Meishan

The Meishan may be the oldest domesticated pig breed in the world. Chinese farmers have been selecting pigs for more than 5,000 years, and the Meishan belongs to the Taihu group, named for the lake in Jiangsu province, alongside the Fengjing, Jiaxing, Erhualian and Hengjing strains. Taihu pigs are valued in China and Japan for heavily marbled meat and for the quality of the fat.

It is a medium-sized lard hog. There were once three sub-types: small, middle and large. The large is gone. China keeps the small and the middle as separate breeds on conservation farms, and only the middle type exists in the United States.

It was bred for two things at once: extreme prolificacy, and the ability to do well in small spaces on rough feed. Along the way it was also selected to be quiet, docile and sedentary, which makes it easier to handle than almost any other pig.

The American population has a very narrow base. Meishans arrived in 1989, after ten years of negotiation with China, as part of a joint study by the USDA, Iowa State and the University of Illinois. Ninety-nine animals came in, split evenly by sex and by genetic line, and everything here descends from them.