Breed of the Week!

Time for another Breed of the Week! This week is the American Chester White!

The Chester White is a breed of domestic pig which in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The Chester White was first developed around 1815-1818, using strains of large, white pigs common to the Northeast U.S. and a white boar imported from Bedfordshire. Some historians conjecture that Chinese pigs were also added to the mix as well.^[1]

By 1884 a breed association was officially formed but competing organizations, sometimes for individual strains, continued to appear into the early 20th century. Finally in 1930 all breed organizations were consolidated under the Chester White Swine Record Association, an act which aided the spread of the breed into the rest of the country.^[2]

Today the Chester White is a versatile breed suited to both intensive and extensive husbandry. Though not as popular as the Duroc, Yorkshire, or Hampshire,^[3] the Chester White is actively used in commercial crossbreeding operations for pork.^[1]