Taihu pig

Taihu pig

Meishan pigs at the Meat Animal Research Center in Nebraska
Country of origin	China
Traits
Pig Sus domesticus

The Taihu pig (

All the Taihu strains have a high rate of reproduction with litter sizes ranging up to twenty, but averaging fourteen live piglets. This characteristic, as well as their resistance to disease, has resulted in interest in the pigs for research into breeding and genetic engineering. Taihu pigs have been established in France, Albania, Hungary, Japan, the UK and the US.[1]

Taihu pig strains

There are usually four main groups of the Taihu pig identified and these are listed below. Although many others are named by authors, it is debatable whether there is any substantial genetic difference as some variation is due to diet and environment rather than genetics. Taihu are kept well-fed on a vegetable diet with large amounts of roughage, which sometimes leaves them short of calcium for bone development.^[2][5]

Meishan

The

The

The Jiaxing black strain is mainly found in the districts of Jiaxing City in Zhejiang Province.^[1]

Erhualian

The Erhualian strain is mainly found in the districts of Changzhou and Wuxi cities in Jiangsu Province.^[1]

Other named strains

Hengjing, named for a town in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, has been claimed extinct in 2019.^[6] Mi pig is found in Changzhou and Yangzhou cities of Jiangsu Province; and the Shawutou pig is found in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province.^[5]

Research outside China

Interest has grown in Western countries in the possibility of using this pig in the female line of a breeding program with the hope that they can improve the taste, disease resistance and litter size while retaining the fast growth of Western breeds, possibly using