With the exception of a few small, often part-time, businesses, hardly any larger breeding or fattening businesses are involved in the professional keeping of this breed. The main task of this scientific activity was to bundle activities relating to the Berkshire breed with the long-term goal of establishing and maintaining a herd book. The necessary support was provided by the Austrian breeding company “ PIG Austria GmbH ”.
There is noticeably greater interest in pig breeds with defined characteristics. Until a few years ago the goal was to generate animals for fattening that were as uniform as possible, but there is currently a noticeable increase in diversification. In addition to well-known “ alternative breeds” such as Duroc or Schwäbisch Hällisches Landschwein, the demand for other breeds is increasing sharply.
The original idea of setting up a herd book for Berkshire pigs first came about through an exchange with a well-known restaurateur. In order to particularly high-quality bacon products , Berkshire boars should be imported from Germany and prepared here for further breeding. It soon became apparent that not every black pig was actually a Berkshire pig. Due to the lack of legal breeding principles, it was difficult to prove the animals' purebred ancestry. If you want to guarantee the exceptional meat quality combined with the positive character traits that this breed promises in pure breeding, irrefutable proof of ancestry is essential.
In order to enable the future establishment and regulated breeding of the Berkshire pig, a breeding guideline be created. The creation of a herd book offers interested companies new opportunities and better access to breeding material than before. Since there has been no structured breeding work with this breed to date, the activity presented and the set of rules created with it represent, so to speak, pioneering work in the field of herdbook breeding. The primary purpose of the work and the output created with it serve to support Austrian agriculture.
Pure breeding animals in Wels/Thalheim
The first purebred Berkshire pigs were transferred from Germany to Austria in 2018 . These were two intact boars from the “Namajira” bloodline. One of the two animals (Randy) has been on the premises of the Institute for Organic Agriculture since January 1, 2019; Thalheim/Wels branch. In 2022, two purebred Berkshire gilts of the “Mermaid” bloodline were again purchased from a German herd book breeder and transferred to Austria. In order to expand pure-breed breeding, fresh semen from the “Peter Lad” line was imported from Ireland and used to inseminate one of the sows kept on the farm (“Mermaid” line). One young sow and two young boars from the corresponding litter remained at the Thalheim location for further breeding.
Niche product Berkshire meat
Despite many positive meat and fat properties , the Berkshire pig must be assigned to the group of fat breeds. In pure breeding, Berkshire pigs produce no more than 42% muscle meat and have a considerable amount of fat . This circumstance makes the use of meat uninteresting for the broader market; the meat products are seen as a clear niche product. Nevertheless, the meat and fat of the Berkshire pig are ideal for producing the highest quality food with incomparable product quality. The high proportion of intramuscular fat gives Berkshire meat its exquisite taste and special tenderness.
Caption: Fat layer and intramuscular fat using the example of a slice from a long square; air-dried Karre bacon (130 kg cold slaughter weight) and fresh (70 kg cold slaughter weight; from left to right); both pieces come from purebred Berkshire pigs
Further research
In order to increase the meat yield with a slightly reduced fat layer, initial tests have already been carried out with Berkshire-crossed animals and sold to interested fatteners or direct marketers. In the effort to generate suitable fattening animals, the most promising approach so far has been to inoculate pure-bred Berkshire sows with semen from a final stage boar of the Pietrain breed. In a planned follow-up project, we would like to focus intensively on the meat and fat quality of such cross-bred animals in order to be able to offer an optimal fattening pig for the production of high-quality pork products with recognition value.
Female crossbreed animal (mother breed: Berkshire x father breed: Pietrain) with a live weight of around 90 kg. Short legs, pronounced cheeks (Göderl) and the roll shape typical of the breed can be seen, but there is significantly more muscle than in the pure-bred Berkshire pig
Conclusion and outlook
With the completion of the “BERKY” project, a herd book for the Berkshire breed . With the active support of the breeding organization PIG Austria, a breeding program was developed and the first breeding animals were added to the herd book. In addition to the in-house insemination station based in Wels/Thalheim, two other pig-keeping businesses in Upper Austria were registered as herd book businesses. The Austrian herd book population of the Berkshire breed currently amounts to nine sows and four boars of different bloodlines. The black pigs are enjoying increasing popularity in the local area, but also internationally. Our research team tries to provide expert answers to the ongoing questions surrounding the topic and, where appropriate and possible, to network the actors with one another.
Further information can be found here
Episode: “Deluxe culinary delight - the irresistible taste experience of Berkshire pork!”
QR code for the podcast of the series “Agricultural Science: Compact Knowledge”
The complete final report on the “Berky” project can be accessed https://dafne.at/projekte/berky
