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THE BERKSHIRE PIG. 



{Reprinted by perinission from the Journal of the Department of 

 Agriculture of Western Australia.) 



The Berkshires are among the oldest, best known, and most 

 popular of the improved breeds of swine. Their great adapta- 

 bility to a variety of conditions, together with their early matur- 

 ing qualities, and their ability to stand up under heavy weight, 

 has earned for the improved Berkshire a place well up toward 

 the head of the list as a general purpose or farmers' pig. To the 

 many admirers of the trim animals of this breed which are to be 

 seen in abundance at every leading show, something of the his- 

 tory of their development should be of interest. However, like 

 many of the older breeds of stock of undoubtedly "blue blood," 

 it is somewhat difficult to give their genealogy with accuracy. 



As the very name implies, the breed is of English origin, and 

 first attained a position of prominence in the County of Berk, or 

 Berkshire, England. However, these original Berkshires were 

 very different from their descendants of today, and it is considered 

 doubtful if the breed attained to any considerable degree of per- 

 fection in its home county, the prevailing opinion being that the 

 earliest marked improvement of the breed was made by the breed- 

 ers of some of the other counties of southern and central England. 



These original Berkshire pigs are generally described by all 

 authorities as large, raw-boned, coarse pigs, with pendant ears, 

 and of a colour ranging from a tawny white to a sandy red or 

 black and variously spotted. It is thought by some that these 

 early Berkshires were from the same ancestry as the Tamworth, 

 and from the descriptions given it would seem that they more 

 nearly approached that breed in type than they did the Berkshires 

 of the present day. 



Indefinite as it this description of the foundation stock from 

 which this useful breed has been evolved, the means by which this 

 improvement was brought about seems to be equally uncertain. 

 Some writers tell us that the Chinese, Siamese, and Neapolitan 

 crosses were used, while others draw the line at the Neapolitan 

 cross, contending that the improvement was brought about en- 

 tirely by crossing with the Chinese pigs, and still others affirm 

 •with equal certainty that the principal improvement w^s due to 



