The Surprising History of Pig Farming From Ancient Times to Your Backyard

Before we talk about raising pigs, it helps to know how we got here. Humans and pigs have a long history together. Longer than you probably think.

What Even Is a Pig?

Pigs belong to the genus Sus, family Suidae. They are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and animals. They are also even-toed ungulates, putting them in the same club as deer, cattle, and hippos. But unlike most of those animals, pigs will eat just about anything. That fact alone made them incredibly useful to early humans.

Domestication: Nobody Agrees on When

Here is the thing about pig domestication. Nobody can agree on exactly when it happened. Estimates range from around 13,000 BCE to 5,000 BCE. That is a huge gap. What we do know is that it happened independently in several places, and once people figured out that pigs were easy to keep and quick to reproduce, the relationship stuck.

Pigs eventually spread across Europe and became a staple on farms. They were popular for two simple reasons: they eat anything, and they make a lot of babies.

Pigs Come to America

Christopher Columbus brought 8 pigs with him on his voyages. Hernando de Soto brought 13 pigs to Florida. Within just three years, he had 700. That is how fast pigs reproduce. Let that sink in. Thirteen pigs became seven hundred in three years.

By the 17th century, a typical American farm had four or five pigs. They were a standard part of homestead life. Easy to feed, quick to grow, and useful from head to tail.

Lard Type vs. Bacon Type

Historically, pigs fell into two main classifications.

Lard type pigs were thick, compact, and heavy. They were fed mostly corn and produced a lot of fat. Before vegetable oils became common, lard was essential for cooking, soap making, and dozens of other uses.

Bacon type pigs were leaner and more muscular. They were raised on higher protein diets and produced the cuts we think of today when we picture pork.

There is a saying in pig farming: everything is used except the squeal. Pork, bacon, ham, sausage, lard, leather, bristles for brushes, gelatin. Pigs are remarkably efficient animals.

The Industry Centralizes

By the mid-1800s, pig farming started to concentrate around the corn belt in the Midwest. It made sense. Corn was the primary feed, and keeping the pigs close to the feed source cut costs.

Then in 1887, refrigerated railroad cars changed everything. Suddenly you could slaughter pigs in one place and ship the meat across the country without it spoiling. That centralized the industry even further. Large operations got larger. Small farms started to fade into the background.

After World War II

The lard market collapsed after WWII. Vegetable oils and shortening replaced lard in most kitchens. Suddenly those thick, fat lard-type pigs were not as valuable. The industry shifted hard toward lean, meat-producing breeds.

Where We Are Today

Today, about 75% of pigs raised in the United States come from just three breeds: Duroc, Yorkshire, and Hampshire. That is a massive concentration. And it creates a real problem with genetic diversity. When you rely on just a handful of breeds, you lose the unique traits that other breeds carry. Disease resistance, foraging ability, mothering instincts, flavor.

Heritage breeds like the Tamworth, Gloucester Old Spot, and Guinea Hog still exist, but they are mostly kept alive by small farms and dedicated breeders. These are the breeds that built American farming, and now they are endangered.

If you are thinking about raising pigs on a small farm, you have a real opportunity here. You can keep these older breeds going while producing excellent pork. That is something the big operations will never do.

Book: Backyard Farming: Raising Pigs Author: Kim Pezza ISBN: 978-1-57826-621-0 Publisher: Hatherleigh Press, 2016

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