumers appreciate. Not so very long ago, almost every farm had a few
pigs, which were often dubbed “the mortgage lifter” thanks to their easy
profit potential.
But in recent decades, pigs moved from the farmstead to the factory farm,
as small-scale farmers couldn’t possibly compete with corporate
operations with 1,000 or more animals raised under one roof.
Small-scale farmers are once again finding that there are potential
profits—and lots of excellent meat in keeping pigs: The trick is to keep
niche breeds that produce higher-quality meat and to market directly to
consumers (and chefs) who are interested in taste, humane treatment of
animals and better stewardship of the environment.
One of the pig breeds that farmers are finding to work well for these
consumers is the Berkshire. This pig is hardy, has good mothering
capabilities and performs very well outdoors, especially when grazing on
pasture. This pig breed's meat is darker than commercial pork and far
more flavorful than the pork found in your grocery-store freezer.
Berkshire Pig Breed Characteristics
Color: Black with white points (legs, face and tail) and pink
skin. Dark-colored skin reduces sunburn.
Body type: Very deep-sided with a strong, uniform arch of back and
muscular, firm build. Short neck and short, blocky legs with strong feet.
Head: Relatively short snout. Seen from the side, the face has a
slight dish-shape with a large jowl and an upturned nose. Ears are
medium-sized and erect.
Size: Medium to large animals, around 600 pounds at maturity.
Temperament: Excellent disposition. Friendly and curious.
Production traits: Good mothering ability with high milk
production. Hardy, performs well in outdoor operations.
History of Berkshire Pigs
Berkshire pigs are one of the
oldest identifiable breeds. These black pigs, with white “points” (white
areas on their feet, snout and tail) were documented in the English
“shire of Berks” more than 350 years ago and made their way to the
United States in the early 1800s. In 1875, breeders formed the American
Berkshire Association, making it the first breeders group and swine
registry in the world.
Pigs come in two essential types—the lard type and the bacon type. As
the name suggests, lard pigs produce higher concentrations of fat, which
traditionally was rendered for cooking and the production of lubricants.
These pigs are compact, with thick muscling, short legs and deep bodies.
Through the end of World War II, the market for lard (a key ingredient
in products ranging from cosmetics to explosives to pharmaceuticals) was
strong, but after the war, cheaper vegetable-based fats found their way
into American diets and petrochemicals largely replaced lard for
commercial and industrial uses. The declining market for lard caused
demand for lard pigs to collapse and breeders began selecting for leaner
hogs.
Initially the Berkshire pig breed thrived, thanks largely to its
exceptionally tasty meat, but as the pork industry consolidated under
the control of just a handful of large corporations in the 1980s and
1990s and efficiency of production became the name of the game, the
Berkshire population plummeted. The “pork industry” simply wasn’t
interested in Berkshires because they were slower growing, didn’t
produce as much lean meat (which the industry believed was the only
thing consumers would buy) and didn’t perform as well in confinement as
the Duroc, Hampshire and Yorkshire pig breeds.
Despite these setbacks, some independent farmers who were members of the
ABA kept breeding registered hogs.
“Berkshire producers didn’t open their books [to non-Berkshire
bloodlines], they never changed and the breed is intact,” says Mike
Telford, Marketing Director for the ABA’s Berkshire Meat Products
program. “The breed has tremendous meat quality and today’s consumers,
both nationally and internationally, are really seeking out high-quality
meat products.”
Thanks to this consumer-driven demand for good meat, Berkshire numbers
are again climbing and there is opportunity for small-scale producers to
profit from these pigs.
|
Responding to the Consumer
Located in the lush hills of the
south-central Missouri Ozarks, Greenwood Farms is a family affair that’s
finding its niche raising “organic, naturally raised animals.”
Although Steve Atkinson is a dentist, he and wife, Holly, reared their
children, Julie and David, on a farm in the 1980s. Steve Atkinson’s
practice was the family’s main income source, but the farm was still a
serious endeavor: Holly Atkinson milked a herd of 26 Jersey cows and
sold the milk commercially.
When the kids grew up and went off to college, the Atkinson's sold the
farm to take some years off for travel, but in 2000 they began thinking
of buying another farm to enjoy a rural retirement. Then, Julie, David
and David’s wife Kindra, found that corporate life didn’t suit them, so
the family banded together to create a small commercial farm.
“Our whole philosophy has been to engage in traditional family farming,
but to find new niches,” Holly Atkinson says. “We have always been
interested in heritage breeds and the older breeds of livestock. We
don’t feel like bigger is necessarily better, or that ‘new and improved’
breeds are necessarily better.”
“The Japanese are quite the gourmands when it comes to pork, so we took
that as a good sign.”
Mike Telford also talks about the Japanese interest in Berkshire pork:
“In Japan, you don’t have to educate consumers about Berkshires—just
walking up and down the grocery store aisle you can see that they really
understand what the product is and what the meat’s qualities are.
Kurobuta, which is 100-percent Berkshire meat, is much prized by the
Japanese; that preference goes back 300 years or more. Part of the
preference is cultural; the Japanese have always preferred dark meat
from black pigs because it is seen as healthy and healing [you wouldn’t
go there and promote ‘the other white meat’].”
It’s All About Taste
What do the Japanese consumers
already know about Berkshire quality that American consumers are just
rediscovering? In a word, taste. Berkshires marble well so the meat is
naturally juicy and flavorful with exceptional texture.
In fact, according to Telford, in tests for sensory qualities (or eating
characteristics) performed by the National Pork Producers Association,
Berkshires are the hands-down winners, coming in first overall and
ranking above all the other breeds in 19 of the 24 tests NPPA performs
in its assessment.
Chefs are becoming major promoters of Berkshires in the U.S. Tom Boyce,
Chef de Cuisine at Wolfgang Puck’s flagship Beverly Hills restaurant,
Spago, is one of the Berkshire’s fans.
“I love the richness of the Berkshire pork—and the fact that most
farmers raising them are treating them better and doing a better job for
the environment than the commodity-pork producers. They are raising them
in an artisanal fashion.
“It is the only kind of pig we use here at Spago,” Boyce says. “And we
have it on the menu at least a couple of times per month. The response
is always excellent; everyone absolutely loves the flavor.”
For farmers, like the Atkinsons, who direct-market their products, the
flavor really does help sell the meat to more than just five-star chefs.
“There are generally two kinds of pork on the market,” Holly Atkinson
says. “One has no flavor and is watery, and the other has really thick
fat on the outside, but no marbling in the middle, so it’s dry and
course. With the Berkshires you get a nice edge of light fat and a
little marbling, so it has good, juicy flavor throughout.”
The Atkinsons mainly sell their meat via the Internet. They have an
email list of more 400 people and customers who come from near and far
to purchase their tasty pork. One of their regulars lives in San
Francisco and pays nearly as much for shipping as he does for the meat,
but he wants the quality and is willing to pay.
“We get a good price from people who are seeking naturally raised
products. We are doing brisk sales of our grassfed beef and lamb, but
our pork market—which is still a small enterprise—is growing faster than
our other enterprises.”
Small-Scale Swine
Interestingly enough, the
Atkinsons truly started out on a small scale and continue with a slow
and steady pace. They purchase six Berkshire feeder pigs (just-weaned
piglets) at a time from a certified-Berkshire producer. They are growing
their operation gradually as the market for their product grows. Sold by
the pound, they have jumped through hoops to have their meat processed
and labeled in a USDA-inspected custom packing plant.
Peggy Miller and her sister, Sally Grimes, are another family engaged in
a small-scale swine operation.
“I actually got my first weaner pig as my 15th birthday present—just
what every girl wants,” Miller says with a chuckle. She kept pigs
through high school, mostly Spots and Yorkshires. As a young adult,
Peggy got out of keeping pigs while she went to college, but after she
graduated, her mother talked her into getting some again. That was 1987;
she bought a bred-Berkshire gilt (a young female pig that has not yet
had piglets) at the Oregon State Fair and has stuck with Berks ever
since.
Today Miller and Grimes raise Berkshires (and Karakul sheep) year-round
on a small plot of land right in Salem, Ore., the state’s capitol with a
metro-area population of almost 300,000. Unlike the Atkinsons, they sell
all their piglets as feeder pigs.
“I don’t grow my own feed, and I don’t have bulk storage, so I have to
pay top-dollar for it,” Miller explains. “For the most part that makes
it more profitable for me to sell pigs off the sow, rather than trying
to raise them for meat. I sell to individuals who want to feed them out
for family meat production and for 4-H projects.”
Berkshires really do make ideal animals for small-scale production.
“They are rugged and reliable animals,” Holly Atkinson says. “They take
well to pasture life, getting a lot of their own feed from grazing and
digging for acorns.”
The Atkinsons also feed some local, naturally raised corn and milk from
three Jersey cows milked for family use and for making cheese.
Berkshire Breeding
Not only are they hardy and
active foragers, Berkshire sows are also excellent mothers. With decades
of breeding sows and farrowing out litters, Miller quickly attests to
their mothering ability: “In all the years I have worked with them, I
have only had one bad mother. Sometimes a gilt will be a little nervous
the first time, but other than that they just lay down and have their
babies. They are really calm. Sows are great milkers, so the piglets
grow quickly.”
Berkshire litters tend to be a little smaller than some of the
commercial crossbreds, but Miller says she averages eight to 10 piglets
per litter, though she has had some sows farrow as many as 16.
“Personally, I don’t like huge litters,” she says. “I would rather have
eight to 10 pigs that are big, uniform and healthy than 14 pigs with
some runty ones that need nurse-maiding.”
Miller also explains that the Berkshires have a slightly longer
gestation, which she feels is a benefit.
“The Berkshires go about 116 days, whereas the Yorkshires normally go
112 days. I think they come out more vigorous thanks to the extra time
they spent in the womb.”
Thanks to their black coat, Berkshires offer another advantage: They
don’t tend to get sunburned like light-colored pigs.
All in all, if you are looking for a good pig for a small-farm
enterprise or you just want to eat your own pork like Grandpa used to
raise, then the Berkshire might be the breed for you.