Heritage Pig Breed Genetics : Meishan Pigs

It's her fault...That's my story and I am sticking to it.

I look out on the fields of our farm and I see these rather odd pigs quietly grazing and sleeping. And everywhere I look it seems like I see them. This is way more pigs than any plan I had originally for our little farm and I never intended to get into heritage pig breed genetics on this level. It's all my wifes' fault.

How Meishans Came to Gods Blessing farm

You see about 3 years ago she shows me this webpage on a heritage pig breed we had never heard of, Chinese Meishan pigs. Now understand we had pigs at the time (too many to her thinking/liking). I was in the middle of building an American Guinea Hog herd that I had traveled to 7 different states to assemble. It was a nice little hog but my wife was concerned about their impact on our land. Because regardless of what some might say they do root (though much less than traditional commercial breeds).
We had also tried Gloucester Old Spots. After the GOS piglets, we brought in confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that there were no secret deposits of oil on the property (as deep as they dug we would have hit a gusher by now) they moved quickly to the freezer. We dabbled with some Kune Kune and found whatever their differences to AGH a personality devoid of rooting wasn't one of them.
 So here comes my wife with this info on a wrinkly-faced hyper-productive pig from China. So I began to investigate. For about 8 months it was the usual web pages and Facebook groups. And the more I looked the more intrigued I was. The Facebook groups would have scared most folks off. At the time there was a running feud between two or three breeders. And I don't mean your usual FB spat this was more like a lifetime movie script with pages and the "truth about" pages. It got pretty ugly.
 But the more I read about the pig the more I saw the same things I liked about my AGH but with the larger size (but not TO large), faster growth, larger litters and if you were to believe the write-ups even a more docile nature than AGH! So I contacted the two most polarized breeders to discuss the breed. I talked to the Hatfields and then I talked to the McCoys.

Time for the Farm to Grow

 And another year passed while my own AGH herd was growing and people seemed to support our concepts of breeding for traits to benefit a small holder (stronger hams and shoulder and faster growth rates). A customer would come from here and a customer would come from there and the next thing I knew we had our pigs in herds in twelve different states.
But still, we had hit what I call the "glass ceiling" that plagues AGH and KK. That is the limitations of the pigs. Small size, very slow growth, smaller litters, and a limited meat outlet meant it had risen about as far as it could on my farm. It could pay for its feed and a little more but it had no real end game as a meat animal for individual customers or restaurants.

So in December of 2015, I acquired a boar and two unrelated sister gilts from the breeder that I had the highest confidence in at the time and we were off. We fell in love with the pigs. Original plans to cross them with the AGH were scrapped as this was just a better pig all around for us. It had a lower pasture environmental impact, it was quiet bordering on silent and everything written about how docile it was absolutely true. This was a GREAT pig and even my wife liked them.

The Herd Needed To Grow

This was all great But I needed at least another boar and another gilt would be wonderful too. My pig breeding farm model was always about enough genetic diversity to sell breeding pairs. So the search began in earnest. I found another breeder, but honestly, nobody seemed to know or was willing to tell where their stock came from.
I had learned from my AGH that you could end up with liter mates even if you got pigs from two wildly separated states! So I sent the e-mails out. I sent e-mails to USDA Scientists. I sent e-mails to Iowa State. I sent e-mails to Illinois. Basically, if you were remotely associated with the original study you got an e-mail from me. The responses? It was the sounds of crickets, nothing, nada, zilch.

Acquiring the last of the Illinois Meishans

 Then one day just after Christmas someone on the Facebook group Meishan Pigs asked where they could find some Meishans. Someone commented back that "Ohio State had some Meishans for sale". A discussion broke out the fact that was not possible. I stayed out of the discussion.
What I did do was fire off an e-mail to the Department of Animal Sciences at Ohio State. That was December 29th, 2015. On New Year's Eve, one of the researchers there actually answered me. He said they didn't have nor ever had any pure or cross Meishans, but that he would "ask around" for me. We exchanged several more e-mails and the next thing I knew I was talking to the head of the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois.
They only had a pair of 2-year-old females left from the original research stock and had decided it was time to let them go!
In February 2016 I drove from Niota TN to Champagne Illinois and loaded them in the back of a 2003 Chevy Astro van. Yes, the two   350lb+ girls made the trip to our farm sprawled out in the back of a minivan. Soccer Moms have nothing on me. The picture above is them riding to TN.
But I still needed a boar.

Saving the Last of the USDA Meishans

That same kind soul (to whom I would be forever grateful to) at Ohio State gave me a specific name inside the USDA US Meat Animal Research Center at Clay Nebraska. By now my e-mail response track record wasn't the greatest so I searched online USDA websites until I got his number and so I called him!

I don't think that scientists (he was a swine reproductive geneticist) are used to getting out of the blue phone calls from no-name small farmers from TN very often. That's the impression I got at least.
To my shock, he told me that the decision had been made to designate the remaining Meishans as "excess" and that yes there may be a way to get them I asked how many what sexes? But he did not know. He only said he would check with the facility director. Four days later (the minimum time in my estimation to be persistent without being annoying) I called him back. He said that he had now heard all the sows had been "designated for slaughter".
My knees actually buckled a bit when I heard this. When he said that I asked if I might call the facility director he said that was fine with him.

So I called the facility director.

  During that conversation, I learned five boars remained but the last sows were going to be slaughtered for a specific cell to be harvested. A final experiment after 26 years of experiments on the breed. We worked out the details on the boars and in a follow-up e-mail, I made a case for, if at all possible, could I get a sow or two.
I had spoken with him how small landholders had an excellent record as genetic reservoirs. And that it was only through the efforts of small landholders that swine breeds like American Guinea Hog, Mulefoot, Large Black and Red Wattle, to name only a few, even existed today. It must have worked. Soon I was contacted by the swine manager at US MARC and I was told that five boars and two sows were available if I wanted them. I know that decision must have come from the heart as much as the head..Even in a research facility the Meishans had made friends.

Five boars??

 When I told my wife I was buying five boars sight unseen (It violates USDA policy to distribute pictures of stock in the USMARC Facility) she looked at me like I was a madman. That meant we would have six Meishan boars and six Meishan breeding sows on the property along with our AGH pigs. But when we talked about it we realized we might be buying the last five passenger pigeons. What we didn't take would be quite literally lost.
When the swine manager at USMARC sent me the breeding records and it was apparent that these were five genetically distinct boars and two unrelated and genetically distinct sows it was the all in or all out bet at the poker table. And we decided to go all in. And by mean all in I mean not just buy these seven hogs but keep them and the other meishan genetics we had collected. Because it wouldn't have been any problem to have sold off any or all of these pigs. They are quite literally the rarest Meishans outside of China. But then once again the genetics of the breed would be scattered into a community that didn't have the best track record of cooperation at the time.
The genetic death spiral of the Meishan might be delayed but it couldn't be forestalled. No, if we kept all of these pigs it would have to take a commitment to maintain the most genetically diverse herd outside of China. A herd that could be used to supply fresh genetics to every current and future Meishan owner. With that decision came other realizations.

Hard Decisions had to be made

Our other pigs could not stay. We could not serve two breeds. After a year on the American Guinea Hog Association Board of Directors, I knew the breed was well on its way to recovery. So my breeding efforts of the last six years were now over. The herd I had obtained from seven different states had to be dispersed. It was a hard decision. I was beginning to see the fruits of our efforts.

The qualities we culled so aggressively for were beginning to shine through. But the Meishan is an amazing hog. It wasn't just a cause it was a better hog for us! It is probably the most studied swine breed ever in the US. But is it a stand-alone homestead livestock breed?
Is it an excellent breed to cross into other breeds to replicate its many positive qualities? Is it a pasture ornament, or an exotic pet breed? I think it has a role in all of those niches.
But most of I all I believe it has to find a role in the craft pork movement. Either as a stand-alone or a cross. Because that gives it sustainable value to those who choose to breed it.

So here we are three road trips,4,595 actual driving miles and seven travel days later. I look out on the fields of our farm and I see these rather odd pigs quietly grazing and sleeping. And everywhere I look it seems like I see them. And now you can see and learn more about adding them to your own farm here Gods Blessing farm and American Meishan Breeders Association

It's her fault. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

May the Lord bless you and yours
Rico (The Bald man)

Postscript. I want to thank the people who were instrumental in this journey. People who have helped and are helping us peel back the "onion" that is the Meishan story.People who put up with that annoyingly persistent small farmer from Tennessee. In order of contact:

• Steven Moeller Department of Animal Sciences Ohio State University
• Dr. Steven Loerch Head of the Department of Animal Sciences University of Illinois
• Jonathan Forrest Mosely Swine Herd Manager University of Illinois
• Jeffrey Valet  Geneticist USDA  US Meat Animal Research Center Clay Center NE.
• Dr E John Pollak Facility Director USDA US Meat Animal Research Center Clay Center NE
• Troy McCain Swine Herd Manager USDA US Meat Animal Research Center Clay Center NE
• Gary Rohrer  Swine Geneticist USDA US Meat Animal Research Center Clay Center NE
• Dr Max Rothschild Department of Animal Sciences Iowa State University
• Harvey Blackburn Senior Animal Geneticist   USDA Genetic Resource  Preservation Sevice Fort Collins CO.
• And a special thanks to Laura and Bill Jenson of Jensen Reserve without the use of their livestock trailer the USDA genetics might not have had a ride to TN! They now have a hot specialty farm shop near Atlanta featuring Meishans amazing, unique pork. 
• Livestock Conservancy Heritage Pig Breed: Meishan Pigs for all their work in preserving breed and genetic diversity. 

Heritage Pig Breed : Meishan, Its History in America

Heritage Meishan Pigs: The Three Herds

In 1989 after years of contentious negotiations the USDA, The University of Illinois and Iowa State University received the only direct importation of Chinese Meishan hogs( along with a small group of Fenging and Minzhu hogs) to ever reach the United States. Under the agreement with the Chinese, these hogs were for research purposes only. None would be released into commercial or private breeding stock until the experiments were concluded. The actual number of pure Meishan pigs was very small. Here is an excerpt from the Illinois Extension web page

"The University of Illinois Imported Swine Research Laboratory received 21 Meishan (Ms) females in July 1989, as part of a joint University of Illinois - Iowa State University - USDA-ARS importation of 65 Ms gilts and 30 Ms, 24 Fengjing (F) and 21 Minzhu boars from the Peoples' Republic of China. The Ms pigs represented 10 distinct families which were unrelated back to their grandparents "
In talking with some of the actual researchers every care was made to divide the genetics equally. If three pigs came from one liter each research facility got one pig each. Once divided the herds would never genetically interact again. Different experiments, natural inter-group rivalries and the simple disconnect of physical difference sent each herd along its own path. I know for a fact that in at least two cases the Fengjing and Minzhu genetics were never interbred with the Meishan Genetics. Everyone I talked to assumed that was the case for all three research herds. The Meishan was selected because at the time plummeting US pork prices had slammed hard against a need for higher breeding efficiency. And the Meishan was one of the most prolific pigs in the world. Averaging 15-18 piglets per liter when US breeds at the time were mired in the 10-12 range at best. And Meishans reached sexual maturity faster. On average 105 days(over 3 months) faster than a common Yorkshire or Duroc. Meishans were also great mothers featuring 16-18 teats or more and exhibiting a higher wean to farrow ratio than the typical commercial piglet squasher. So here was a pig that could breed sooner, have more piglets, have more milk and raise more to weanling size Studies would show that with as little as 25% Meishan in a cross all of those benefits would at least partially transfer to the progeny. The "super pig" had arrived. Or had it? At just about the same time the Pork Industry was adjusting to new American consumer demands. One might argue those changing demands were driven by false premises on pasture raised fats but that's another blog post. In any case, pork was well on its way to becoming "the new white meat". And that is where the Meishan fell short. Because the red and highly prized in the Orient, the meat of the Meishan was fatty. Why not? Most heritage breeds had a higher fat content. But alas USDA pork grading was changing literally every few months to place the highest grading (and therefore the highest per pound price for producers) on the meat with the LEAST fat in it. And since every benefit of meishan Genetics also brought with it higher fat content the economic advantages of prolific liters was offset buy lower pork grading standards.

    Picture of some of the original imported hogs. From top left to right and then bottom left to right. Meishan, Fengjing, Minzhu and a USDA Duroc cross (control comparison). Photo courtesy of Gary Rohrer Geneticist USDA ARS US Meat Animal Research Center Clay Nebraska

The Meishan in the research centers

  So the Meishan began a long journey as probably the most experimented on, dissected and observed breed of hog that nobody had. And at the rate, it was going nobody was going to have.The pork industry recovered from the disappointment of the Meishan. Confinement systems cured the piglet crushing issue. As predicted over 25 years of selective breeding raised the liter sizes. America learned to happily munch down on dry tasteless wallboard pork(excuse the authors bias here). And what happened to the Meishan? Well, the Meishan languished in obscurity. A few from Iowa State leaking out to zoos but the rest became pudgy anachronisms in their respective research herds. Then sometime between 2008 and 2010 the Department of Animal Sciences at Iowa State determined the benefit of the pudgy pig no longer outweighed the cost. They began to disperse their herd. A few got out to exotic animal dealers who saw potential in this unique docile "foldy face" pig. A few went to small independent breeders intrigued by the potential to return flavor to American pork. The boars found a unique niche as "heat check boars". Their docile nature made them the perfect candidates to alert confinement operators which sows were ready for artificial insemination. Anachronism, pasture ornament and confinement "fluffer" it was an ignominious stage for one of the oldest domesticated breeds of swine in the world.

Probably the most published Meishan picture ever. Gary Rohrer from US MARC with two USDA Meishans in the early 90's.

The Rest of the Story

But it really was such a good pig. People coveted the few that were out there. Unfortunately for the pigs, cooperation was not the hallmark of the breed owners at the time. Livestock people and pet people don't often mix. Hoarding genetics to keep a revenue stream played a role in the prevailing attitudes. I am not here to judge only to state what happened. The Iowa State herd was gone and the genetic pool was incredibly thin. But there were still the pigs at USDA and Illinois. So farm breeders asked. Exotic animal dealers asked. And yes even I asked. Requests were ignored or simply declined. The breed was in a genetic death spiral outside of the research herds. 

The Release of the Last Two Meishans from the Illinois Herd

In February 2016 the last two gilts(two-year-old sisters) left the University of Illinois. The Illinois research herd had succumbed to the same budget pressures that Iowa State suffered over six years earlier. Twenty-seven years of Meishan genetics were ended! If you would like to read how that happened you can check out this post Saving the Meishan Genetics

The Last of the USDA Meishan Herd

In early 2016 the last great reservoir of US Meishan genetics fell to the budget ax. The US Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Nebraska determined their Meishan herd was excess inventory. All the remaining females would be slaughtered in a final experiment in which some cell or another would be harvested, analyzed and cataloged. The last five boars would be euthanized. 

Sounds like a bad ending for a good pig in the US. Without these genetics, the sustainability of the remaining Iowa State pigs was questionable at best. 

 But maybe there is a different future for the Meishan in America. By one of the most fortuitous/ridiculous/ blessed series of events found myself standing at the back door of both facilities as someone was reaching for the Meishan light switch. So instead of going to a meat locker or an animal compost site the two girls from Illinois and five boars and two gilts (all unrelated) from the USDA ended up in the back of my van and the back of a borrowed livestock trailer respectively headed for my farm with me at the wheel. 4000 round trip driving miles later they are here. The detective story that tells that tale is posted here also Saving the Meishan Genetics

Just in case somebody ever asks you "How many adult Meishans can you fit in the back of a 2003 Chevy Astro Van?"  now you know

Saving the Heritage Pig Breed: Meishan

 I went looking for one more boar to go with my Iowa State breeding trio. I ended up with the most genetically diverse Meishan herd outside of China. I wasn't ready for that. It was the all in or all out poker hand. I am now all in. And now I have to make decisions about them. I have had these pigs long enough to firmly believe there is a real niche for them in the US. Not just as a pasture ornament, not just as a beginner pig, not just the next get rich quick LLama/Alpaca flash in the pan.
 I just resigned from the board of directors of another endangered heritage pig registry, The American Guinea Hog, to focus on this project. I know that once the American Guinea hog breed had only seven boars, some related. I have 6 unrelated Meishan boars!  Last year the AGH breed registry board I served on registered over 1100 pigs. 

The Future of the Meishan in the USA

I believe that if the Meishan can find a legitimate role as a meat animal in the US craft pork movement it can flourish. I believe if raising Meishans is profitable for small landholders it can flourish. I also believe if it is pimped out like the pot belly pig or the Alpaca it will collapse under the weight of its own prolific nature. So there will be decisions I will have to make so they can have a future and probably some people will disagree and get angry. I have to do what is best for the future of this rare heritage pig breed and for the breeders who decide this pig will work for their homestead just as it has worked so wonderfully for ours.

I thank those in the scientific community at USDA and elsewhere who have given me words on encouragement. My greatest hope is that nobody will ver say this about the Meishan breed in the US. And then there were none. Be blessed all prayers appreciated feel free to come along for the journey.
You can learn more about our herd, upcoming litters by signing up for the Meishan Tales Newsletter

Here's a video from our youtube channel that talks about one important reason they are great for small farms.