Mission Statement
The purpose of the LBHA is to educate the public and LBHA members about Large Black Hogs, also known as English Large Blacks and Large Black Pigs and by several other names, and:
- To protect the genetic diversity of Large Black Hogs.
- To promote, market and educate the public and livestock producers about the unique beneficial characteristics of the Large Black Hog. The objective of the LBHA is to attract new and existing breeders to ensure the continued existence of the Large Black Hog in the United States of America.
- To register and keep pedigree records of all animals that qualify as Large Black Hogs according to the guidelines of LBHA.
- To provide technical support to a network of breeders to further their work in conserving the Large Black Hog.
- To maintain an Internet website and a breeders directory, available for interested people for the purposes of dissemination of information about Large Black Hogs.
We can only accomplish this mission if you join us. The LBHA consists of a wide variety of people with a common interest – ensuring the long term viability of the large black hog breed. The LBHA Board is elected from the membership and is responsible for helping each member succeed in their endeavors.
We only accept purebred large black hogs for registration. Regardless of where it was born, or if it came from artificial insemination, if you can prove it is purebred you can register it with us.
When you join the LBHA you gain access to a wide network of breeders and enthusiasts who can help with finding hogs, teach how to raise them, help you sell them and provide good contacts to veterinarians, processors, feed suppliers and other people who can help you.
The LBHA is a nonprofit organization. The Board of Directors and Officers are all volunteers. All of the money collected through registrations and donations is used to fund LBHA activities including outreach and maintaining the registry and this website.
The LBHA is the registry of choice for serious breeders and enthusiasts of large black hogs. We have gained this trust through ensuring the integrity of our registry. While we are easy to work with we have very high standards to make sure that only purebred hogs are registered. The registry database is monitored by two Board members in addition to the Registrar at the Livestock Conservancy, providing checks and balances to verify that it is managed correctly. We also track the genetic diversity of our registered hogs; we are the only large black hog registry in the world that tracks the inbreeding coefficient of all registered hogs and provide help to our breeders to understand all aspects of proper breeding. When you advertise that your hogs are registered with the LBHA, your customers will know that they are getting great value for their money.
History
The Large Black is believed to have been developed in the late 1800’s from Chinese breeds brought to England. They are of the “bacon” type, or meat producer, instead of the “lard” type common of that day. They became known as the Devon or Cornwall pigs from their area of origin before becoming just the “Large Black.” By the 1900’s the Large Black Hogs were spread throughout Britain in outdoor pork production operations. The Large Black Hogs were imported into the U.S. in the 1920’s and did well on a number of farms. However, in the 1960s when the pork market started to favor leaner, lighter colored meat the marbled pork of the Large Black fell out of favor. By 1973 the Large Black pig had become critically endangered. They were imported again in 1985 and 1998 and were bred by a handful of breeders for the exquisite and unique taste of the Large Black’s pork. The Large Black resulted from the amalgamation of black pigs from two geographically separate areas, Devon and Cornwall in the south-west of England, and Essex, Suffolk and Kent in the east. The pigs from eastern England, mainly Essex, were influenced by importations from China in the late 18th century, while those from Devon and Cornwall were probably more closely related to the pigs in mainland Europe, particularly France. The Devon pigs were originally selected for “the length of their bodies, ears, noses, tail and hair, the longer the better, without reference to quality or substance”, but selective breeding brought improvements to the breed, and by 1850 the type was small-boned and thick-bodied, with good conformation and constitution. Alternative origins proposed for the black color of the breed are black Guinea hogs imported from Africa (similar to the Guinea Hog of the US) or from Neapolitan pigs. They were originally favored for many reasons including their hardiness, mothering ability, milk production and prolificacy. The Large Black is a very efficient pork producer because it can glean a large portion of its food from grazing. Unlike many breeds of hog, their black skin protects them from sunburn and enables them to live outdoors on open pastures.